Disjointed, characters feel wooden.
My top three favorite books of all time include Hannibal by Thomas Harris with the correct, original ending. I didn't love Hannibal Rising, but I was happy enough with it. So I was excited about Cari Mora enough to pre-order the Audible version. Sadly, I'm left disappointed and a little bored after listening to it.<br /><br />The first problem is the self narration by the author. This can be wonderful, but usually doesn't work out well and this is one of those times when a professional voice actor should have been hired. The flow is not as smooth as it could be and there are awkward pauses here and there.<br /><br />I was in no way expecting a recreation of Hannibal Lector or Clarice here. Yet there are faint, very watered down echoes of both characters - for example the weird use of "okeydoke" here. The story includes similarly graphic, violence and vile predilections from several lead characters as well as a grim backstory for Cari. Unfortunately, these all lack the deeply thought out, twisted nobility and underhanded charm of Lector or Clarice or even Inspector Patzi. Instead, Hans-Pedro and Cari feel like cheap imposters. There is no honor or even appreciation for anything in life within these characters. I just found the whole book felt like an after thought and slapped together - even the gold as the focus of the plot, never seemed important. There are no iconic lines from Cari Mora to wiggle into our lexicon either - Mr Harris left his wit on the editor's floor I'm afraid.