It’s been a long time since I’ve listened to a true audio drama. This isn’t an audiobook, since there is no physical book attached to it and it doesn’t follow the traditional pattern of “he said, she said.” It isn’t a book being read to you aloud, but rather a television episode that you can’t see. Confusing? It certainly was (at times.)
Since a few of the voice actresses had similar-sounding voices, I sometimes felt lost. I wasn’t completely sure who was talking and since there are no visual cues to imagine the people, other than saying at one point that Kate is a “looker”, I was left placing the actor’s faces to the voice anyway. I probably would have enjoyed this a lot more as an episode of TV, to be honest. This audio drama is a prequel to James Patternson’s Billy Harney series, The Black Book. Of course, I had heard of James Patterson but I had never read any of his books and I don’t think I’m in his demographic. To be honest, I was initially drawn into this by the cast. Aaron Paul and Krysten Ritter from Breaking Bad and Nathalie Emmanuel who I loved in Game of Thrones. That’s a pretty robust cast and I felt sure the story would have to be good for all of them to attach their names to it.
Description of The Coldest Case:
Please note: This audio drama is for mature audiences only. It contains strong language, violence, and sexual content. Discretion is advised.
In an audio-exclusive experience, an all-star cast led by Aaron Paul, Krysten Ritter, and Nathalie Emmanuel performs the latest from James Patterson. The Coldest Case: A Black Book Audio Drama is the long-awaited prequel to Patterson’s #1 New York Times and USA Today bestseller The Black Book.
Detective Billy Harney is back, this time investigating a notorious Chicago drug ring along with his sister, Detective Patti Harney. Billy’s partner Kate has spent months infiltrating the cartel when suddenly several of its members turn up dead, Kate’s cover is blown, and a key informant disappears. Now the cartel is hell-bent on retrieving a mysterious “black book”: the ledger containing the list of high-profile clients.
The more Billy investigates what’s in the black book, the more he’s pulled into dangerous network of corrupt politicians, vengeful billionaires, and violent, dark web conspiracies. Billy realizes there’s no one he can trust, and every step closer to the truth pushes his family closer to danger.
The Coldest Case is Patterson’s first audio-only thriller, and Audible has filled it with a fully immersive sound design, lightning fast pace, and powerful performances in every role. Each chapter ends with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger, making The Coldest Case one hell of a ride.
The stunning cast includes three-time Emmy winner Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Krysten Ritter (Marvel’s Jessica Jones), Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones), Golden Globe and Emmy winner Beau Bridges, Emmy winner Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls, The Handmaid’s Tale) and Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Saved by the Bell, Franklin & Bash). Patterson collaborated with writers and Executive Producers Aaron Tracy of Friendly Heights (Law & Order: SVU, Sequestered) and Ryan Silbert of Origin Story Entertainment (Stan Lee’s Alliances: A Trick of Light, The Girl is in Trouble).
From Audible
My Thoughts:
When listening to this book, it felt obvious that Patterson’s demographic is not… well, me. I think older men who have absolutely no knowledge of or interest in gaming, who don’t like mysteries that are too complicated, and that like funny banter between characters would enjoy this book.
That description alone pretty much sums up how I felt about it. There is a storyline in The Coldest Case that leans heavily on e-sports (or e-gaming as they call it in the book.) Every interaction around e-sports is clearly written for people who have no understanding as to how people make money “playing video games” for a living and have no idea what that entails. There’s an entire section where they describe messaging “in the game” and the lead character (Aaron Paul’s character – so, not a boomer) is like “what? Like an email in the game?” I had to laugh because why wouldn’t he say, texting? Or instant messaging (which has been around for a hot minute)? I’m sure even the folks I know, in their seventies, are aware that you can message people inside of games. It’s just odd for a person in their forties to be completely blown away by this.
There is a pretty heavy undertone of disrespect toward the gaming community, as well, with most of the professional streamers in the audio drama being heavily strung out on hard drugs. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t seen a lot of streamers that are abusing meth on stream… Adderall is more believable and probably realistic, but even when they talk about performance-enhancing drugs for e-sports athletes (e-gaming players), it sounds more like steroids (which doesn’t make a lot of sense.) On top of this, there is a scene where the head tech for the police department is trying to track down a streamer, who is currently live streaming, but is unable to break the encryption on her stream. Instead, they happen to hear her coughing in the background of a recorded interview that took place in a football stadium – a cough so distinct that they can’t miss it! And the tech guy spends a lot of time enhancing this noise in the background to confirm that it was her. Why was this the more obvious answer than simply watching the live stream to see where she was? Clues about her location in the background? She’s strung out on meth and apparently brilliant – and impossible to find – even when broadcasting her location to her followers. They also make up a few games for the audio drama but mention other games, like Heroes of the Storm, which I found kind of random and funny.
I am not an e-sports expert, by any means, but I watch League of Legends for the team drama and have certainly watched streams on Twitch, and I play a few games casually. The references to gaming were just so cringy and difficult to get through! The story overall was fine though. The mystery has some fun twists. There is a rather challenging stand-up comedy set that you have to listen to, delivered from Aaron Paul’s character, where he bombs in front of an audience and it’s pretty rough. The characters had some fun interactions and were all generally likable. I would not go on to read (or listen to) more of the series. But I think if you aren’t familiar with the gaming aspect of it, you wouldn’t be quite as annoyed by the way it is presented.
I also found it kind of weird that this is titled, “The Coldest Case” when it has nothing to do with a cold case.
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