Name:  The Crypt Book 1
Author: Scott Sigler
Read by: Scott Sigler
Format:  Podcast Novel of short stories
Episodes: 22
Length:  8.3 hours
Podcast Feed:  http://www.podiobooks.com/title/the-crypt-01/feed
Author website: http://www.scottsigler.com/
One Sentence synopsis:  A collection of short stories introducing you to the crew of the PUV James Keeling.

This podiobook was a little different than most I had listened to.  Instead of being a linear story The Crypt is a series of short stories being used to set up a larger story that is yet to be told.  In each part Scott Sigler introduces you to a new crew member or gives you a piece of history about how this ship came about.  The only story that does not fit into this mold is the spine chilling “The Tank”.  I figured out the context of “The Tank” and what the big reveal was very quickly, but I still found myself chilled by the brutal and disturbing nature of that story.  My hat goes off to mister Sigler as; he is the only podiobook author that can continue to consistently disturb me with his descriptions.  I am most definitely not an easy man to disturb, but this author is truly a master of violent imagery.

The PUV James Keeling (also known as The Crypt) is a ship with a reputation.  Most people who serve on it do not survive for long and it has come to be a punishment for the worst criminal offenders in the fleet.  The choice is typically death by airlock or a tour on the Keeling.  Unfortunately other than its mortality rate we are never shown why the Keeling is considered to be a punishment worse than death.  This might be the nature of these all being back stories, but I still would have liked to have gotten a little more information.  Many of the crew are either innocent or there were extenuating circumstances to their actions, but some are truly sick individuals.  It would be nice to see how these two conflicting crew dispositions interact together.

There are some additional Crypt stories that can be found on Scott Sigler’s website, but not as part of the podiobook.  It was one such story titled “Major Anne Lafferty” that served as my introduction to the series.  It is one of the few stories in this collection where the crew member truly is guilty and you get the impression that this woman can and will survive anything.

As usual Scott Sigler could not do a good female voice to save his life.  I have listened to four Scott Sigler novels now at this point and it is my belief that this one has the worst voices by far.  It is not only hard to tell a female voice from a male, but I am left wondering if the female is even human.  I’m not sure if someone close to him should tell him to stop, or if this has just become part of his charm at this point.  Still Scott tells a strong well developed story even if he is only using a handful of voices (none of them female) to do it.

In short if you want a disturbing listen and you have already listened to Infected and Contagious this is the next best thing.