Friday Night Knife & Gun Club

By: L.S. Collison

Narrated by: Annika Connor

Nurse noir fiction set in the American Wild West -- a dystopian near-future when nurses are armed with handguns for self protection and fear rules the night. The author imagines a night shift in a Denver hospital where a crazed shooter is on the loose. Don't worry, the doctors and nurses are all packing heat. All but one, that is...

©2013, 2017 Linda Collison (P)2017 Linda Collison

A Day In the Life

'Friday Night Knife & Gun Club' is almost two stories jammed together. The first two thirds is a 'slice of life' type story covering the ins and outs of a nurse in the hospital. It is clearly written by someone with nursing or hospital experience, as it goes into detail on the sort of things that happen, the medical procedures required, and the thoughts of the medical staff. However, it doesn't have much of a narrative drive. It's just going through what happen in a hospital.The last third feels almost separate, when someone with a gun comes into the hospital and turns the 'slice of life' story into an over the top action thriller. And it does feel rather over the top.

The writing itself is pretty good. Some parts get clunky due to the amount of medical info and exposition that the main character puts in, but some parts of it are almost poetic and lyrical.

Narration is 3.5/ 5

Annika Connor does well with the narration, giving a clear, well paced performance. She imparts personality into the main character and really brings her off of the page. The timing for the jokes, or the exacerbated sighs, all work really well Some of the main narration (or possibly the production) is a little off at times. There is a line here or there that sounds like it was recorded at a separate time and fit into the recording, as the levels, pace or general vocals are off slightly. Overall, it was good though.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Not My Genre But Great Writing/Performing Drew Me

I don't really get into the "dystopian near – future" sort of thing. This focuses on a nurse working on the night shift in Denver at the hospital. Everyone in the book seems to be armed. A knife for the nurse's daughter who does not yet have the strength to handle a gun, like her brother. The nurse wears Kevlar scrubs.

A "normal" night at the hospital turns into a fast action, gory situation. This was a little bit out there for me, but by the end I wished it had lasted a little bit longer. If you like this genre this is a fast-paced and chock full of adventure.

Annika Conner's performance is really good. I did speed it up a little bit, as is my preference.

Thank you for taking the time to read my review. *I was provided the unique opportunity to receive an advance copy of this book to listen to in exchange for my unbiased review.

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This Was an Excellent Short Story--Loved it

Friday Night K&G Club was an awesome listen. This was a fresh but darkish/noirish short story. I loved the first person female character. It reminded me in a way of an action-packed storyboard. It was a visual listen. A very enjoyable audiobook by L.S. Collison. Recommended.

Annika Conner's performance was excellent. She portrayed the character very well. She had great voice inflections and sound effects. She was THE perfect narrator for the story.

I hope there's more to come in this story.

Wow, just wow!

This short story was something special. Not only do we get a fully-developed and well-rounded main character, but we get an Indiana-Jones-meets-Dirty-Harry-esque ending. Just, wow.

This was a quick thrill ride with a very emotive and effective narrator. Connor had great material to work with but she definitely worked with it!

Great story, not so great narration

I enjoyed the story, especially as a former third shifter and emergency personnel, I enjoyed the humor. However, the narration left a lot to be desired. If the story had been longer, I’m not sure I would’ve finished it due to the narration. I liked the actual story, though. I received a review copy at my request and voluntarily reviewed.