The Faceless Ones by Derek Landy (audio)
Skulduggery Pleasant #3. Unabridged downloaded MP3 audiobook, 7 hours, 47 minutes. Read by Rupert Degas. HarperCollins Audio, August, 2009. 978-0-061-80834-0.
This one picks up where the slightly over-long Playing with Fire left off. Skulduggery has been kicked out of the Guild. Nonetheless, he and Valkyrie Cain, his fourteen-year-old trainee, investigate the deaths of four Teleporters and attempt to prevent the deaths of the remaining two. It seems that a Teleporter is needed to open the gates that connect our world and the underworld, where the Faceless Ones are imprisoned.
There is no fluff here however. It grips from the beginning to the end, which is a total cliffhanger and totally annoying, since I have to order through Amazon.UK for the next installment as I see no plans to bring the next three/ four books to the US.
There's plenty of action and blood and guts, but there's snappy dialogue and many laugh-out-loud moments. But this plot-driven book has plenty of depth as well and is peopled with quite a few memorable and lovable characters.
Rupert Degas' performance is totally riveting and perfectly timed. How he keeps all the voices straight is a wonder. Each is so distinct and instantly recognizable. He seamlessly shifts from a staccato narrator to the laid-back ease of Skulduggery. The signature music/ scream punctuate the shift in chapters/ segments. Had I been reading with my eyes, I would describe this, tritely, as a page-turner. What is the analogous description for audiobooks? Toes curler? Pacer? Steering wheel gripper? For depending upon where I listen, I find that books such as these induce any of the above reactions.