Full disclosure, I got an advance copy of this book when I was in the hospital dying, no joke, and it really helped me get through the suffering I was going through. This is not like an audiobook you’ve ever encountered before, and it is a testimony as to the greatness of Harmon Cooper’s brilliant writing and SBT’s incredible talent. SBT completely reinterprets what you think an audible experience should be.
So, I am now and have always been a huge fan of Cooper’s writing style. I just get him. His humor, his wit, his intense action scenes, he proclivity towards snark, and well just about everything he does on his computer’s WORD program. No other author, with the exception of Terry Pratchett, has made me laugh so loud, so hard, and so frequently as Cooper. He can weave a story like he was using one of the Fate’s looms. Monster Hunter is once again a part of his shared universe, and I love that fact, too. He goes out of his way to tell separate and complete stories but keeps them in a sandbox in which you are already familiar. Monster Hunter NYC is a top-notch tale that is classic Cooper, expertly crafted, and will keep you on the edge of your seat.
What SBT does is something altogether different and new. They have managed to escalate the medium of audiobooks into something more than just a theater of the mind. They have molded an entire EXPERIENCE that I doubt you will have touched upon in your lifetime. SBT blends the spoken word with catchy tunes and songs throughout the book, and I do not mean that you get some music at the start of a chapter. No, this is fully fleshed and functional original music that has the heart of the book, but also a complete and utter life of its own. I can completely hear some acid jazz influence in Jeff’s work, and Annie carries a haunting noirish vibe at times that resonates tones of the hipsters of the forties and fifties with modern sensibilities of today. My only regret is that they didn’t include Justin Thomas James in to jam as well, because the man is a master musician himself.
I heard one reviewer say that this was all Annie, and I have to admit that Annie’s singing and personification of the ladies is both intense and involving, but I have to give Jeff his due. He holds his own and gives his heart to this production. You can tell he went over and above, gave three pints of blood, and performed at one hundred and fifty percent capacity on this project. There are labors of love and passion projects and then there is Monster Hunter NYC. I mean there is dedication to a project and then there is the gusto displayed by Annie Wilkes of Stephen King’s Misery. I’m not sure where Jeff lies on that spectrum, but wherever the needle falls it is going to be indicative of his heart and soul being contained in this body of work. Annie, is as I say, killer in her parts and she will have you bopping along to whatever Da,da,da, da, da dadda she lays down.
The story, the voice work, and the music make a strange magic that will only be imitated by other companies from this point forth, if anyone else ever has the cajones to attempt something like this. All I can say is that this is not just an audiobook. It is not Theater of the mind. This is a freaking Rock Opera Concert on Broadway; and you do not want to miss it.