The Steel Shark (Joe Tesla, #4) by Rebecca Cantrell Narrator: Jeffrey Kafer
Series: Joe Tesla #4
Published by Self-published on 11-14-17
Genres: Mystery
Length: 7 hrs and 53 mins
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased
Buy on Amazon/Audible
Goodreads
Overal Rating:
A dog. His computer. The tunnels under New York City.
That’s all Joe Tesla’s agoraphobia has left him with—the inside world, the dark world—and now the black depths of the sea.
In the latest book in this award-winning thriller series,Joe Tesla seeks to expand his world beneath. He buys a personal submarine to join an underwater scavenger hunt. The competition turns deadly when a mystery sub targets Joe. His search for answers drives him and his service dog out to sea where he alone might find answers in time to save the city he loves from annihilation.
But can a man trapped inside by his own fears save the larger world above?
I became a Joe Tesla fan from book one in this series, which I absolutely loved… until now. Don’t get me wrong, this book was still good and entertaining, but it pales in comparison to the previous three books. I missed some more personal parts, and also the mystery didn’t appeal to me as much as the previous ones. Like others, I found it in general more unbelievable. I guess I was used to Joe being doomed to the train tunnels and seeing him with Edison in a submarine was the last thing I expected. It could have been a good surprise but sadly it wasn’t. There were great action scenes and cool technology that got me listening to the end, but I wasn’t as invested as with previous books.
There are no developments regarding Joe’s agoraphobia, which was one of the things that caught my interest from the start. It’s true that things were pretty much tied up in the last book but he’s still busy investigating how to get cured of his ailment. It’s just mentioned at some point in the story but as I said, there’s nothing new on that front. I guess Rebecca Cantrell lost interest in Joe and his particular goal in life, as this book was published in 2017 and there are no sequels. Curing Joe would have been the end of the series, which I would have been okay with, but she was probably saving Joe’s cure for the future. I think the first three books were pretty good, and the series could have been finished with the third one. This fourth book doesn’t add anything to Joe’s personal crusade.
Jeffrey Kaffer’s narration was very enjoyable, as always, bringing the characters to life and adding the right amount of emotion to bring value to the book and at the same time to avoid interfering with the story. The only small setback I can mention is that a couple of times I had troubles following dialogs, as some characters’ voices were too similar, but in general, it was an outstanding narration.
| Story (Plot) |
 |
| Narration |
 |
| Overall: | |
My name is Elena. Since I was a little child I loved science fiction and fantasy, and I can’t resist a good novel. In 2015, while wait I started to listen to audiobooks and I discovered the pleasure in being able to read while doing my daily tasks, so there’s always an audiobook playing on my phone. If you see me with my Bluetooth headphones on, please be gentle, I get easily startled.
I live with my boyfriend, which I met during my six-year stay in Belgium, four cockatiels, eight lovebirds, and a hamster in Madrid, Spain; and I like to spend my free time knitting and sewing while listening to audiobooks.
