American Gods by Neil Gaiman (Audiobook)

American Gods (audible.com)
by Neil Gaiman
read by George Guidall

Upon his release from prison, Shadow finds work driving for a mysterious old man who just may be an old world god walking the earth.

The book:  This came as a total breath of fresh air.  I had heard of the book, but never read any reviews or synopses of it or anything, so I had no idea what to expect.  This iss a genre-defying story, in which Gaiman busts out with a really unique and inspired storyline, which he weaves deftly.  He managed to blindside me with a few plot twists, and it’s been a while since any  sci-fi/fantasy/thriller/horror/whatever book has really done that.  There were a couple of spots where the story went flat and started dragging a bit for me, but they were few and far outweighed by the story as a whole.

The narration: George Guidall is a fairly legendary audiobook reader, and this book could very well have been written with his voice in mind.  His voice is so full of character that it feels just about perfect for the story and most of its characters.  I remember him from his work on the latter books of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, (where he picked up after Frank Muller’s tragic motorcycle accident).  If I was a fan of his then, I’m even more of a fan of his after listening to this excellent book.

Overall, this was one of those audible.com selections that makes you sit back and say ‘damn, I got this for $15?’ Audible is one of the best values on the internet.