I am torn about this audiobook. John O’Donnell is a good writer. This was a compelling listen…to a degree. He established early on that he and his friends had a lot of gaming experience and Trump did not. Then he went on to list the general ledger for every year he was with Trump and talk about every number he influenced and which Trump did not give him credit for. It got monotonous, quickly!
I enjoyed learning about how the casino works and the effort put into attracting high dollar gamblers. I even enjoyed listening to some of the behind the scenes maneuvering that went on between the different casino’s. What struck me as vindictive was the exhaustive listing of the numbers (as I said above), the minute logistic details around Trump’s affair with Marla Maples, and the seeming callousness of Trump to O’Donnell. This is a his word against Trump narrative and I am sure Trump’s recollection of the period would be much different. The timing of the release of the free audio book strikes me as suspicious, too, as O’Donnell has clearly not let go of his time at Trump Plaza and wishes to do harm to Trump’s presidential campaign.
As always, Kevin Pierce’s narration was spot on. His voice is unique and he brings a professionalism to both novels and non-fiction narrations that is unsurpassed.
I received this audiobook for free from audiobook boom! in exchange for an honest review.