Murder by Other Means
John Scalzi
This has a great world building and background story. People quit dying from some things most of the time now, they just disappear and appear naked in the place they feel comfortable and safe at. The story follows a Dispatcher, someone who is licenced to kill, named Tony. It's a great story and a real eye opener! Witty, good mystery, great plot, characters, and unique fantasy. ( )

I'd listened to the other "Dispatcher" novellas but somehow missed this one. Recession has caused legitimate dispatcher jobs to dry up, and Tony has to make do with side gigs. One—to send a Chinese businessman instantly back to Beijing via dispatcher's bullet—somehow leads to a cascade of suspicious suicides in his orbit. ( )

How can a story involving so much murder be so enjoyable and borderline humorous? You make sure that very few of the victims actually die. That's the improbable conceit of the story and the author makes it work. The audio book of the first Dispatcher novella is sitting in my Audible queue (the pandemic really messed up my listening habits). But this was thoroughly understandable and entertaining without that introduction.

As with most stories from John Scalzi, the value is in the writing. The snappy dialog and colorful characters whisk you along for a pleasant ride full of twists and turns and a totally believable outcome (ignoring the previously mentioned improbable conceit). Highly recommended for a few hours of entertainment.

Disclosure: Thank you to Netgalley and Subterranean Press for providing a free copy of this book in return for my honest review. ( )

So, full disclosure, I am not audiobook people. I am a massive Scalzi fan and I'm pretty fond of Zachary Quinto, so I thought it was worth a try. It's not enough. There are just too many names and too many subplots for me to keep track of just by listening. I'm not sure why audiobooks don't go the direction of podcasts, or even radio plays, and try for more auditory interest? Even Quinto, an expert voice actor, comes off as monotone and some of the voices he uses for different characters are jarring or absurd.

The bones, I think, are decent: Scalzi explores what options the criminal element has to operate with in a world in which murder doesn't work. He brings back his Dispatcher protagonist, his cop sidekick Langdon and the morally grey crime boss from the Dispatcher and that continuity and further story development was nice. Hopefully I'll get a chance to read this at some point when it stops being an audible exclusive. ( )

New main storyline, but pulls characters and situations from the previous installment. Good pacing and some surprises along the way. ( )