Metal Skeleton

by Taylor Col

Francesca Marqueto is an anthropologist based in Lima, Peru. Every two years, she travels deep into the Peruvian Amazon to visit a village that lives outside the influence of modern society. She has published numerous papers on their lifestyle and customs. But what she doesn’t know is that someone with sinister motives has been reading them very carefully.


Alfonso Calderon is a police officer in Lima. When an unidentified body washes ashore, it is his job to find and notify the family of the deceased. He initially writes it off as another drowning, but after an autopsy he is thrown into a homicide investigation deeper than he could have imagined.


When Francesca and Alfonso’s paths cross, their search for a killer takes them to a mysterious artificial island. There they find that someone has learned from Francesca’s papers and founded a community where outcasts from society must cooperate for survival. It appears that on this island former violent criminals now peacefully coexist. But nothing about the island is as it seems, including the metal skeleton that it was built on.

Genres: Audiobook

ebook

Published December 22, 2017

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an odd book. It’s kinda like watching a movie on Svengoolie or SyFy—once you get into it you know it’s not great literature but at the same time it’s weird enough you find yourself compelled to find out how it ends.

[Anne Hawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a clever idea, but there needs to be either fewer subplots with fewer characters or to double the length of the book and include everything in this short novel. There also needs to be better character development which lengthening the book would allow for.

This is a new author and it will be interesting to see how she develops. With a good editor, she might have some real promise.

[Lydia Sigwarth · Rating 1 out of 5]

if it wasn't published years ago i would have assumed this was written by AI

[Jami Jacobs · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story had a very intriguing premise. That’s the best I can say for it. There was zero character development and the entire plot flow was entirely unbelievable because of it. People violently murdered repeatedly and almost no reaction from the other characters. We know that two separate and vastly different groups of people have been transplanted and basically forced to exist together on the island but as with the lack of character development their is also a complete lack description and development for these groups and never throughout the story do the societies or their interactions with one another ever get expanded upon. The end result is a super rushed plot line that simply jumps from scene to scene to scene like a bad horror flick filled with only shock factor scare tactics and super fake gore that you find yourself unable to feel any real emotional connection with.

[Deandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taylor Col's "Metal Skeleton" came up as a free book on iTunes and I found it overall to be an interesting read. There were so many twists and turns within the plot and the character's perspectives changed quite frequently that I felt like I was moving through the jungle at a breakneck speed with them instead of driving to work on a Wednesday afternoon. I will say that the narrator had a rather thick accent and I found it hard to catch the odd phrase, or two, but come on, it was free and she's reading something this hecticly paced. I'll spread the word to friends and stick around for any other books Col writes in the future. Not a bad plot by any means-

[Nava · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't really want to be too hard on this book. I can tell a lot of work went into it and at first it was intriguing, but I quickly lost interest. We don't connect with the characters at all, and that by itself isn't a really big problem if what you want is to just tell a story, without the characters being important. But it was also incredibly boring at parts, the dialogue was awkward and there were a few questionable choices by the characters. The idea of the book was great, but it felt unfinished to me. Also the narration by the person going by "ClaudiaArtist" was okay, but their accent made it hard to understand the book sometimes and they kept yelling for some reason.

[Julia Dragon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have never been so shocked by a book. I needed a short read and sitting at right at a two hour audio book I thought it would be good. Two hours later I read about a man-made island on metal stilts in the middle of the ocean that has a volcano, quicksand, violent islanders, vines that can be used to make hammocks or “organic straight jackets”, murderous ants that suck the life out of you, explosives, grenade launchers, sacrifices, and an off brand Jonestown and so much more. I can’t believe all of this was fit into a two hour short story.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything is not what it seems. The mysterious disappearance of the tribe that Fransica is studying leads her on an adventure through the fog, to an island that once didn’t exist, then through the jungles to the people she’s searching for. I probably wouldn’t have read this book but being a free audio book, I listened to it on a rainy day and I’m glad I did.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The narrator was very hard to understand. With her accent, she pronounced words incorrectly. Not a great story either. Hard to follow the story line since I couldn't understand several words due to the accent of the narrator.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to give it a four star for the interesting story idea, however it is very obviously a first book and not edited/critiqued by more experienced authors so I can only give a three star. That said I am interested to see how the author develops.

[Quanita · Rating 4 out of 5]

A population experiment on a man-made island has deadly consequences. Peaceful villagers become brutal killers and cannibals.
I was gifted this from the author.

[Rhonda Dip In Time · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was okay, the narrator was hard to understand.

[Geena Kenemore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A BIT GROSS

[Kiara Selena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lex Luthor vibes with the whole building your own island for the sake of future profit and not caring about human life in the process.

[Lee Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Metal Skeleton - Taylor Col

Good basis for a story, but the narrators accent is so thick I could barely understand her.

[Bob · Rating 1 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version of this book, and it was incredibly hard to understand the reader. A better English speaker may have improved my rating.

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

What actually is this?
The author says they worked on it for 13 years?
It reads like it was written by a 13 year old with a violence fetish.
And the audiobook narrator is nearly incomprehensible.