When The Wind Blows by James Patterson (Audiobook Review)

Audiobook Reviews from Audiobook Heaven

Title: When the Wind Blows
Series: Maximum Ride, prequel
Author: James Patterson
Publisher: Books on Tape
Narrator: Kimberly Schraf
Duration: 10 hours, 30 minutes
Copyright: 1998
Genres: science fiction, action, adventure
Filed in: Audiobook reviews
Review copy provided by Kearney Public Library.

THE GIST: A young girl sprints through the forest, closely pursued by several men, trained hunters and killers. The girl’s name is Max. Well, that’s the name she has given herself anyway. Back at the lab, they called her Tinkerbell, a code name. Today, a guard at the laboratory, euphemistically called "The School", got careless, leaving a door unlocked. Max and her younger brother Matthew saw their chance and took it.

The two children quickly separated in the hope that one of them would make it out. Max is wondering what became of Matthew when she sees the fence. Ten feet of electrified chain-link, topped with coils of razor wire, there will be no climbing over this obstacle. That's when eleven-year-old Max spreads her wings, and flies for the very first time.

Frannie O’Neil, veterinarian of a small, nearby town, is driving home late one night, when she sees a flash of white in the woods bordering the road. She stops the car and gets out. What she sees must be a hallucination; a young girl with silvery white wings. Before Frannie can approach, the apparition disappears into the trees. A couple of days later, she sees the bird-girl again, this time in broad daylight, and this time there is no mistake, the girl is flying.

Kit Harrison is an FBI agent, but Frannie didn’t know that when she asked him to help her find the bird-child. As a matter of fact, this is the very reason Kit is here undercover. His investigation into the disappearances of several top genetic scientists has led him to this remote area of the Colorado mountains. Frannie also doesn't know that her husband, who died a year and a half ago, is one of those scientists.

Kit and Frannie eventually track the girl down and, with difficulty, convince her to trust them. With Max’s help, they locate "The School”, only to find that it has been hastily abandoned. Not completely abandoned, however. Four other bird children have been left behind, still locked in their cages. Max's brother Matthew is not one of them. From the various records and half-completed experiments left behind, Kit and Frannie realize that this facility is being used to conduct illegal genetic experiments on human children.

As clean-up crews begin to arrive, Kit, Frannie, and the five hybrid children make their narrow escape into the woods. Bullets fly over their heads as the explosions begin inside the laboratory. Max and the other children are now the only evidence left to show what The School was up to, but the conspiracy goes much deeper than Kit and Frannie imagined. They’ll have to face trained killers, and the betrayal of close friends, to bring The School to justice.

MY THOUGHTS: Yep, you guessed it. The Max in “When the Wind Blows" is none other than Maximum Ride herself. Written seven years before the first Maximum Ride novel, “When the Wind Blows” provides the origin of Max and The School. True, James Patterson re-invented much of Max’s history in 2005, but this audio book definitely laid the ground work.

While the later Maximum Ride audio books are unquestionably aimed at younger readers, the overall tone of "When the Wind Blows” is much more mature. Some of the language and other content of the audio book are not for children.

NARRATOR: Kimberly Schraf is a good audio book narrator. She doesn’t do a lot of different voices, but she reads with feeling. While Nancy Wu was a good voice for the sassy, teen-age Max, Kimberly Schraf was a good choice for the more mature "When the Wind Blows.”

FINAL WORD: I’ve read all six of the recent Maximum Ride audio books, and it was fun to read “When the Wind Blows" as a prequel. Fans of Maximum Ride will definitely want to check this out, or if you're not already a fan of Max, why not start from the beginning?

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS:
The Lake House by James Patterson (Audiobook Review)
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson (Audiobook Review)
Maximum Ride: School'S Out Forever by James Patterson (Audiobook Review)

If you liked this audiobook review, you can purchase the audiobook here:
Get "When the Wind Blows" by James Patterson (Unabridged Audiobook) from Amazon.com.

This audiobook review is based on the unabridged audiobook.
Audiobook review by Steven Brandt
Come back soon for more audiobook reviews from Audiobook Heaven.