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Black Bird

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Black Bird

By: James Keene, Hillel Levin
Narrated by: Robertson Dean
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About this listen

James Keene had it all: cars, girls, houses up and down the Gold Coast. But behind his well-connected star athlete façade was a money-obsessed drug dealer desperate to make the big score to get him out of the business. When he was sentenced to prison, it seemed the only lessons he would learn would be about navigating convict society. Instead, he was offered a chance to regain his freedom in return for going undercover in the nation’s highest security prison for the criminally insane. His task: to get friendly with Larry Hall, a mentally unbalanced serial rapist and murderer, and obtain his confession. For nearly a year, Keene walked the line between the part he played and the self he hoped to redeem, all the while dodging punches from deranged inmates, currying favor with imprisoned Mafia dons, and staying beneath the radar of Larry’s oddly protective psychiatrist.

©2010 James Keene with Hillel Levin (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Murder Social Sciences True Crime

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All stars
Most relevant  
Good read. Free from audible. Read after watching the tv miniseries. Sad to know these monsters live among us.

Black bird

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A strange story that is both about redemption and the revulsion of man ... It is a case of a men who became criminals but one who found a way out ... the other only darkness ...

Redemption and revulsion

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Really enjoyed the narrators voice, fascinating story well told. So sad for the girl’s families.

Fascinating story

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Very nice listen, great story line and great narrator and keeps you wanting to hear more

Enjoyed!

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I enjoyed the actual story but the constant tangents I found to be monotonous, it’s not even a long book but I found myself bored.
The times he was actually telling the story I found really interesting and I understand the other information is needed but needed to be done a different way. Only my opinion,

Could Have been Better

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A great 'how's he going to get out of this?' story . Well read. Very entertaining.

Compelling

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I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's a fascinating true story that kept me gripped throughout. Going in I thought I may be frustrated to be hearing more about James Keene and less about the Larry Hall case but Keene cuts a charming figure and you're soon with him every step of the way.

This is also helped by the excellent narration. Robertson Dean gives each major character a distinct voice and reads with an easy, natural pace rather than the pauseless stream of words that hinder some audiobooks.

Highly recommended.

Excellent!

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I enjoyed this story, more so because it came from the Plus Catalogue. It was a little short on detail and could have been twice as long. Left me wanting to know more. Good narration and pace. Finished in a couple of days. As a true crime fan this was a welcome find.

Appealed to me as a true crime fan

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I bought this expecting something like an autobiography / journal / memoir of Jimmy Keene’s personal experiences in his life, prison, & his impressions & experiences when meeting Larry Hall. I was admittedly more interested in Keene’s perspective, which I think is why I must say I was a bit disappointed. What you actually get is a story / essay, written from a 3rd person perspective, about the Larry Hall case, featuring interviews with Keene. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s an interesting story, that I can’t fault! But it felt impersonal, like a news reading or interview of “he said / she said / Jimmy said”. The reader was a bit mono, but overall decent; not difficult to listen to, but I would personally prefer more character & emotion to the voice. If Jimmy ever reads these reviews, I’m still very interested in an autobiography in his own words, as I’m sure many others are! It would be cool to hear it in his voice, too (or maybe that of Taron Egerton - the actor who played him in the series). To anyone who hasn’t seen it, I recommend the TV show, it was really gripping & stuck pretty close to the book’s overall story.

Not as expected but still interesting

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Excellent account of the strange lengths the FBI will go to get their man. Fully recommended

Grippingly Good

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