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  • Cronin's Key

  • Cronin's Key Series, Book 1
  • By: N.R. Walker
  • Narrated by: Joel Leslie
  • Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (148 ratings)
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Cronin's Key

By: N.R. Walker
Narrated by: Joel Leslie
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Summary

NYPD Detective Alec MacAidan has always been good with weird. After all, his life has been a string of the unexplainable. But when an injured man gives him cryptic clues, then turns to dust in front of him, Alec's view on weird is changed forever.

Cronin, a vampire Elder, has spent the last 1,000 years waiting for Alec. He'd been told his fated one would be a man wielding a shield, but he didn't expect him to be human, and he certainly didn't expect that shield to be a police badge.

Both men, strong-willed and stubborn, are still learning how to cope with the push and pull of being fated, when fate throws them another curveball.

Rumors have spread quickly of turmoil in Egypt. Covens are fleeing with news of a vampire who has a talent like no other, hell-bent on unleashing the wrath of Death.

Alec and Cronin are thrown into a world of weird Alec cannot imagine. What he learned in school of ancient pharaohs and Egyptian gods was far from the truth. Instead, he finds out firsthand that history isn't always what it seems.

©2015 N. R. Walker (P)2017 Tantor

What listeners say about Cronin's Key

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

7 out of 5 amazing stars

As books this series is amazing. As an Audio, Joel Leslie adds so much more. His ability to give every character a distinct voice, the sights and sounds of the locations while vivid in the book become bright and minute in the audio. He is in the middle of book 11 now and it's going to be just as Glorious.
I highly recommend this to Everyone.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Best audio I've heard

I have previously read this book and rated the story at a solid 4 stars - but boy does the audio elevate Cronin's key way above that. Joel Leslie's narration of this book is so spot on I was utterly captivated. Each character (and there are quite a few in this!) had a unique presence - different accents (the Scottish one is superb!), different inflections and pacing had me seeing sides to each role I didn't pick up on in the book. Cronin was a tad more vulnerable and Alec more passionate, and I just loved Eiji :)

This audio is highly recommended - immensely enjoyable and deeply satisfying.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Slow and boring

Two slow. I tried, but even Joel Leslie couldn't make me listen to all of it. It's a very underwhelming and slow paced story. I have listened to other N. R. Walker books and they were much better, especially the Spencer Cohen series. Also, I am positive Joel narrated it slower than he usually does, making the experience worse.
I also didn't care much for the characters. The vampires in this story must kill humans to feed and they had no qualms about it.
Alec's casual acceptance of vampires killing humans to feed bothered me. From what I understand there were several thousand vampires and if they fed every two days then that would likely mean upwards of 100 thousand humans killed by vampires every month. Are we to believe all the humans killed are the bad ones? The author initially tried to show us that Cronin only kills the bad humans so we will feel sympathetic towards him but later in the story he casually mentions killing other humans because he wanted something from them and to stop them from telling anyone about vampires. In fact in one of his musings early on he said he didn't care for human lives. Don't get me wrong I am not looking for sparkling vampires but I don't feel like cheering for someone who will not give a second thought about killing a human.
Alec compared the vampires eating humans to humans eating pigs, pigs are not sentient beings.
I just couldn't connect with any of the characters and root for them.
A few nitpicks -- (minor spoilers)
I don't understand why Alec was flabbergasted to know Cronin had three houses, each in a different country. Cronin is centuries old and extremely wealthy. Many rich people today have more properties than that.
Why is Alec on the wanted list? He may have disappeared suddenly in front of everyone but he hasn't committed any crime.
Why after hundreds of years of secrecy, vampires (namely Cronin) are just so brazenly appearing and disappearing around witnesses?
Also Cronin would be on CCTV so why hasn't the police managed to find out where he lives. He may have been hiding his nature, he isn't actually living in hiding.
How was Campbell to source a special wood only available in North Africa that he has just found out about and make the bullets in 2 days. Seems improbable to me.
There were others but I have forgotten them. Usually, if the story is interesting, I don't pay attention to such little things but sadly when the story isn't working every little inconsistency stands out and compounds the displeasure.
The book was very slow. When I realised all I was doing was looking out for inconsistencies, questioning every little thing, checking out how much book is left and I really didn't care for any of the characters I stopped listening.
By chapter 16 you could feel the connection between Alec and Cronin but I still couldn't care or connect. Frankly if Joel wasn't narrating I would have given up on this 4-5 chapters in. I also don't think Joel Leslie was at his best.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not what I was expecting

From some of the reviews on here I thought I was in for an Uber sexy plotty adventure. How disappointing to find that the two characters didn’t even kiss properly until chapter 12 and apart from some hand jobs and frottage it was hardly all sex and no plot a one reviewer seems to think. As the character’s sexual relationship is actually pretty important to the plot line I think it all scenes were relevant and could have actually been expanded on to make them even more so. Loved all the characters, I was even fond on the minor ones. The world building here is great, we’re getting history, lore and context which give a depth to the story that pulls you in and drives you forward.
Joel Leslie did a great job performing the roles and I love his Scottish accent. All the other international accents were also handled with sensitivity and care so convincingly that it didn’t jar. It was a pleasure listening to this performance.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Not great

An accent fest from Mr Leslie, and not very convincing, I found him annoying and I will be giving him a miss in the future. As for the book, I lost interest, maybe it might have been more enjoyable read by someone else.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic!

Any additional comments?

Very good story line, lore, good character dynamics and just enough male/male intimacy.
Great narration and accents.

I cant wait for book 2.

Nate.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

It's very silly but quite enjoyable

Well I managed to get to the end of the series and the whole story was so ridiculous but nonetheless well read and quite entertaining.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good overall

It is different type of story from this author but I enjoyed it. The narrator is really good. I liked both main characters.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very good book

The book was very interesting. The storyline was good and the characters were varied with interesting personalities. Narration was very good. The narrator was good with the different accents and emotions. I always knew who was speaking during conversations.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Expected a lot Better.

This really isn't very good at all. I'm ashamed to have wasted money on the recording.

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