You Only Live Once cover art

You Only Live Once

A James Flynn Escapade, Book 1

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You Only Live Once

By: Haris Orkin
Narrated by: Chris Ciulla
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About this listen

From zero to hero....

James Flynn is an expert shot, a black belt in karate, fluent in four languages, and irresistible to women. He’s also a heavily medicated patient in a Los Angeles psychiatric hospital. Flynn believes his locked ward is the headquarters of Her Majesty’s Secret Service and that he is a secret agent with a license to kill.

When the hospital is acquired by a new HMO, Flynn is convinced that the Secret Service has been infiltrated by the enemy. He escapes to save the day, and in the process, Flynn kidnaps a young Hispanic orderly named Sancho.

This crazy day trip turns into a very real adventure when Flynn is mistaken for an actual secret agent. Paranoid delusions have suddenly become reality, and now it’s up to a mental patient and a terrified orderly to bring down an insecure, evil genius bent on world domination.

Includes a special bonus note from the author.

©2020 Haris Orkin (P)2020 Podium Publishing Espionage International Mystery & Crime Literature & Fiction Mystery Spies & Politics Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Witty Crime Mystery

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All stars
Most relevant
It started off a bit confusing and I wasn't sure however I'm so glad I kept going as it was excellent. highly recommended

unusual and great fun

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A good alternative take on the popular 007 theme. Something different that is harmless. I do think it should be left there and no sequels though. Some of the narration can be a bit annoying at times but certainly don’t let that put you off listening.

A nice change

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They story has promise but I ultimately had to stop because of the narrator's unlikeable range of voices. The attempt at the refined English accent was passable, if clichéd, but the other principal character, Sancho, was utterly grating for the 8 chapters I managed to tolerate hoping that the annoying tone of slow, strained exasperation the narrator chose to use for all his dialogue would change or at least differ in range. Females didn't fair much better either as the narrated barely took the edge off his naturally masculine enunciation. The narration itself was pleasant enough but I was unable to continue with the story though I promise I did try because I liked the content. An honest shame.

Story spoilt for me by the narrator

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I listened to a fair bit of this (first 9 chapters I think) but in the end I had to give up.

The story is ok but I found it more unsympathetic to the main character's condition than I was hoping. On the subject of characters I found the to be a bit one dimensional and stereotypicsl to be honest. The story moved at a good pace and the writing is pretty good but the story telling wasn't something I engaged with.

The main character has a delusional personality where he thinks, speaks and acts like he's James Bond from the 60s and 70s movies, complete with the misogyny and arrogance. So when the main character is acting it makes sense to hear those attitudes. The problem for me was that thise attitudes continued through the rest of the story, when the author is say describing a scene before the main character arrives. It didn't help me that I had just completed one of Anthony Horowitz's Bond novels as well
In fact this was recommended to me after that. The contrast is enormous even if this was offered for free.

I was prepared to persevere as the story felt like it was still setting the scene a little bit in the end what really swung it for me was the performance. As said, the main character speaks in a British accent appropriate for 1960/70s Bond movies. The problem again for me was the performer's take on this. His British accent was grating, annoying and possibly poorly researched. An example (not the only one) is when the main character said "plastic". I am English, have lived here over 50 years. Only once have I heard a British person pronounce that word as "Plarstic" and I live in the South when we say "Glarss" instead of the "Glass" they say up north.

As said, I just struggled to engage with this story and the performance only made it worse. Sorry but not one for me.

Tried but didn't enjoy this

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Very funny and entertaining Can't wait for the next adventure. Really recommend. If you like Stephanie plum novels you'll love this. Great narrator, easy to listen to.

love it!!!

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