Review 6: 65 Below

I know, I know, I must apologize to my modest readership. I have been unable to do reviews due to personal issues, but I assure you that I will try to pick up the pace until I am caught up.

I thought it would be nice to change up the format of podcasts I'm reviewing, so this week we are going to review a podio book. I found this book on podiobooks.com, all the downloads are free and 75% of your donations go directly to the author. A podio book is a book read in podcast form over several episodes. This appears to be an excellent outlet for aspiring authors that has the potential to gain them a strong fan base. You'll find, if you hunt for these books as I do, that there are MANY talented authors out there who simply haven't lucked onto a willing publisher yet.

65 below, by Basil Sands, is a chilling (figuratively and literally) story about a terrorist plot unfolding in Alaska. The idea is certainly believable and (though I've not finished the story yet) the story seems to be well structured. I also like that the target is not the usual major cities in the lower 48, I mean, if you've seen one car chase in Manhattan, you've seen them all. Also, blowing up sky scrapers in New York or San Francisco is SO yesterday.

Sands intro and outro music are interesting and appropriate, and I like that (unlike some other podio books) it doesn't suddenly and unexpectedly blow my eardrums out at the end of a chapter. The reading is clear and easy to understand. Sands has a pleasant voice, the sound quality is good, and there are no pops. The girl voices are less ridiculous sounding then what I've heard from some authors. There are times I think I could use a little more description to truly understand what is going on, specifically in the action scenes, but it hasn't taken away from my understanding of the story.

I highly recommend you listen to this book.

Visit the authors website here: http://www.basilsands.com/
Visit the podio books site: http://podiobooks.com/title/65-below
Listen to the promo here