The Spire, by Richard North Patterson

This audiobook was obtained from Overdrive Audio, through the Alachua County Public Library web site. It was 11 hours and 3 minutes long, and was narrated by Holter Graham.

Mark Darrow was a star quarterback at his high school, but going nowhere, when he is offered a scholarship by the Provost at a local college that probably plays at division 3. It's a great opportunity for this orphan who lives with the family of his best friend, Steve Tillman. Mark accepts on the grounds that a place can be found for his Steve, and the Provost, ex-military Lionel Farr.

At the end of Mark's time at Caldwell College, he stumbles across the body of a young black woman, a student he knew fairly well, who was strangled at left at the foot of The Spire, a major landmark at the college. He is quickly cleared, but his friend, Steve, was the last person seen with her. He is arrested, tried and convicted.

Sixteen years later, Mark is a very successful attorney, and very recently widowed. The Provost calls him to come back and be the college President after the past President was investigated for embezzlement. Mark agrees, but he quickly finds himself at odds with a board that has its mind made up about how to pursue the investigation. And he just cannot let go of the unlikely conviction of Steve Tillman for murder.

Although it's hard to get past a 38 year old college President, the character is superbly written. And although figuring out the villain was not overly challenging, it was still a good story apart from that. I give it 3 stars.

Bones, by Jonathan Kellerman

This audio book was 12 hours long, in Windows Media format, and was read by John Rubenstein.

This is the 23rd novel based on the Psychologist, Alex Delaware. He is joined by his regular sidekick, Detective Milo Sturgis, to solve some murders where the bodies are turning up in a protected marsh land, without one of their hands.

This is a typical Kellerman murder mystery that gives you a lot of shifty people to consider while trying to solve the crime. Newcomers to this series will find it interesting that Sturgis is gay, but working against type. He's an overweight, cigar smoking curmudgeon that hates exercise and bad guys. Alex is kinda straight, living with a hottie who makes musical instruments for rock stars, and is squeamish with firearms.

This one is worth 3 stars.

Your Heart Belongs to Me, by Dean Koontz

This audio book was read by Malcolm Hillgartner, and was 8 hours and 33 minutes long.

As a long time Dean Koontz fan, I will read anything he produces. But that doesn't mean I will always like it. This one had its problems, but it was still a page turner.

This is the story of a 34 year old dot com millionaire who discovers that he has an incurable heart condition and needs a transplant. He finds a good surgeon, gets on the transplant list, and is encouraged by his perfect girlfriend to just let this happen. She knows he will try to manipulate his place in line for a new heart, and he agrees to trust his current doctor.

This would be a fairly simple story if the girlfriend did not have a disturbing back story that causes our protagonist some discomfort. Her twin sister was taken off life support by her own mother after getting counsel from a right to die advocate who collects mummified remains. The mother is now romantically involved with this ghoul, and this feeds the paranoia of a heart patient with enough money to manage his fears and the people around him.

This is a Koontz morality tale with a twist. I wish the characters had been a little more compelling, and that the villain had more substance. I give it 2 stars

Deepwater, by Matthew F. Jones

This audiobook was obtained for free from NetLibrary.com, was narrated by Richard Ferrone, and was 9 hours and 8 minutes long.

A very weird and creepy book. Nat Banyon is a handsome drifter who works well with his hands. He meets an old man on the road named Herman Finch, and Finch hires him to do some painting at his motel. Herman is an ex-prizefighter who is married to a beautiful young woman named Iris who came to him as a traveler in need of some work three years earlier.

You don't need a PhD in literature to know that Nat and Iris are going to have a lurid affair. But this book could stand to have some sort of audio subtitles to warn you of all the dream sequences: "The following is happening in Nat's head..." And the evil possibilities begin to multiply as Nat gets tidbits of odd information about the boyfriend that Iris didn't tell him about, who arrived with her, but then disappeared. A waitress at the motel restaurant thinks he's at the bottom of the lake.

Is Herman a killer? Will Nat and Iris be discovered? Will they get away with all of Herman's loot? Will Herman kill Nat first in a boxing match he has scheduled with the younger man? The questions do not stop here, and it all ground to a halt at a fairly unsatisfying ending.

I had a love-hate relationship with this book, pretty much the way Nat was conflicted between seeing Herman as a rival and as a father figure. The characters were really good in the way they got in your head, but the story had too much foggy weirdness and an ending that did not deliver. I have to give it 2 stars.