BLUE DARKER THAN BLACK by Mike Jenne

Narrated by Kevin Stillwell

Alternate Space History Retro-Tech Thriller

Now that the Blue Gemini Project is operational the stakes are much higher, both for the Cold War and for the characters that we learned to love so well in book one. As the Blue Gemini program lists off this second book also launches the intensity level into orbit. There are scenes in this book that are as exciting as the Apollo 13 crisis. I am beginning to realize that this book by Mike Jenne is a undiscovered treasure that needs to be widely heard. Also Kevin Stillwell is top notch. I am quite impressed with this Audible Studios production. This deserves a much wider audience.

I was describing the plot of this series to one of my friends. After outlining the main plotting my friend asked if the book got into the public NASA space program. I told him that the only references to NASA was the periodic news reports of the Apollo Moon landings. My friend then said that it would be good to learn about the secret military space program. It was then that I realized that I had not adequately stressed the fact that this was fiction. My simple description of the story sounded so plausible that my friend thought it was real. And that is the feeling I got myself while listening to Blue Darker than Black. I wanted it to be real and my willing suspension of disbelief brought the realistically recounted events startling to life.

Kevin Stillwell is wonderful in this series. He retains his calm narration throughout and his character voices are spot on. I particularly enjoy Stillwell’s portrayal of the retired general and full-time cowboy Vergil Walcott. It is clear that this audiobook production was well planned and executed. The production values are high. I noticed no glitches.