• Dark Star: Confessions of a Rock Idol

  • Rock Star Chronicles
  • By: Creston Mapes
  • Narrated by: Troy Klein
  • Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (32 ratings)

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Dark Star: Confessions of a Rock Idol  By  cover art

Dark Star: Confessions of a Rock Idol

By: Creston Mapes
Narrated by: Troy Klein
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Publisher's summary

Dark Star: Confessions of a Rock Idol

Millionaire rock star Everett Lester had it all....

His metal band DeathStroke played bars and honkytonks until a NYC record label discovered them and the band experienced a meteoric rise to the top of the record charts - and super-stardom. Despite Everett’s unfathomable popularity and riches, he was spiraling out of control into a dark existence where everyone wanted a piece of him, and where drugs and alcohol were his only comfort. When Everett begins to rely on the services of a personal psychic from L.A. for guidance and solace, he gradually finds a sinister form of evil seeping into his fractured life that threatens to end his career - and destroy his existence. Through it all, he receives uplifting notes from a young lady in Kansas who claims she’s not a fan, but a friend who’s praying for him. A murder trial ensues and the eyes of the world are watching courtroom B-3 in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

With tension in every scene, Amazon number-one best-selling author Creston Mapes demonstrates why he is a top pick among mystery, fiction, and thriller lovers. Fans of Frank Peretti, Terri Blackstock, Ted Dekker, Joel Rosenberg, Lynette Eason, Susan Sleeman, Colleen Coble, and Christy Barritt will love this thriller from award-winning and best-selling author Creston Mapes.

Praise for Dark Star

“Worthy of any Grisham novel, this book was riveting from start to finish. Mapes is a rare find.” (Focus on Fiction)

Dark Star is a gripping page-turner of a debut.” (Infuze Magazine)

"A rock and roll thriller sure to keep readers in suspense.” (CCM Magazine)

About the Author

Creston Mapes grew up in Northeast Ohio, where he has fond memories of living with his family of five in the upstairs' portion of his dad's early American furniture store - The Weathervane Shop. Creston was not a good student, but the one natural talent he possessed was writing.

He set type by hand and cranked out his own neighborhood newspaper as a kid, then went on to graduate with a degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University. Creston was a newspaper reporter and photographer in Ohio and Florida, then moved to Atlanta, Georgia, for a job as a creative copywriter for a printing firm/ad agency.

Creston served for a stint as a creative director, but quickly learned he was not cut out for management. He went out on his own as a freelance writer in 1991 and did work for Chick-fil-A, Coca-Cola, The Weather Channel, Oracle, ABC-TV, Johnson Controls, TNT Sports, colleges and universities, ad agencies and more. He's ghost-written more than 10 nonfiction books.

Along the way, Creston has written 10 contemporary thrillers, achieved Amazon best seller status, and had one of his novels (Nobody) optioned as a major motion picture. He plans to continue writing fiction into the sunset.

Creston married his fourth grade sweetheart, Patty, and they have four amazing kids who range from 21 to 31 years old. Creston loves his part-time job as an usher at local venues were he gets to see all the latest-greatest concerts and sporting events. He enjoys reading, fishing, time with his family, and dates with his wife.

©2006 Creston Mapes, Inc. (P)2014 Creston Mapes, Inc.

What listeners say about Dark Star: Confessions of a Rock Idol

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

REDEMPTION OF A ROCKSTAR

Really enjoyed listening. A world famous rock star's life is transformed by a fan who is determined to turn his life around through the power of God. There is a murder, a trial, a love story, and of course Ev's redemption. The work is heavy with Christianity, which was fine with me. Looking forward to listening to the sequel FULL TILT.

Audiobook provided for an honest review.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Didn't want to get out of the car

You know a book is good when you don't want to stop it.

This is that kind of book. The suspense ... and the twists .... in the narrative made it difficult to stop it when we arrived wherever we were driving to. Sometimes we'd just sit in the vehicle and keep listening.

Already looking to get the next book.

in HIS NAME.

h.

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

Another Great Story!

I really enjoyed this prequel. Not crazy about the narration though. There were a couple places I had to fast forward because the narration was so annoying.

Overall, though, very enjoyable. I look forward to more adventures of Everett Lester!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

great storyline

the Narrator SUCKED! He was so boring and monotone. if the storyline wasn't as strong as it was, i would have taken the monetary loss and deleted the book! Creston Mapes is a great storyteller and his books are filled with the glory of Christ. Unfortunately, 80% of his kill the storyline with their monotone and boring reading.

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

My wife loved the book but I thought it was ok

First, I listened to this book because my wife loved it. I thought it was ok. I found the jumps in the timeline sudden because there was no pause or indication that the narrative was jumping. I also had trouble distinguishing between voices and was confused at times as to who was speaking the dialogue.

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

Great Story, flat, one dimensional performance

Where does Dark Star: Confessions of a Rock Idol rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

In the middle somewhere.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes. Great story.

Would you be willing to try another one of Troy Klein’s performances?

Only because of the author's storytelling. Troy is very one dimensional and shows a very narrow range of intensity and emotions. Their were virtually no pauses between scenes that took me a while to figure out things had changed.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Redemption comes with a price.

Any additional comments?

Troy is not very good.

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

Interesting read

What did you like best about Dark Star: Confessions of a Rock Idol? What did you like least?

This was a very different sort of read for me. I do not do a lot of Christian based books, they get preachy at times. This one gets that way at times, message based reads generally do. That was something I did not like about the book, but expected when I went into the read.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The story was engaging and believable. Despite my dislike of some parts I found my self avidly listening and eager to see how it would all pan out. This is a credit to the wonderful storing telling and dynamic characters.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Troy Klein?

I enjoyed his read for the most part, there were some weird pitch things he did that were annoying. I was also not a fan of his deep pauses between sentences. I was a fan of his rich tone and would be interested to hear more of his work.

Was Dark Star: Confessions of a Rock Idol worth the listening time?

It was definitely worth a credit and has me interested in seeking out more of the series. This is a new author to me, I will have to see how the next book goes.

While it was not my cup of tea, there are fans of this genre who will eat it up!

Any additional comments?

Disclosure - I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts,opinions and ratings are my own.

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

Very good book!

We love all of Creston Mapes' books. This is a story about the life of a super rock star. Everett Lester is one messed up dude! It did get a bit confusing at times when the storyline would go from the past to the present and back again. But once we got into the story, it was not a problem. We highly recommend this book and are anxious to get started on the sequel ~ Full Tilt.

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

Difficult to listen to for long streches of time

Disclosure: I was given a free copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

I found it very difficult to get involved in, or even understand what was happening in the story, because I found the narration itself to be very distracting. The narrator frequently shifts his pitch up and then quickly down again, making it sound like everything is a joke to him, or perhaps that he is an inexperienced salesman or waiter in a restaurant trying to convince you to buy an overpriced dessert.

I felt that the tone of the general narration was inappropriate for a number of scenes. For instance, there were court room scenes discussing murder, an aging rock star talking about his drug abuse, and all through it, the narration is again that pitch shifting, salesman voice.

From a purely technical perspective, this title does not suffer from any significant technical issues (i.e. mouth noise, too much compression, etc), and the narrators pacing was not rushed or too slow. I'm giving the story four stars because it seems like an interesting premise, but I was honestly not able to follow along well because of the narration.

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

Good story, too much religion

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

take out all of the religion

Would you ever listen to anything by Creston Mapes again?

maybe ... but I would have to research it very well

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

performance was great

Any additional comments?

I received this book free in exchange for an honest review.

The story line was great. The imagery brought to mind singers like Vince Neil and Scott Weiland. The overdone religion got old fast. Had I been reading the book instead of listening I would have been skipping a lot of pages/ I am not someone who buys into the whole religion stick so that aspect ruined the whole story for me.

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