Adam L. Penenberg

I am not a big fan of non-fiction, but am trying to read more. This book was offered to me to read by the author through Netgalley so I thought I would give it a try. This was not a long book, but it was filled with a lot of information about two now forgotten aviation pioneers, Wiley Post and Jimmie Mattern. They were rivals racing to be the first person to fly around the world solo. I had no knowledge of these men or what they had done. The book begins with Wiley Post and Harold Gatty landing at Roosevelt Field being the first around the world flight. From there the stories of others involved in aviation are told and the race to solo around the world is presented. There were some people involved in this race around the world that I was not aware of such as Will Rogers. The story was engaging and told in language that allowed me to understand the issues that were presented, especially when planes crashed and had to be repaired on the fly. If you enjoy reading about aviation pioneers and how they solved sometimes almost insurmountable problems, such as crashing in Siberia, flying blind through fog without instruments, then you will enjoy this book. There are some great illustrations at the end showing many of the people in the book with their planes.… (meer)

ABR's full Trial and Terror audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Trial and Terror is not your typical thriller mystery as it has a horrible bend towards horror. A young woman, Summer Neuwirth, who is an upcoming public defender with a past of rape, successfully defends her first client - who is guilty. Knowing this she willingly jumps into a van to go places that are questionably safe; she also has a past that begins at 4 years of age and friends who are not all they seem.

Now she has a client that is truly innocent facing the death sentence if she fails. Politics, morals and ethics begin to play a pivotal role ... will she succeed? This is one question that is NOT answered.

This story is hard to swallow as there are so many inconsistencies - no woman who has been raped will get into a car with a known "bad" guy regardless of what he offers. Second, I know women struggle to be seen as smart, professional and an equal in most areas of work. However, this book was chocked full of references demoralizing women more than would be necessary to show these differences of opinions.

I did enjoy the battle of wits between Summer and Rain (the Prosecutor) when petitioning Judge Hightower. That was enjoyable and showed just how much spunk Summer has at least in one area.

The chapter transitions throughout the book was disjointing. I found myself stopping several times to make sure I hadn't gotten a bad audio copy. Additionally, not all Chapters were announced which also made it seem disjointed. The plot was ok, the character development could have been much better as the past of each person should have been delved into more. There were a few leaps of faith that didn't pan out well.

Finally, the ending was so rushed and abrupt. The ending of this book is clearly a ploy to get people to buy the second book to find out whether Summer is successful in getting her client off the hook or not. Mostly everything is answered toward the last 10 minutes but not everything.

Sadly, this book had a lot of potential that was never met.

The narrator did well. His enunciation was fine, his projection of emotion was good.

The audio production was fine as well.

Audiobook provided for review by the narrator.… (meer)

Penenberg tries very hard to hip this up, with ingenious play of language, exotic environs, high-tech gadgets, and almost, dare say, virtually, succeeds. Unquestionably, the trip to the author's endpiece is entertaining, inventive, unpredictable, and makes one wish to stay in that idyll for just a while longer, but alas, eventually, it is time to wrap things up, and there finds ... Penenberg's writing reminds me of the science fiction writer [a:Samuel R. Delany|49111|Samuel R. Delany|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1335120075p2/49111.jpg] in the way he makes up words and phrases that I take to mean one thing but turn out to be something else entirely. To my dismay, the story I thought headed in one direction had in fact taken a different turn a chapter or so back. And some discipline to stay the course and re-read sections is needed. (This, the reason I never finished [b:Dhalgren|85867|Dhalgren|Samuel R. Delany|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320531180s/85867.jpg|873021].) But it does make for a unique and memorable reading experience. This is a book that tries to be many things, a wry commentary on Japan Inc. and the brown republics, a cyberpunk movie played on VHS tape, a mad look at the oh-to-gritty world of cutthroat journalism. For sure, there is craziness all around, and nothing ever is as it seems. I enjoyed the effort, notwithstanding some rough spots on the ride.… (meer)