Surprisingly good. Books that are serialized by more than three authors often don't mesh well. This one, which is really two novellas, reads like one or two authors shared a brain. ( )

Watchlist by Jeffery Deaveris and twenty-one other mystery authors brings together two serial thriller audio novellas: The Chopin Manuscript and The Copper Bracelet. Combined the two mysteries make a 13 disc (roughly 15 hours) set.

The Chopin Manuscript introduces a small core of characters amongst a huge ensemble of villains, heroes and victims. The heroes are Harry Middleton, his daughter Charley, Nora Tesla and a young Polish violin player. They are fighting for their lives as a Chopin manuscript appears to have a coded recipe for a weapon of mass destruction. The Copper Bracelet brings these four back together with a new ensemble. This time there's something afoot in Kashmir that could start the next world war and throw the United States into chaos.

The first novella, being the one that tried out the concept of an exquisite corpse audio serial is much rougher than its sequel. To put it bluntly, it's a hokey thriller. It was a fun diversion while driving around town, but I'm not sure I'd have the patience for it if I were giving it my full attention! ( )

Watchlist is an interesting exercise in having multiple authors each contribute a chapter, taking the book to a conclusion. As a whole, the concept works; however, a couple authors dropped the ball and were not up to the task of making a meaningful contribution. In addition, it was obvious that some authors were used to being paid by the word----in a word, some were a tad too verbose with sprinklings of wordy non-essential wanderings. Part II, The Copper Bracelet was the best of the two series. The various authors held the story together much better, and the story itself had more twists and turns that should hold the reader's page-turning interest. Deaver's efforts were particularly good, especially in the ending of The Copper Bracelet. ( )

Interesting premise, but the writing was uneven from author to author. There were unbelievable changes in characters' personalities and actions that were hard to follow as one author or another decided to change what went before. I've read better serial books. I'm glad this one was free. ( )

My Synopsis:

Watchlist: Two Serial Thrillers in One Killer Book by Jeffery Deaver

(For review from Media Muscle)

This book isn't your typical thriller. Based on an idea by New York Times bestselling author, Jeffery Deaver, 22 writers from the International Thriller Writers group came together to produce this, two-part serial thriller. Each author, famous in their genre takes a chapter to develop of the story of Harold Middleton, former military intelligence officer, who has returned to his first love of music by cataloging and authenticating musical manuscripts.

In the first part of this serial thriller called "The Chopin Manuscript", Middleton must stop a terrorist plot involving a Chopin composition that has never been seen by the public. The villain, known as "Faust" is someone Middleton has dealt with in the past. This story brings Middleton's old crew all back together again when the manuscript causes murder and betrayal. In the second part of the thriller, "The Copper Bracelet", Middleton's team must stop an assassination attempt, on the Secretary of State while preventing an all out war between India and Pakistan. If you like 24 you'll love this book!

My Thoughts:

I was really interested to see how this one was going to pan out. I had never read a serial thriller before, where more than one author was writing the book. I enjoyed the fact that Jeffery Deaver both opened and closed each section of the thriller. This gave it more continuity and showed Deaver's vision for this thriller.

It was really interesting to see if you could pick out the different styles of authors like Lisa Scottoline and Lee Childs. It didn't seem like 14 different stories it was very cohesive and flowed well. There were obvious differences with each writer but knowing in the beginning it was a new author writing each chapter just made it that much more interesting.

The story itself was reminiscent of the wildly popular television series, 24. Harold Middleton was a wonderful character with a lot of depth. When I was reading the book I was imagining someone like Harrison Ford playing the role of Middleton. Middleton as a character, was loyal and patriotic and believed in ridding the world of men who seek to destroy it for their own purposes. The book delved into a lot of terroristic activity and showed the mentality behind the people who get involved in these sorts of crimes. Inevitably, it all boiled down to power and money and how they could benefit from ruining the world as we know it.

Supporting characters in the book like Middleton's daughter, Charley and his team of crack intelligence officers helped to create an atmosphere of strong ties and loyalty within a group who work together and in some cases die together. Middleton uses his ties from ex- military days to bring about the conclusion of the story and leaves readers wondering what is going to happen to him next.

I enjoyed the fast pace and the suspense of the novel and would definitely recommend it to my readers.

Watchlist is available from your favorite bookseller now!

I give this one 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag ( )