Martin Misunderstood

by Karin Slaughter

Book Overview

'One of the boldest thriller writers working today' TESS GERRITSEN
'Her characters, plot, and pacing are unrivalled' MICHAEL CONNELLY
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A darkly comic tale about Mr Less-Than-Average in an average world from the No. 1 Bestseller.

Crime fiction obsessive Martin Reed is the proverbial butt of everyone's jokes. Working as a glorified accountant at Southern Toilet Supply and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0099525895
• ISBN13: 9780099525899
• Release Date: January 2008
• Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd.
• Length: 147 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.3" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

Knight in a Daze

Think of The Bonfire of the Vanities: A Novel crossed with A Confederacy of DunceA Confederacy of Duncess and you have the dark comedy of Martin Misunderstood. Told from the first person viewpoint, narrator Wayne Knight captures the vocal insanity. The story is a man, walter mitty-ish who ends up in media frenzy of a murder investigation. The satire humor of the book pokes fun at cop shows and movies, the media shows like TMZ, and crazy family relationship. This audio production is not for children, but adults will be laughing long and hard at the novel's strongest victims..the celebrity media and their stalker type camera person It is worth a great listen for those who want a bit of fun Bennet Pomerantz AUDIOWORLD

Bravo!

I have only recently begun to read Karin Slaughter's books, and I jumped at the chance to listen to her latest endeavor. This story does not disappoint! Martin is the milquetoast main character, a man beaten down by life with an overbearing, foul-mouthed mother, a going-nowhere job in middle management at a toilet supply company, a head full of crime solving fantasies, and a surprisingly optimistic outlook regarding himself and his place in the world. Once he is suspected of murder, his life is turned upside down - and not necessarily in a bad way. This is a dark, sometimes naughty, usually laugh-out-loud funny tale that Knight dives into and makes his own (he was BORN to play Martin). Slaughter delivers with this story, and I cannot imagine a better audiobook presentation than this one. Martin Misunderstood is short and sweet and well worth the time to listen.

Terrificly Funny In a Ha Ha Way Mystery

It seems that not only does anybody understand the bookish, Walter Mitty type character Martin Reed, but that he doesn't understand anybody else either. Martin, who was the butt of everybody's joke in high school, is working at Southern Toilet Supply, where some of those same people who laughed at him in high school also work. To make matters worse he lives with his mother, who makes those who tormented him in high school look like pikers. She is everybody's worst mother. When Sandy, a coworker who has made fun of Martin in the cruelest way, is murdered, Martin is the number one suspect. He has an alibi, he was with an overweight, hooking masseuse, doing the nasty, but he doesn't want anybody to know. He'd rather take the rap than be found out. Enter homicide detective Anther, who also knows what it's like to be the butt of a joke or two. In fact she garnered no respect from her colleagues until she invented a fictional lesbian partner. Martin is taken with Anther and the feeling is mutual. Then he stumbles into sex with Uniqué, a woman he works with, just before she too is murdered. Guess who the cops like for the crime. And so it goes with this humorous story. Looking back, I see I probably should have figured out who the real killer was, but I didn't. Ken (my hubby) and I listened to this two CD book-on-tape on our way to Reno and I don't think I've ever laughed so hard. Yes, there are risque parts. Yes, the F-bomb is dropped a lot, but funny, let me tell you this is funny in a terrific ha ha way. I really liked it. Reviewed by Vesta Irene

X-rated Humorous Murder Mystery (solved)

This is the first time ever that I listened to an audio version of a book and found it quite delightful and amusing. Wayne Knight did an outstanding job in performing a variety of voices for the different characters (both men and women) in this book. This is my first exposure to the writing of Karin Slaughter and I am positively impressed. The author displays a great sense of humor which is brought to life by Wayne Knight's amazing nuanced voices. First, Martin Reed is a geek-like character who lives a rather dull and uncomplicated life in a small town in Georgia. His most notable facial feature is a hawk-like nose, which made him self-conscious. His nickname was "Beak" and even after he had a rhinoplasty (commonly called a "nose job" which fixes and remodels the nose through plastic surgery). His friends continued to call him "Beak" despite the improvement in his looks (which they never acknowledged). He went to school with essentially the same people who work with him, at Southern Toilet Supply. It was a family owned business when he started there but it was bought by a German company who put on the pressure to sell their prodcuts. They did a down-size of about 50% of the employees after taking over. Martin is an account executive who has a rather sassy black secretary named "Unique". She likes her first name pronounced in a French manner with an "a" sound at the end. Martin lives at home with his mother, Evelyn, called "Evie". She is a bossy woman who continually harps on some aspect of Martin's character or behavior and she peppers her pronouncements with the word "luck" but subsitute the letter "F" for the "L". She has a strong southern accent created by Wayne Knight which is very characteristic for the region and quite funny. When Martin arrives at work at the Southern Toilet Supply company he learns one of the employees was murdered. Martin is a prime suspect because Sandee had pulled a practical joke on him using a most embarrassing item which could've been viewed as the 'motive'. Martin is jailed, interrogated and let go. However he develops a mental love affair with the female detective. At home, Martin ponders how his uneventful life has suddenly gotten so exciting but as the reader will discover for the wrong reasons! He remains the prime suspect solely because Martin does not want to reveal his whereabouts on the night of the murder. The listener/reader learns Martin was involved in some X-rated activity which would make him look ridiculous if revealed. He simply would not open up about the matter. When, a second dead body is discovered at Southern Toilet Company, this time it is his secretary Uniqué, all suspicion is cast on Martin again. People at the company *know* Uniqué suddenly found Martin irresistable and their spontaneous very physical encounter was heard by all ... I was stunned, I did not see it coming (pun intended). Obviously because Martin was so directly involved with the deceased, circumstantial evidence points

Pleasant mystery comedy, with a very misunderstood Martin...

After finishing this short audio book for the second time, I can't help but see similarities between author Karin Slaughter and... dare I say it... Steve Martin's Shop Girl (ah-ha! A "Martin" connection!). In Martin Misunderstood, a quiet, shy accountant finds himself a suspect in not one, but two murders. Slaughter's development of Martin, his mother (priceless), UnEque, and the other characters is entertaining, and narrator Wayne Knight (Newman from Seinfeld) does a good job portraying the emotions of these characters, though you have to get used to his female baritone detective! R-rated (watch who you have in the car with you when playing it) for language and sexuality. Enjoyable. I look forward to discovering more of Slaughter's work. Oh, and the CD ends with a brief snippet from Wayne Knight on his decision to narrate the book. He is a funny guy.