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lomeraniel's review against another edition
3.0
Review originally published at: https://lomeraniel.com/book-review-the-steel-shark-by-rebecca-cantrell/
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.
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.
grumpy_dragon_48's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
hectaizani's review against another edition
4.0
Agoraphobic hero Joe Tesla and his psychiatric service dog Edison broaden the scope of their world to include the ocean. In previous books we learned that Joe is unable to go outside and is pretty much confined to the world of Grand Central Station and the tunnels that run under New York City. In The Steel Shark, Joe has discovered that he doesn't panic in the blackness under the sea so he is taking part in an underwater submarine based scavenger hunt. The book starts with he and bodyguard Vivian celebrating their attainment of the first goal, that is, until things go horribly wrong. As they always seem to do when Joe is involved. Of course, Joe has to figure out what's going on and ends up being hunted yet again.
I enjoyed this entry in the Joe Tesla series. As always, Edison stole the show. I'm a sucker for books that feature animals. It was fun to see Joe get out of the tunnels and in such a creative way too. The Lord of the Rings reference was hilarious. I am also a sucker for books that have a nerdy side and touch on fandoms. I am only sad that there aren't any more books in the series (yet?), hopefully Rebecca Cantrell will return to Joe's world someday. I imagine it must be difficult to come up with new situations for him because his medical condition is fairly limiting and if cured Joe just wouldn't be Joe.
I listened to this on Audible and the narrator was great. As always he did a fabulous job, I really like the continuity of the same narrator over all the books. Speaking of continuity, there was some confusion with the names of the companies. Wasn't Pellucid Joe's original company with the facial recognition and Lucid the new one with the brain mapping? The two names get used almost interchangeably and I thought got referenced incorrectly as first and second. Because I listened to the audio, if I'm spelling them wrong it's because I never saw them in print.
I received a free copy of this audiobook for review from the author via Audiobookboom in exchange for an honest review. I requested it because I love the concept and the characters. Sure I've reviewed the other books in the series and received some of them for free but I bought book 2 with my own money because I needed to know more.
I enjoyed this entry in the Joe Tesla series. As always, Edison stole the show. I'm a sucker for books that feature animals. It was fun to see Joe get out of the tunnels and in such a creative way too. The Lord of the Rings reference was hilarious. I am also a sucker for books that have a nerdy side and touch on fandoms. I am only sad that there aren't any more books in the series (yet?), hopefully Rebecca Cantrell will return to Joe's world someday. I imagine it must be difficult to come up with new situations for him because his medical condition is fairly limiting and if cured Joe just wouldn't be Joe.
I listened to this on Audible and the narrator was great. As always he did a fabulous job, I really like the continuity of the same narrator over all the books. Speaking of continuity, there was some confusion with the names of the companies. Wasn't Pellucid Joe's original company with the facial recognition and Lucid the new one with the brain mapping? The two names get used almost interchangeably and I thought got referenced incorrectly as first and second. Because I listened to the audio, if I'm spelling them wrong it's because I never saw them in print.
I received a free copy of this audiobook for review from the author via Audiobookboom in exchange for an honest review. I requested it because I love the concept and the characters. Sure I've reviewed the other books in the series and received some of them for free but I bought book 2 with my own money because I needed to know more.
cdbaker's review against another edition
2.0
I dunno, the foil of Middle Eastern princesses from a fake country populated only with sadistic, oppressive men seemed a bit much.
librosconcafe's review
3.0
3 stars because I’m being nice. Overall, I enjoyed this series. However, I feel this book was lacking, compared to the others. There isn’t as much adventure, and it didn’t draw me in. I seem to be in the minority though, compared to the rest of the ratings.
acanuckreader's review against another edition
4.0
Received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
It truly does suck that my dream man is an agoraphobic fictional character who lives under Grand Central Station. Joe Tesla, in this, the fourth novel in Rebecca Cantrell's Joe Tesla series, remains a character who is full of heart, warmth and an intelligence that just won't be stopped by anything. Not even crashing submarines.
This newest installment caught me from the first page, making me quite anxious to get into my reading and finish the book, but at the same time I desperately didn't want to because I didn't want it to end.
Without spoilers I will tell you there is a lot of character development for Joe, as well as Vivian, and the mystery isn't so much a mystery as it is a determined, forceful plot-line pulling you through the book. The wonder in this is that even though there is no big huge whodunnit mystery in this book there is still enough of a mysterious tone to keep you guessing as to what might happen next.
Rebecca Cantrell's strength in writing for me has always been the way in which she captures my attention with just a single moment in her books. In this book there were so many moments if I had been holding a physical book I would've gotten paper cuts by how quickly I would've turned the pages.
It truly does suck that my dream man is an agoraphobic fictional character who lives under Grand Central Station. Joe Tesla, in this, the fourth novel in Rebecca Cantrell's Joe Tesla series, remains a character who is full of heart, warmth and an intelligence that just won't be stopped by anything. Not even crashing submarines.
This newest installment caught me from the first page, making me quite anxious to get into my reading and finish the book, but at the same time I desperately didn't want to because I didn't want it to end.
Without spoilers I will tell you there is a lot of character development for Joe, as well as Vivian, and the mystery isn't so much a mystery as it is a determined, forceful plot-line pulling you through the book. The wonder in this is that even though there is no big huge whodunnit mystery in this book there is still enough of a mysterious tone to keep you guessing as to what might happen next.
Rebecca Cantrell's strength in writing for me has always been the way in which she captures my attention with just a single moment in her books. In this book there were so many moments if I had been holding a physical book I would've gotten paper cuts by how quickly I would've turned the pages.
aditurbo's review against another edition
3.0
Less good than the previous books in the series and some plot points are completely unbelievable, but I still liked the characters of Tesla, Edison and Vivian enough to read this book, and hope they will return in another one, maybe something that will at last confront Tesla with Wright and redeem him from his debilitating agoraphobia.