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The Shadow Constant
- Narrated by: John Thompson
- Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins
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The Shadow Constant
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Summary
Someone is keeping watch over the machine. Should it ever have been built?
The lure of the find behind the loose hearthstone at Hazleton House was too great. The schematic excited Evan, Reenie, and Ivy for different reasons, but it is Kayla who actually begins building it. Her ability to focus to the exclusion of all else is just one of the effects of her Asperger's.
The scribbled initials, E. W., were merely a curiosity, until it's discovered they belong to Eli Whitney. But strange footprints and disturbing visitors let Evan know that the theft of his sister's prize schematic isn't just a coincidence.
It becomes obvious that the generator has no apparent power source. And Eli Whitney was only the first to die because of the machine.
Soon, they realize their enemies are much bigger than they had imagined, and the threat the device poses could topple an empire. The secret now threatens those at Hazleton House.
Who is trying to stop them?
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What listeners say about The Shadow Constant
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Godiva 2000
- 19-08-24
Enjoyable. but some issues
There is quite a lot to like about this story. The basic concept that a group of friends are trying to restore an old plantation and open it as a museum is an excellent background to the adventure. I also love the characters, especially Kayla, a young woman with Asperger's who is a brilliant engineer, but keeps getting fired because she refuses to do anything but what is logical, to her. she is also the main financial backer of the group, her brother is engaged to another young woman who is the owner of the plantation and there is also a young female art historian employed to help with finding and cataloging artefacts from the site.
There is interest when an engineering drawing of a mysterious machine is found and triggers a series of strange and sinister events.
Unfortunately for me the whole story is rather spoiled by a big but silly continuity error, the first machine built from the drawing is hand crafted by Kayla and then improved by having parts machined by a fellow Asperger's sufferer, the second is then built again with parts hand created over a few days by the friend, but then a little later the whole team is able to create a machine each at a day's notice, where are the parts coming from? It is a real shame that this silly mistake made it through to the final version of the book as otherwise it would have been 5 stars.
The narration was handled competently, although for me some more excitement could be injected into the narration for the exciting parts towards the end.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Norma Miles
- 08-05-18
Dogs of the canine, corporate and legal varieties.
Rather than let her inherited Georgian plantation house and buildings be pulled down, Reenie and her partner, Evan, his sister Kayla - a brilliant but socially inept woman suffering from Asperger's who is the main funder of the enterprise - and a third woman, Ivy with an art historian background, decide that together they will restore the estate and turn it into a museum. Whilst renovating, old documents and artifacts are found hidden, including a diagram of a machine. Fascinated, Kayla starts to build it. Then the sinister visitors star appearing and it becomes obvious that they are being watched.
This is a fascinating slow burn thriller with well drawn characters and a touch of gentle romance. In fact, it is a true love story, of friendship and filial responsibility, of interpersonal relationships, and of the quest for truth about family history and the recovery, and safety, of a discovered benefit for mankind.
The narrator, John Thompson, give a good, solid reading, his warm voice relating the story with steady understanding and good intonation throughout. Like the story he recounts, Mr.Thompson reads with a slow and easy, almost laconic style. He also gives seperate, though slight, voicings to all of the characters, sufficient to identify them despite the definite between male and female being minimal. It is a comfortable narration, fitting with the overall tone of the book.
An enjoyable book with a growing excitement infusing the pages as it progresses and which also gives a glimpse into the past as well as some small hope for the future. My thanks to the rights holder who, at my request, freely gifted me a complimentary copy of The Shadow Constant, via Audiobook Boom.
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