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Fishpriest
The Bronx, 1993. Crack is king. Crime is rampant. Tommy “Fishpriest” Barth - nicknamed after his weapon of choice, a club that’s meant to kill fish but works on people just fine - sees the chaos firsthand at Concourse Bail Bonds.
Today, Tommy’s a bounty hunter, but he was a cop up until two years ago, when an all-consuming undercover operation to bust one of the most notorious crime syndicates the city's ever seen - the Jamaican Shower Posse - destroyed his marriage, drove him to addiction, and cost him his badge.
Tommy thought he’d banished the JSP from the Bronx forever. But with the crack epidemic in full swing, they’re back - and they’re stronger. When Tommy’s ex-partner offers him a shot at redemption, he chooses to risk everything he’s rebuilt.
Will he survive this time?
Ethan Hawke (Training Day) stars in this dark, thrilling, character-driven crime drama. This cinematic Audible Original is presented in eight-episodes with intense, wall-to-wall sound design and grim and gritty performances at a fever-pitch.
Today, Tommy’s a bounty hunter, but he was a cop up until two years ago, when an all-consuming undercover operation to bust one of the most notorious crime syndicates the city's ever seen - the Jamaican Shower Posse - destroyed his marriage, drove him to addiction, and cost him his badge.
Tommy thought he’d banished the JSP from the Bronx forever. But with the crack epidemic in full swing, they’re back - and they’re stronger. When Tommy’s ex-partner offers him a shot at redemption, he chooses to risk everything he’s rebuilt.
Will he survive this time?
Ethan Hawke (Training Day) stars in this dark, thrilling, character-driven crime drama. This cinematic Audible Original is presented in eight-episodes with intense, wall-to-wall sound design and grim and gritty performances at a fever-pitch.
Audiobook
Published March 14, 2022
4 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 6, 2022
This is the perfect example of why I don’t read short stories. Just as I was getting into this, getting to know the characters, enjoying the story - it ended. This was an Audible Original, and the performance was great.
August 17, 2022
It was an entertaining story, a total of 8 episodes, fast paced drama. It’s about this rookie police, Tommy, that got recruited to run a supposed "quick" undercover assignment to bring down a Jamaican ring running the biggest production and distribution of crack in the city. They promised him a better position within the police force and of course, better pay, which all went down the drain when he got hooked on crack while running the assignment, ruining the bust of the head of the criminal organization and his marriage. He now works on a bail bonds business as a partner with a friend, where his friend would make the bail bonds and Tommy would pursuit the ones the failed to comply with the conditions, then, things turned for the worse, the Jamaican leader returned to the city and looking for payback, putting him and his family in danger, taking him back to work on the unfinished assignment and perhaps to a possibility for redemption.
The sound effects are very nice, the narrative is excellent and listening to Ethan Hawke is definitely a plus, the story is not complicated, very easy to follow, I did enjoy this story and do recommend if you want to listen something within the police procedures genre
The sound effects are very nice, the narrative is excellent and listening to Ethan Hawke is definitely a plus, the story is not complicated, very easy to follow, I did enjoy this story and do recommend if you want to listen something within the police procedures genre
December 1, 2022
Decent production with Ethan Hawke playing the lead of an undercover cop that torpedoes his life, in a dual timeline, fairly short narrative with good production values and descent acting. It’s a fun piece of fiction but doesn’t exceed any expectations.
April 9, 2024
I definitely liked listening to Ethan Hawks voice and it was to short a story. Definitely felt like it was over before you full got into a character.
March 7, 2023
Fishpriest: a club-like tool used to bludgeon fish to death.
I became hooked on Fishpriest once I got to about the middle of the 2nd stream (of 8 total). Each one thereafter became more engaging, I was really able to sink my teeth into them. The series becomes well worth the sportsmanship value if you can reel your way passed the initial knot in the story (e.g. read episode descriptions before listening).
Fishpriest is an ongoing tale with actor Ethan Hawke as the big fish (of whom lured me to the story). Ethan’s character, Thomas “Fishpriest” Barth, is the pivotal anti-hero who takes down a Jamaican drug gang 2 years earlier, only for it to wriggle and writhe it’s way back up the brook and entwine Tommy into a seine of jeopardy present day — for both him and all who he cares about. Tommy has had a rough 2 years, his life forever tangled up by the hunt and his prey. Yet Tommy—together with his Fishpriest and hunter’s wit—might very well come out on top once again.
The Good
o Gripping, suspenseful story. Couldn’t stop listening until the end, the last 3 episodes especially so.
o All the voice actors were incredible at their parts. Nuanced, age appropriate, culture appropriate.
o Tommy the anti-hero—a life split between the pursuit of justice and the underworld, of sobriety and addiction—his profile sketch was really well written.
o Characters are written to a fault. Tommy tries (and fails) to be a hero to everyone. Jamaar is all about his legacy. The Lieutenant is all about her kid. Naomi still clings to a sense of family heritage. Izzy is devoted to Tommy. It makes the story feel more real when you know everyone’s motivations.
o Unexpected humor amidst a plot full of conflict and tension.
o The Jamaican accents, although hard to understand at times, added a lot of credibility to the story.
o Tommy’s recovery group (NA), although playing a small part in the story, packed the biggest emotional punch from Tommy.
The Meh
o The sound quality is rough at times. Not poor quality, just jargon and sound effects not quite balanced. I had to slow it down to 1x speed just to catch certain words/sentences.
o The timeline jumps around a lot between the present and 2 years ago. It’s hard to follow at times but usually is preceded by a rewind type sound. Listen carefully.
o The story can be a bit confusing with all the characters introduced and the accents.
o One really needs to understand how the Bail Bond system works to stay current with the inner workings of the story. Read up.
o Not that I’m racist but it doesn’t seem right that they cast Ethan’s character as a black dude. First, Ethan is very much a white boy in real life, and imagining him as black felt weird. The story never explicitly states it but does provide the facts that his wife is white and his daughter is half-white.
The story is not concluded by the end of episode 8, which leaves me hoping for a second season, to which I am eagerly awaiting.
I became hooked on Fishpriest once I got to about the middle of the 2nd stream (of 8 total). Each one thereafter became more engaging, I was really able to sink my teeth into them. The series becomes well worth the sportsmanship value if you can reel your way passed the initial knot in the story (e.g. read episode descriptions before listening).
Fishpriest is an ongoing tale with actor Ethan Hawke as the big fish (of whom lured me to the story). Ethan’s character, Thomas “Fishpriest” Barth, is the pivotal anti-hero who takes down a Jamaican drug gang 2 years earlier, only for it to wriggle and writhe it’s way back up the brook and entwine Tommy into a seine of jeopardy present day — for both him and all who he cares about. Tommy has had a rough 2 years, his life forever tangled up by the hunt and his prey. Yet Tommy—together with his Fishpriest and hunter’s wit—might very well come out on top once again.
The Good
o Gripping, suspenseful story. Couldn’t stop listening until the end, the last 3 episodes especially so.
o All the voice actors were incredible at their parts. Nuanced, age appropriate, culture appropriate.
o Tommy the anti-hero—a life split between the pursuit of justice and the underworld, of sobriety and addiction—his profile sketch was really well written.
o Characters are written to a fault. Tommy tries (and fails) to be a hero to everyone. Jamaar is all about his legacy. The Lieutenant is all about her kid. Naomi still clings to a sense of family heritage. Izzy is devoted to Tommy. It makes the story feel more real when you know everyone’s motivations.
o Unexpected humor amidst a plot full of conflict and tension.
o The Jamaican accents, although hard to understand at times, added a lot of credibility to the story.
o Tommy’s recovery group (NA), although playing a small part in the story, packed the biggest emotional punch from Tommy.
The Meh
o The sound quality is rough at times. Not poor quality, just jargon and sound effects not quite balanced. I had to slow it down to 1x speed just to catch certain words/sentences.
o The timeline jumps around a lot between the present and 2 years ago. It’s hard to follow at times but usually is preceded by a rewind type sound. Listen carefully.
o The story can be a bit confusing with all the characters introduced and the accents.
o One really needs to understand how the Bail Bond system works to stay current with the inner workings of the story. Read up.
o Not that I’m racist but it doesn’t seem right that they cast Ethan’s character as a black dude. First, Ethan is very much a white boy in real life, and imagining him as black felt weird. The story never explicitly states it but does provide the facts that his wife is white and his daughter is half-white.
The story is not concluded by the end of episode 8, which leaves me hoping for a second season, to which I am eagerly awaiting.
August 29, 2022
This audiobook was a totally different choice for me and I'm glad I listened to it. Great cast. Love having different actors for different parts. I just found it hard to follow at times.
Was this book worth listening to? It is good to try something different.
Would I read it again? Maybe... I almost feel like I would get a lot out of a second crack at it.
Would I recommend it? And who to? Yes, to crime fiction fans.
My Goodreads star rating... *** because it was good, just not excellent.
My Goodreads scale:
* waste of time
**filled in time
***good
****excellent
*****absolutely amazing
Was this book worth listening to? It is good to try something different.
Would I read it again? Maybe... I almost feel like I would get a lot out of a second crack at it.
Would I recommend it? And who to? Yes, to crime fiction fans.
My Goodreads star rating... *** because it was good, just not excellent.
My Goodreads scale:
* waste of time
**filled in time
***good
****excellent
*****absolutely amazing
April 8, 2023
Production was 5-star. Ethan Hawke and the other actors were also 5-star. I love listening to audio dramas like this. But the story itself was just ok for me. I feel like it’s a story I’ve heard time and again - cop goes undercover, gets in too deep and goes bad, tries to be good again and fix all the things he’s messed up - a product of a crooked system that just continues being crooked. I appreciated the depth of the characters and their relationships, and even liked that the ending wasn’t the usual tightly wrapped bow on a package - it was realistic, it was life - complicated and messy. If I could give half stars, I would leave 3-½. It was binge-worthy and perfect for a long drive.
July 5, 2024
This did not come across as a well thought out acoustic performance. Instead, it sounded like the soundtrack of a standard film. The production did not do a good job (1) verbally painting a visual picture of the scenes or (2) clarifying who was speaking to whom. As such, I felt a little lost throughout the first several chapters. It didn't help that some of the characters sounded similar to one another.
This is unfortunate because, outside of the audio production problems, the storyline and acting was superb. An excellent, gritty crime thriller.
This is unfortunate because, outside of the audio production problems, the storyline and acting was superb. An excellent, gritty crime thriller.
April 17, 2023
Another great Audible original. I enjoyed this even though it's dark, gritty and very bloody. The ending seems very set up for a second part. I can live with that. If you like shoot 'em up movies, shows and books this one is for you.
July 23, 2025
really gripping - coming from someone that finds it hard to focus on audiobooks. the end was so abrupt though, didn’t leave things nicely open ended it just seemed like they realised they only had 10 minutes left of tape and stopped recording.
June 23, 2022
What could I give a book narrated by my hero Etan Hawke? no less than 4 stars!
July 20, 2022
Love his voice, still the content is in a violent environment and I'm not really a fan of the story.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews