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    Hang Wire
    Hang Wire
    Hang Wire
    Audiobook9 hours

    Hang Wire

    Written by Adam Christopher

    Narrated by Luke Daniels

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    When Ted Hall's birthday dinner in San Francisco's famous Chinatown ends with an explosion, the fire department blames a gas leak, but when Ted finds strange, personalised messages from the restaurant's fortune cookies scattered around his apartment, his suspicions are aroused, particularly as his somnambulant travels appear to coincide with murders by the notorious Hang Wire Killer.

    Meanwhile, the circus has come to town, but the Celtic dancers are taking their pagan act a little too seriously and the manager of the Olde Worlde Funfair has started talking to his vintage machines. And while the new acrobat is wowing the crowds, his frequent absences are causing tension among the performers.

    Out in the city there are other new arrivals, immortals searching for an ancient power which has been unleashed, awakening something awful buried deep beneath the San Andreas fault…a primal evil which, if not stopped, will destroy the entire world.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJan 28, 2014
    ISBN9781480537613
    Hang Wire
    Author

    Adam Christopher

    Adam Christopher was born in Auckland, New Zealand. In 2006, he moved to the sunny North West of England, where he lives in domestic bliss with wife and cat in a house next to a canal. Adam's short fiction has appeared in Pantechnicon, Hub, and Dark Fiction Magazine. When not writing Adam can be found drinking tea and obsessing over Dark Shadows, DC Comics, and 1960s Doctor Who. Adam is also very bad at épée but knows that Thibault cancels out Capa Ferro, unless the enemy has studied his Agrippa. Which he has.

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    Reviews for Hang Wire

    3.5/5

    23 ratings7 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 4/5
      I've wanted to read this since I was given the summary to have a go at coming up with a blurb, back when I visited Angry Robot for a day (especially with seeing the cover art, which to me seems perfect in its relative simplicity). So I gleefully pounced on the email offering ARCs, crossed my fingers, and waited. When I got back from Belgium, I had a whole package of books from Angry Robot, including Hang Wire, which I cracked open as soon as I could.I have Adam Christopher's other books with Angry Robot, except The Age Atomic, but I hadn't got round to them yet. So this was my first book by Adam Christopher, which works fine, as it's a standalone. It's urban fantasy, with a touch of the thriller and a bit of fake Celtic magic, and real gods of various stripes, and real people affected by them. It took me a while to get together what was happening, partially because I never pay attention to dates at the beginning of chapters even when authors are so helpful as to give them, and partially because I have a cold. (That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.)It's an absorbing read, even if you aren't quite hanging on and catching all the hints and implications, and it might take you some places you aren't expecting. The pacing is really good: there was never a point where I could put it down and not wonder what was coming up next. The writing works well for me: I could picture things clearly, but it wasn't fussy, either. There were some bits I still haven't quite sorted out in my mind, but the plot carried me along fairly smoothly; I'd have to reread it to tell you if that was just me being dense (having a cold) or not.Definitely an enjoyable one, and worth picking up when it comes out -- and I'm veeerryyy interested in hurrying up and getting to read Adam Christopher's other work.
    • 3/5
      [ SEE THIS REVIEW @ BOOKCHARMED ]

      The city of San Francisco doesn't know it yet but they're on the verge of total annihilation, and it all starts with an exploding fortune cookie during the birthday of a Bay Area blogger named Ted. It actually almost happened several times before (see: 1906 earthquake), but now with the circus in town, a few gods from long forgotten mythology in the mix, and a serial killer known as the Hang Wire Killer running loose around the city, things are looking a lot more serious.

      There's certainly a lot packed into this book with a little bit of everything for everyone, and yet I didn't really like it as much as I thought it would. I was really hooked by the beginning as it (quite literally) started off with a bang, but the plot quickly became convoluted and I slowly started to lose interest.

      The use of multiple perspectives was probably the best way to thoroughly explain most of the plot, but it's not one of my favorite things as a reader, especially when it includes one-time chapters of people who aren't the main focus or aren't necessarily important. One particular chapter changed points of views several times without warning which made for an annoying and confusing read.

      Even though Ted Hall is touted as the main character in the blurb, there is actually very little from Ted's point of view. That was a bit disappointing because from the little that we do glimpse of him, he was probably my favorite for his personality and sense of humor which a few in the story seemed to lack. I still liked a few of the other characters, particularly Bob the blonde surfer dude who's been teaching ballroom dancing by the beach for last few centuries and Benny, a small Korean girl with an affinity for the word "dude." On the other hand, I found myself wanting to skip Joel's chapters most of the time. As the representative antagonist of the story, Joel is certainly creepy enough, but his chapters are often repetitive and didn't really add anything new to the story after a while.

      Adam Christopher relies heavily on repetition to build up the tension in the story. It worked to convey an impending sense of doom up to a certain point, but then it just reached a limit where I might just have to throw a book at someone if I ever heard certain phrases again.

      Things I never want to hear about again:
      - Something moving / something else / something under...
      - The coin in his pocket being cold.
      - Italicized it, they, and them.

      To really illustrate how repetitive the writing could be, I must give a shout out to one part in the story that mentioned that the weather was "hot enough to fry an egg" about three times in the span of three consecutive paragraphs.

      Plot wise, I did enjoy the story. It kept me on my toes and kept me wondering who it and they were. I also enjoyed the dash of mythology thrown into it and the sense of the mystical that the circus theme always brings. The writing style, however, left a lot to be desired.
    • 4/5
      Hang Wire - what a trip! I find it so hard to adequately describe what I felt about this book. I liked it, it confused me, it left me wanting more. But ok lets go with this:

      First few chapters: When you turn into a gibbering mess on the floor because there are no words to describe the enjoyment of what you're reading....yah that was me. The intro was strong but be prepared for much back and forth time jumping.

      There are quite a few characters featured. And no shortage of fascinating concepts and ideas that the author was weaving in. Plus...an evil circus, my reaction to anything circus?: Fricka fracking blowing my mind good ! - who what, ok yes I'm loving it - just yes - words fail me...there is nothing creepier and more delicious than a circus. I might be the ruling authority on this.

      Then I get past my initial reaction and move into a zone where I was cruising along and my momentum slowed down a bit. I was trying to absorb all the strange things that were being tossed at me. The writing was lush and immersive. A touch more world building and explanation would have been greatly appreciated, because heck sometimes I need things spelled out for me. Its a fine balance that must be walked between letting a reader fill in the gaps to hey my foot is stuck here and I need the story to help pull me out.

      Each chapter we jumped from one character to another - this could be good or this could be bad I think it completely depends on an individual reader's preference. Personally, at first I was excited by it because everything was so fresh and interesting. But then admittedly after awhile I found I wasn't attaching to any one character in particular as much as I usually would so I think I would have benefited from longer amounts of time spent with each character at a given stint. Because of this reason I think Hang Wire would be best binge read because that way you won't lose track of which character you are with and where you are in the story. Just buckle in and plow through.

      Hang Wire has a lot of things going on, and when I say a lot I am not joking. Each character brings their own weird funky bag of something to this potluck party and some work great and others will leave you wondering - 'now why the heck is this here or happening, and who the heck, why would you even be here?' sort of moments. Sometimes, I can really dig that. Obviously, this worked for me this time around because I was really enjoying it and I could partially say I have a rather fractured state of mind currently and this fit with how I was feeling perfectly. But ultimately, I can't explain why I was able to roll with this the way that I was. Maybe it was the evil circus....maybe it was the exiled gods? Maybe it was demented characters and a serial killer. Who knows? I liked it, nuff said?

      Alright one more bit of two cents! I think Hang Wire will be a complete hit or miss read for folks. You will either click with it in some weird way that defies explanation or you'll not like the flow and moments of confusion. Though you won't be able to help yourself from loving the author's prose because hell that was just dagnabit good. Either way I'd say if you're intrigued it definitely worth a read. I've read one other book by this author, The Burning Dark, and it was so completely different from this in every way it was almost as if someone else penned it. Both great books and now I'm itching to try out another by Christopher because all seem like they are completely different genres.
    • 3/5
      Bay area blogger Ted Hall is out celebrating his birthday when an unexpected event sends his world spiraling out of control. His sleeping schedule isn't what it used to be and despite spending hours in bed, he’s no less rested when he awakes. Meanwhile, there’s a circus in town and the extracurricular activities of the performers are putting people on edge. There’s an ancient evil sleeping below the city streets and its arrival threatens us all, that is unless a few local Gods can put a stop to it.

      I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

      I was a huge fan of Adam Christopher’s The Empire State and its follow up, The Age Atomic. So much so that The Age Atomic made my year end list in 2013! Clearly, Angry Robot books was also a fan as they've decided to publish his follow up, Hang Wire. The plot within Hang Wire is just as original as his previous work and like before, he loads it up on characters and ideas. Maybe it’s what Christopher was going for but for the first third of this novel, I was so lost. That being said, when things start coming together, they do so masterfully.

      While I didn't love it as much as his two-part noir tale, it’s a fun novel with a hell of an interesting cast. The character of Joel in particular, creeped the hell out of me. His interludes inside the main narrative takes him through the 1900s as a force to be reckoned with. His dialogue is both unique and memorable. The other supporting players flesh out the novel’s world in trying to be as diverse as possible. Benny, a chipper new employee in Ted’s office has some great moments as well as Bob, a mysterious beach dweller that spends his days teaching dance lessons in the sand. Both have important roles that grow as the novel progresses.

      Hang Wire is a ultra-strange urban fantasy novel hell bent on keeping the reader in the dark until the very moment author Adam Christopher is good and ready to put the puzzle pieces together.
    • 2/5
      I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.This book follows several different characters whose lives intersect. Ted just had his birthday and had some sort of accident at his party. He is having trouble with his sleep. Joel is on a mission to follow the light. Bob has retired to the beach and is a regular tourist attraction, because he likes to ballroom dance with tourists. Finally, there are the Hang Wire killer who is stalking the streets of the city and an acrobat from the circus who is chasing the killer. There is something sleeping under San Francisco, and what Ted, Joel, Bob, the killer, and the would-be hero do will either cause it to wake or stay under the streets.I finished this book on Friday, and I have been struggling with what to say in this review. Let's first review what I disliked the about the book. I found that there were two big problems with this book. (1) The world building rules were not defined. There are gods in this book from different cultures, but there is no explanation why these gods are in San Fransisco or if there are other gods roaming about the city or the world. I was also confused why the gods mentioned in this book are in this book. They didn't seem related to San Francisco or have another connection to this story. (2) There were a lot of POV characters in this book, and the chapters were short. I had a hard time caring about the characters and remembering who was who, because the chapters ended and moved to a new POV character before I got interested in them. About one-third of the way through the book, I started to get into the groove, but I was definitely feeling a bit frustrated by this point.Although I had some problems with the world building and revolving cast of characters, the writing kept me hooked. I didn't want to put the book down; I really wanted to see how everything came together. I was really surprised how content I was reading this book even with its problems. I also really enjoyed the feel and the atmosphere of the book. People have described Hang Wire as noir fiction. I typically expect characters to be a bit more cynical and the city to be a bit more rundown for a book to be considered noir fiction; however, the feel of the book was noir. There is something haunting about this book that harkens to noir even though it isn't (at least in my opinion).Overall, this book was okay. I wish it had been a bit longer, so the world building could have been more developed. Also, there was a bit of info dumping at the end of the book that was probably added, because the world building had been so vague up until that point. Christopher at that point had to just bluntly tell his audience what he was thinking, so the readers knew what was going on, if they were still confused. If you are a fan of American Gods by Neil Gaiman, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, or the television show Carnivalé and are okay with limited world building, this may be a fun read for you. Unfortunately, for me, this wasn't a great fit. At the same time, I enjoyed the writing, and I am still excited to try some of Christopher's other book.
    • 4/5
      Having wanted to read a book by this author for a while, I initially debated between either tackling 7 Wonders or the Empire State series, but then I found out about his upcoming title Hang Wire. After reading the description, I knew right then I wanted it to be my first Adam Christopher novel. Immortal gods, pagan rites, a serial killer on the loose...is there anything this book doesn't have? And what's this, a circus too? If anything, it was this last one that sold me. Hang Wire looked to be an unconventional urban fantasy that is also a fusion of the paranormal, horror and mystery. There's even some mythology thrown in to stir things up in this already quirky mix.In present day San Francisco, Ted goes out to dinner with his group of journalist friends to celebrate his birthday, only to have a fortune cookie blow up in his face. Physically unharmed, Ted nonetheless starts experiencing odd things ever since the incident. Recently, the city has also been held in fear by a killer known as Hang Wire, who brutally strangles his victims before stringing them up in public places.Meanwhile, the circus is in town with a new highwire act and a group of Celtic dancers that has been garnering a lot of praise. But tension is mounting behind the scenes with the performers, especially with rumors that the carnival is cursed and the frequent fights breaking out between the workers and the creepy circus manager putting everyone on edge. There's an ancient evil lurking, and as it turns out, everything has to do with a handful of gods who walk among us, one of them being a scruffy but devastatingly handsome beach bum who gives free ballroom dancing lessons at the aqua park...Right, this book is just bizarre. But, I liked it. I didn't think I would at first, simply because of the sheer amount of information the story throws at you right off the bat. As you can see from my brief summary, there's a lot happening in this book, and while trying to gather your bearings some parts can feel a tad overwhelming. Not to mention, the numerous time jumps near the beginning can add to the sense of disjointedness. I was loaded up with so many questions at first. Most of them involve Joel. Who is he and why are we seeing him in all these places across the country at these very different times? He's obviously hunting something, but what is this strange power allowing him to know exactly where to be? Where is it coming from? A lot of these questions were answered to my satisfaction at the end, but there were still many points that I felt could have been expanded. I bring this up because for a book with so many threads and topics, the world building is surprisingly on the light side. I enjoyed what I saw, but also felt like there should have been more.However, I am amazed at Adam Christopher's creativity and the vision for this novel. I especially loved the mysticism and the darkness. Take the Hang Wire killer, for example. It was just one of the many developments in the overarching story line, but admittedly it was also the horror and mystery of it that eventually grabbed my attention and drew me in. And in fantasy, you usually see circuses depicted as magical places filled with whimsy and wonder, but here the circus is a cursed, creepy place suffused with pure evil where the carnival attractions themselves hunger for blood. I found it all deeply enticing.So then, my first Adam Christopher novel turned out to be quite the offbeat experience, but I wasn't disappointed. All in all, this was a highly original read packed with all kinds of bizarre and fantastical elements, and that's how I like it. There may be a lot to take in at first, but everything comes together eventually, once the story gets going and builds momentum.
    • 4/5
      GoodI was lucky enough to snag an ARC of this book from Angry Robot which is due to be published end of Jan/beginning of Feb 2014 (US/UK have different publication dates). Ted Hall works for a blog in San Francisco and on an evening out in a Chinese restaurant his fortune cookie explodes in his face. After that he starts to lose time, seems to be sleepwalking and is writing on his laptop in the middle of the night in Chinese. He’s worried as his night walking seems to coincide with a grisly set of murders committed by a new serial killer in town, nicknamed the “Hang Wire killer” by the media. Is it coincidence that a new circus is in town, one that has a new acrobatic star called Highwire? One where the vintage carousel has a monkey with ruby eyes at its centre? One where the manager wears an old fashioned stovepipe hat and has one completely grey eye. And who is the beach bum who teaches ballroom dancing really? And what’s the link to the big quake of 1906?Christopher parcels his plot detail out in small increments as the story unfolds keeping you guessing at what is really going on for a goodly proportion of the book. For me this is an effective technique and one that can draw you slowly onwards. In a lesser writer’s hands this could be annoying or just confusing, but in Christopher’s capable hands it builds well and reaches a satisfactory conclusion in time for the action to really kick in in the last section of the book. There were a few minor niggles for me, not enough to really throw me out of the story or hamper my enjoyment too much though. There is a bit of repetition of information , and the characters could have felt a little more real.Overall - Being an Angry Robot book you expect it to be pacy and intelligent with good plotting and Christopher really delivers.