A wonderful Narrator makes this a good read

The key to a successful Audio Book is the Narrator and that of course is true here.

The Book is so much better because of the wonderful performance the story comes alive because the Narrator has great skills.



This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

2 people found this helpful

Hacker!

I really enjoy thrilling stories and this one is. I like how two MIT prodigals try to outwit a hacker and a professor who has it in for one of them. Add in a murder, and cyber attack, the FBI and the twists really happen along with the suspense. H. Peter Alesso wrote a great book, and I will read/listen to more of his works. Jennifer Groberg did a great performance with her distinguished voices for the various characters. I requested this review copy audiobook and have voluntarily written this review. The ending of this book is great too!

1 person found this helpful

Math is a passion

If you enjoy technical and scientific research, you will enjoy this story.

Jennifer Groberg did a good job narrating.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Dark Genius

What I love about this book is the fact it is not just a romance story but other things happen around them which gives the book suspense and something more.
I absolutely loved it!

Couldn’t get into this one

I received this audiobook free at my request, and am submitting this review voluntarily.

I just couldn’t get into this story. I tried, I really did, but I couldn’t relate to any of the characters. I feel like the author did a good job of telling the story, but many of the details were just over my head, with a lot of technical jargon that just pulled me out of the narrative. I did enjoy Jennifer Groberg’s narration however.

Suspense with computer geniuses

This was a different genre that I have not read before. I was able to follow the story very well. I love the suspense in the book. It kept me listening and had to find out what would happen next. The narrator was great as well. This book even has a little romance in it as well. I recommend to those that enjoy cheering for the underdog and a little technical suspense.

Computer hackers at a new level!

I am a sucker for books in the techno-thriller genre because this is my area of expertise. This is the main reason I picked up and listened too “Dark Genius” written by H. Peter Alesso. This book is the author’s second book series released and be aware, this is the first released book in the series and the only one currently available in audiobook format; at the time of this review. The audiobook edition was well narrated by Jennifer Groberg, who has quite a few books under her belt on Audible. Although the book has a decent story and plot, I found there were too many holes in the author’s research and implementation of technology making it less realistic than I would have preferred. For those who are less technical and like an exciting action-filled tale, I recommend you give the book a listen. If you are a fan of conspiracies, clandestine hackers, and advanced quantum computing with a distinctive AI (artificial intelligence), you may find the book enjoyable. For me, it is was good, but I was hoping it would have been great. A few changes, edits and some more research into the many technologies used might have done the trick elevating this book above many others in a crowded genre.

The book opened with a good prologue and ramped up the action rather quickly. I also enjoyed that the book took place in the Boston area, which I’m quite familiar with, and that it was often between classmates from both Harvard and MIT. There was quite a bit of the well-known banter between the students of both campuses as each of them feel they are better than others. The story at times felt predictable and the conversations seemed forced. There was a lot of action, but little depth and substance when I step back and think about the story. The sentence structure and dialogues had a feeling of being a younger adult (YA) and at times even childish. This for me felt out of character for these geniuses as I would have thought their vocabulary would have been more advanced and complex. Even some of the conversations between the professors of the campus and the students felt immature at times.

Any modern-day technology thriller needs to have either a quantum computer or artificial intelligence; or both. This story had both with a good portion of the action and activity occurring around CERN and the two Boston campuses. There are some great discussion and topics involving statistics, probability, and research which one expects from a book in this genre. However, the areas that are more focused on computer attackers and their activity felt weak and less realistic. I do not expect one-hundred percent realism in these subject areas, but I would like to have something that feels right and still has a sense of mystery. Something like the TV series Mr. Robot, but this story had too many technological issues for me to fully enjoy it. Systems were to easily compromised and their passwords were stolen with very little effort. As much as this seems the case by reading newspapers or news media, the actual effort is quite tedious and time-consuming. Add to this, one of the most modern and state of the art quantum computers requiring me to suspend belief to accept its use and ability. At times, I felt the author would toss in a few computer terms just to make the book feel more realistic, yet for those in the know, it often had the opposite effect.

I did like the areas where the author has some conversations involving physics, but this may have been my lack of knowledge making it seem realistic. The book felt more like a serious take on the movie comedy “Real Genius” released in 1985. The characters lacked a level of depth I would have expected from those in their field of expertise. There was some light romance which also did not feel as smooth or natural. The movement between the dark web and the campus activity was not as smooth of a transition as I would have expected and the events from the bad people from the dark web were experts in cleaning up their tracks by simply deleting logs. In the real world, things are much more complex than this and even more complicated when speaking of a quantum computer. For me, it came down to how much I could believe and what I knew was fantasy or simply misunderstood technology by the author.

The audiobook’s narration was performed quite well, and I do not recall any issues with the audio or any background artifacts while listening. The narrator’s voice was crisp and clean, and she did a decent job of giving each of the characters unique personalities via their voice. The only thing I would have preferred would have been to have a male voice the main character. I understand this is simply a personal preference and many may enjoy the book as it is currently narrated.

For parents and younger readers, not only does the book contain some light scenes of romance, but it also has a few descriptive sexual scenes that may be inappropriate for younger readers. Even though the writing style is more simplistic which could be comprehended by younger readers, the mature subject matter is something that I would only recommend for mature readers.

In summary, the story was average and overall enjoyable. I did have a few issues, as stated above, around the use of technology and the writing style is more YA, but for those who may not care about these items, the story is not bad. I liked the premise and the direction, but the issues with researching and my knowledge of technology made it difficult for me to truly love it. If this type of book sounds interesting, please give it a try as I know it can take a few books for an author to find his stride.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author/narrator/publisher.
Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog.
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REALLY COOL HIGH-TECH THRILLER!

Fast paced and full of action, Dark Genius is full of fun & surprises. It's a great story and done by a great narrator, I really enjoyed it. So full of intrigue, action and suspense, I almost dropped my coffee! :)

Some of the tech stuff went right over my head, but I'm 50 now and a lot of things do that ;) I recommend this for anyone looking for an exciting thriller!

Buckle your seat belts and hold on, it's going to be one helluva ride. Great listen!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
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Hi-tech Fast-paced Thriller

I liked that the book had lots of, let’s call it sciency stuff, quantum computers, highly interactive computer systems, hacking, the dark net, physics theories etc. Andrew, the mc, is a genius having started college at a young age, but we don’t get to see much of his genius because of all the work the “evil professor and his cronies” through at him. That pissed me of a lot at the beginning, treating him like s&#t, but he comes out on top in the end. Sometimes the plot get a little confusing and events just happen out of the blue. The narration was great over the board, really giving the story a greater impact and life to the characters.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Entertaining and action packed!

This was my first H. Peter Alesso's book and this won't be the last! Wow! This technothriller was really entertaining, fast-paced and action packed and I loved it! The ending was also great! This was my first listen to Jennifer Groberg's voice. She has the perfect voice for this story and I really love her voice. I really enjoyed my listening and I totally recommend this audiobook. I'm looking forward for more books written by this author and narrated by this narrator. I received this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review. P.S.: If you haven't read the Author's resume on his Audible Page, you should. It's pretty impressive!