REAMDE by Neal Stevenson

Narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner

…..Paradox of Pot-Boiler and Character Study

What begins as a geek hacker-gamer mystery quickly escalates into a full blown spy thriller with Russian Mobsters, rich (though far from helpless) damsels in distress, and British-born Jihadists. The book is full of great characters and exciting situations. I have enjoyed several other Neal Stephenson novels very much including the farcical and fun Snow Crash  the massive Cryptonomicon and his multi-volume exploration of the dawn of the scientific age: The Baroque Cycle. This here is a whole different type of story. REAMDE is akin to a patriotic thriller novel but twice as long and three times more convoluted. The similarity between them all is in the quality of the writing—all are engaging and nicely done. I continue to be impressed, paradoxically, with the variety and consistency of the work of Neal Stephenson.

After a brief period I quickly became accustomed to Malcolm Hillgartner as the voice of REAMDE. He provides great pacing and emotes his various characterization with style and aplomb. Occasionally his characterizations are worthy of a rewind just to hear him turn a phrase in a marvelous accent. Sometimes he fades into the background and the story seems to be emanating directly from your brain. Always he delivers the text better that I could have read it silently to myself.