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Calvin’s Head  By  cover art

Calvin’s Head

By: David Swatling
Narrated by: Caleb Dickinson
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Publisher's summary

Life in Amsterdam isn’t all windmills and tulips when you’re homeless. Jason Dekker lives in a jeep with his dog, Calvin, on the outskirts of the city. A thesis on Van Gogh brought him to the Netherlands, and the love of Dutch artist Willy Hart convinced him to stay. But Willy is gone, and Dekker is on the brink of a total meltdown.

On a summer morning in the park, Calvin sniffs out the victim of a grisly murder. Dekker sees the opportunity for a risky strategy that might solve their problems. Unfortunately it puts them directly in the sights of the calculating stone-cold killer, Gadget. Their paths are destined to collide, but nothing goes according to plan when they end up together in an attic sex dungeon. Identities shift, and events careen out of control, much to the bewilderment of one ever-watchful canine. Oscar Wilde wrote that each man kills the thing he loves. He didn’t mean it literally. Or did he?

©2014 David Swatling (P)2015 Audible, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: LGBTQ+

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What listeners say about Calvin’s Head

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Dark Thriller with a Claustrophobic Feel

David Swatling's novel—especially as an audiobook—has this progressive feel of claustrophobia to it that really adds to the creepiness factor. Beginning with such a fantastic start (seriously, the dog finds a body, the murderer finds the dog and his owner, and... sparks fly).

It's the psychology of this thriller that really got under my skin. The reader is well aware of the potential for disaster at almost every turn, and while we dance in the psyche of a pretty broken man, his dog, and a murderer, there's a seduction at play as well that left me twitching and seriously worried for all involved.

Swatling doesn't pull punches, doesn't deliver simple characters, and above all that, has written a thoroughly unique dark thriller here. It's good. It's engrossing. It's disturbing.

The performer at first felt a bit over-the-top, but once I got into the groove of listening to his voice, it worked in compliment with the tone of the book.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Better than I thought it would be.

The first few chapters were a bit confusing and hard to get into. I actually stopped listening to it, “not my cup of tea” but went back to it a few days later while I was driving. Turns out to be a decent story. I love Calvin’s voice! Glad I listened after all!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Twiddle Dum, Twiddle Doom, and a Dog Called Calvin

This novel seemed like the in-vitro surrogate child of "Stranger by the Lake", Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles, and the film " Overboard". I initially was very dubious of the plot. I thought that Dekker's decisions and subsequent cat and mouse games with Gadget stretched beyond the reasonable suspension of disbelief that you afford a work of fiction. Then I began to see it as the actions of a desperately lonely, spiritually broken, and psychologically damaged man who had essentially given up on life. Circumstances beyond his control and cruelty lead to him being homeless but his grief fueled his instability and it crippled him until he barely had enough motivation just to wake up everyday. This, I understood, unfortunately. His personal anguish and isolation contributed to him trying to construct a fantasy domestic tableau to replace what he lost. As a psychological thriller, I can follow the path laid out. The reader becomes an unwitting audience to a man trying to charm a cobra armed only with instructions he partially skimmed from a YouTube tutorial. You have a pretty good idea that no good can come from this and how this is going to end but you do not want to take your eyes off the action. It had a solid ending.

Other issues: The Valentine/Valentino story within a story was not needed, it interrupted the pace of the story and introduced yet another unneeded POV. The tension in the sex scenes could have been further developed or just implied, if you're not going to fully commit to the graphic description.

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome

Great book, kept my attention all the way to the end, amazing audio delivery, loved it. Will be reading again, every chapter was received amazingly do recommend you give it a read.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Algorithms missed the mark here

Idk what books I bought that gave Audible's 'Recommended for you' the idea that I would like this book, but it was very wrong. Not my jam in any way.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

This Book is INFURIATING

none of the characters are smart or likable. the main character makes STAGGERINGLY stupid decisions. it's not sexy enough to be a guilty pleasure read. in fact all of the sexy bits are written like the author it afraid to commit to a little smut, so it is very antiseptic.
the dog survives, and that's the only spoiler that matters. avoid this one!!!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A bit random but a fun experience over all

The narration from the dog’s perspective is very annoying at first but you get used to it. What I like about the story is that it unfolds in an unexpected way. You have no idea what the hell is going to happen next.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

WTF did I just listen to…?

It’s possible this just wasn’t my cup of tea but I literally disliked everything about this.

While the idea of sections from a dogs perspective is a novel one I failed to see what it added to the story as a whole. Also the 1 missing star from performance is for the sometimes manic readings of the Calvin sections.

Story made zero sense, none of the characters were, believable, likable or had any redeeming character arc that I desperately kept waiting for.

For a big part of the story I kept hoping the killer would snap to and kill him just so it would be over!

Even the structural of the book itself was bizarre. With the parts, chapters and chapter subsection parts when there wasn’t really enough substance for any of that to be necessary.

Just odd, WTF did I listen to…?

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Review

Parts of the story were a little hard to believe. The way the narration included the dog’s perspective was unique but I felt like it took me out of the story. Good suspense and overall intriguing plot.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Head

Lousy & wired! Waste of my x! Wanted a fiction not sci for or weird! To strange to follow!

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