Recent Reads: Inside Jobs: Tales from a Time of Quarantine by Ben H. Winters

Inside Jobs: Tales from a Time of Quarantine by Ben H. Winters 
Publisher: Audible Original
Publication Date:  April 30th 2020

 

Format: Audible Audiobook
Source: Audible Monthly Freebies (from before they changed it to whatever it is now)

Rating:

Goodreads Synopsis:  

Three offbeat stories of crime and conundrum, set in the present moment, from The New York Times best-selling, Edgar Award-winning author of Underground Airlines and The Last Policeman.

Inside Jobs: Tales from a Time of Quarantine includes:

The Crimson Parrot

It's not easy masterminding the crime of the century when your whole gang is working from home. A high-stakes tale of larceny, deception, and teleconferencing.

The Cape House

As the world shifts around them, two estranged brothers end up in their childhood home. But it's the memories they unearth that will change them forever.

Stop Motion

With endless time on her hands, an apartment-bound young woman gets to all the hobbies she's neglected—martial arts, playing the sax, photography...and solving a murder?

©2020 Ben H. Winters (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC 

Review: 

It looks like since I picked this up, it is no longer in the Audible options but coming out in April as an Audiobook on CD (if you are interested). 

Inside Jobs was an Audible Original that was offered up, about a year ago, as a monthly freebie option, back when they did that. It was one of the first books that I saw that was specifically about quarantine life and it is a compilation of three short, crime novellas. As they synopsis notes, the three include The Crimson Parrot, The Cape House, and  Stop Motion. All three are crime-related but in different ways which was appreciated. 

The first story seemed to be the most complete and the most funny. It was about what career criminal, mobsters do when everyone is in quarantine but they want to steal something. I found this story to have some really funny and realistic parts -Zoom issues, kids barging in etc, but also found it to be a very interesting take on a different job and how things changed because of the pandemic for them. It was entertaining and I really liked this one. 

The second tale was about two brothers coming together after the death of their father. This one really wasn't too much about quarantine, but about their weird relationship and both of them wanted to live in the house now that dad is gone. I found this one to be a little off the wall for me, it was weird and the brother's relationship isn't one that I related to very well so it was hard to grasp.

The final story was about a your woman that is doing her bucket list since she can't do much else. While she is experimenting with stop motion photography she catches a glimpse of what might be a body part in a box and her mind goes spinning. This was a good story, the build up was very good, but the ending was a bit lack-luster. She was very relatable though and I appreciated that.

Overall, I liked this audiobook, it kept my attention fairly well but I was not jumping at the chance to listen to it either. Luckily it was short and also short stories so it was a quick listen.