Doboro the Bottlenecker

by Kevin M. Kraft

The first two books in Kevin M. Kraft's cutting-edge faith based DOBORO THE BOTTLENECKER series together in one electrifying volume!

After surviving a devastating assassination attempt, family man Dave Granger is spirited away to South Korea to undergo intense rehabilitation under the harsh tutelage of a martial arts master by the grace of a merciful God.
Seven years later, with a sterling faith born out of adversity and a wit as razor sharp as the sword concealed within his walking stick, Granger returns to the U.S. and ekes out a modest living as a blind cigar box slide guitarist and street singer in Kansas City. But while he tries to live in peaceful anonymity, he is once again set upon by the very ruthless forces that killed his family and took his sight. But unlike the first time, Doboro is by no means defenseless, having been trained in the ancient Korean art of the Sulsa warriors.

But will his uncommon faith, indomitable spirit and breathtaking combat skills, pitted against highly trained assassins, be enough to save his life, let alone that of the one person whose life is dearer to him than his own?

447 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 26, 2015

About the author

Kevin M. Kraft is an award-winning author of Christian fiction (MOMO: An Inspirational Thriller). Kevin has been blessed with the ability to write engaging fiction since childhood. keep things even more interesting, Kevin is an actor and independent filmmaker. His musical interests include motion picture scoring as well as building and playing cigar box guitars (he founded the KC Cigar Box Guitar Festival). His hobbies and interests are numerous and vast. Kevin shares his life with his wonderful wife and children in the Midwest.

Reviews

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a man gets entangled with the wrong people at the new, better job, he tries to do the right thing and it costs him his wife, his child, his old life, and his sight. Starting over is hard and painful, but it forges his character and leads him into a fresh start full of danger still and a bit of a surprise.

Trying new to me authors and narrators has always filled me with excitement as I get filled with anticipation that here might be new favorites. A storyline about a man who faces severe adversity and rises to meet it sometimes by grit alone while clinging to belief and hope really captured my imagination. Add to it, Korean martial arts and the eclectic cigar box guitar playing the blues had me excited to see Doboro’s story unfold.

Doboro is probably the average family guy trying to get ahead and not much to write home about until after he is left with a Korean doctor and martial arts’ specialist along with his daughter in their Korean town. The author took him from more dead than alive and let his time with this pair rebuild him brick by brick. Then his life takes another twist and he ends up as an itinerate blues musician with a cool persona. There is a twist at this point that didn’t completely surprise me and a second narrator came into story. Loved that.

There is good martial arts’ action when Doboro encounters his old enemy’s attempt to still get at him or the dangers out on the city streets. He is the only alive who ever defied a rich, powerful criminal after all. I love that he fights blind and in a style not even the most popular among Asians.

The strong music element with the unique instrument and music genre that comes from Doboro’s own African American history was part of his personality and not just what he did to earn his bread.

While this could be classified as Christian fiction, and Doboro’s faith is at the heart of what kept him going and drives his thoughts and actions, the story is not lost under any soapboxing.

The narrator, Todd Thompson, had a deep, full voice and he was versatile with pace, emotions, tone of the story, and changes in pitch. I loved listening to him tell the story, but I will admit that the Asian accents and the teen girl character was a stretch for him and not entirely convincing, though not bad. The production quality was also good.

Doboro the Bottlenecker leaves off in a good place and doesn’t leave the listener hanging, but it is obvious there is more to come and I am eager to press forward. I can definitely recommend Doboro the Bottlenecker as one of triumph with a good dose of action suspense and character-driven plot.

My thanks to Audiobookworm Reviews who provided the audiobook to be listened to in exchange for an honest review.

[Victoria Budkey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The characters of Doboro and Drew are some of the best that Kevin Kraft has written yet. I'm quite impressed by the realism of dialogue and unsaid speech that occurs throughout this novel.

The story was super fast paced in the beginning, and slows down a little about halfway through. At one very small point, it was a little too slow for my liking, but right when I started to get concerned, it picked back up again until the end. :)

A couple editing errors (missing punctuation and such), but nothing distracting.

Overall, another good work from a reliable author, and I'm excited to read the next installment.

[Ana Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel. It was filled with intrigued and action, and I never shy away from those. I got a very Dr Stange feel in this book as a man must put himself back together after everything was taken from him. I was left in awe at the end of the novel and desperate to find out what was going to happen next. I am really looking forward to the rest of the series :)


*I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review

[Tita · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this audible book free of charge for my honest opinion. I really liked the story. My only negative is the narrator. Sorry. I liked that the story addressed the true walk of Faith many Christians experience where their faith is challenged or even shaken to the core and the process of healing and walking that Christian Faith during those times is what makes it stronger. The primary character seems to have a Faith that has, until this time, been tested. He has had troubles, but has tried to "fix" situations in his life through his own devices, which brings him to a place where we find him - in trouble. The events that ensue, cause him to lose everything he's tried to protect. While he is in a process of healing - physical, emotional, spiritually - he is brought face to face with situations that challenge his current paradigm. Many of the Faith lessons he learns come from someone who is not a Christian, which shows that God can use anyone to teach us if we are willing to allow it. The story asks questions that are also answered through the many trials that our "hero" encounters. I liked the action and the road weary blues playing traveler. That was a very interesting take and almost makes the main character seem like a superhero. All in all, I would recommend this book to others.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

DOBORO THE BOTTLENECKER, by author Kevin M. Kraft, was hard for me to put down. It's not only action-packed, but it also includes poignant human moments that only a skilled author, such as Kraft, can create. Doboro's relationships with the various females in the book, for example, will leave you thinking about them long after you're finished reading the book. That's how special an author Kraft is.

Kevin M. Kraft is an award-winning author and screenwriter, as well as a singer-songwriter, cigar box guitar guru (and founder of the annual Kansas City Cigar Box Guitar Festival), actor, motion-picture director, and producer. He resides in Kansas City, Missouri with his wife and children. DOBORO THE BOTTLENECKER is currently being developed into a film by Kraft's motion picture production company Heaven's Wheel.

I told Mr. Kraft that I don't review books that aren't conservative. So how does the fiction book DOBORO THE BOTTLENECKER have a conservative theme? (Continue review HERE.)

[Norelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

---Audible Book Review ---
As a self-published author myself, 90% of the books I read are from the same.
With most books, it’s the cover that pulls me in. Just as this one did, while I was searching Instagram.
Honestly, this is one of the best books I’ve read in a very long time. At first, in chapter one I wasn’t sure. I had no idea where this story was going to go. And I had no idea it would suck me in so quickly! I listened to this book on audio, in one sitting, not once turning it off. The roads Doboro walked, both physical and emotional, had me on the edge of my seat and I felt the emotional pain he was in.
I was blindsided three times with the turns it took. I don’t want to give anything away. However, I will say this is a must read. If books two and three are written like Doboro the Bottlenecker, I will get nothing else done this week! Very well written Kevin M. Kraft.

[Peter Okonkwo · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Doboro" as I would also love to say it fast with an Asian accent; has intriguingly portrayed himself in the novel, Doboro The Bottlenecker.
Dave Granger(Doboro) himself enacted a kind of peculiar characteristics throughout this fiction novel.

I love the author's brilliant sense of description, and amazing storytelling skills - it's a learning avenue for young writers like myself. It's no doubt, Kelvin M. Kraft had researched cultures in his book. I love the indomitable features that Doboro himself exhibited amidst diverse challenges that befell him and his undying passion for playing the guitar.
A distinctive work from an adept author, one of the longest novels I've ever read.

Peter Okonkwo

[C.S. Wachter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nicely paced and easy to read story, gently pulling the reader forward. A well written beginning to a series. In Doboro, Kraft has created a character who will continue to delight his readers in future adventures. Drew is a rounded, second main character. I enjoyed Doboro’s and Drew’s gentle work up to a touching reunion and an explosive ending.

[Jerry Outley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story.

Mr. Kratf,

I loved this story. I could not put book down. It had all the right elements for me. At sixty eight years old, fascinated with how well it was written. Thank you for giving an old martial artist something good to read. I'll tell my friend, another old martial artist about the book.
Oh, tomorrow I will start your second book.

Jerry L Outley

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book free for review a while ago (and finished it a while ago- sorry this didn't get published sooner!).
My review is unbiased and completely honest. All opinions are my own.

Doboro the Bottlenecker is about a girl called Drew who is a musical prodigy and finds an interest in a local homeless man. He begs her to teach him how to play his bottleneck- a strange guitar like instrument which he plays for money.

To be honest, if this book was in my local bookshop or in my library, I don't think I would have picked it up based on the cover. I don't think that the cover is the best at displaying the contents inside very well. I know that you shouldn't judge books by their covers but the cover is the first impression that picks it up off of the shelf.

The book is a really good start to a series. It is short and sweet as it is under 100 pages, so you can finish it up really quickly.

The characters and the plot are pretty good too; I was able to get along with the characters while also understand what was going on until the end.

The ending was very surprising for me (but then again I am absolutely awful at guessing endings). I didn't know what exactly was going to happen but after reading the entire book, I noticed that there were a couple of subtle clues to the ending.

My issue with the book is technically not in the book, but the blurb. I read the Goodreads synopsis before and after reading the book, however I feel like the synopsis is more like a prologue as a lot of the things I noticed in the prologue I didn't read in the book. Maybe it will continue on in the series and we will learn more about that, however I didn't find the blurb particularly accurate.

Also the main protagonist- Drew, was quite young. She is 13 or 14 and I tended to believe that she was a little older throughout the story. I think that it would have been better if she was 15 maybe? She seemed to mature for her years sometimes- I couldn't really imagine a 13 year old with a guitar worth hundreds of dollars.

I enjoyed the book quite a lot and would recommend it. It wasn't a genre I'd particularly go for, however I did like it!

[Trinity Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book I have read of Kevin M. Kraft and I must say it is just amazing. I read MOMO and loved it also.
In this book you will see how every decision you make will bring about consequences. Be it bad or good.
David Granger took a job that with a man that was bad and he didn’t know it at the time, but he lost his wife, daughter and almost died.
He was taken to South Korea blind and crippled. For seven years he was under great pain in the physical and personal sense. David was taught under a martial arts master and he never gave up on God. The martial arts master was very hard on him, but it had to be that way. Without the harshness David might have just given up.
David then comes back to the U.S. and finds out his daughter is alive, but doesn’t remember him. He feels he must protect her.
This book is full of suspense, adventure, struggling and most of all hope and love. The spirit that is in David is one to never give up. It really is amazing at how he learns so many different things and how he takes care of himself. I would love to see a book two. I just loved reading it. You won’t be able to put this book down and when you come to the end you will want it to keep going. I love the name of this book and what it means.
Highly recommend this wonderful book.

Thank you to the Author/Publicist for providing this book for review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

[AAMBC Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's another great day here at the AAMBC, and we have another book to review. Doboro The Bottlenecker was unlike anything we had ever seen before, and we can't wait to share our thoughts.

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Doboro The Bottlenecker is a faith-based action thriller that follows the life, love, and loss and of David Granger. After a failed assassination attempt, David loses his sight and his family. With the devastating loss weighing heavy on him, he is transported to South Korea, where he not only learns his way with a blade but also the faith that keeps him going each day. When David finally returns to the states, it's not to exact his revenge but to live a modest life as street guitar player…until the assassins who failed come back for a second round.
We have never read a book like Doboro The Bottlenecker before, and we were certainly glad we were able to read it now. Detailed and full of tension, we were on the edge of our scenes while reading some scenes. Yes, the pacing was off sometimes, and the beginning seemed to drag. However, once it picked up, it stayed consistent. Some scenes made us smile and scenes that made us cry. For that reason, we give Doboro The Bottlenecker four out of five stars.


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TL; DR
The Good: It's an emotional ride that forces you to turn the page.
The Bad: It does drag in some areas.
Worth the buy? Absolutely
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

[Peter Younghusband · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be honest, I did not think I would enjoy this novel purely from looking at the cover and the description. Not saying that there is something wrong with the cover just that it did not look like a novel in the genres that I love to read and the same for the description. But that is just me as I am fussy on the genres I read. However, having read this novel, all fits into place and this is one very deceptive piece of writing. Now I love the cover, it is very unique and I love the author's account on Facebook on how it developed. It really does capture the essence of who Doboro is, it gives him a brand, an image, that is him and what he stands for. There is beauty and gentleness surrounding this novel that I found very appealing. I would not say it is fast paced, or having multiple layers, but Kraft's construction of this novel keeps the pace that suits the plot in both halves, yes, two distinct halves, that detail his previous life and how this created his new life, that is very different from the first.


Full review:

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