Taking the Titanic audiobook by James Patterson & Scott Slaven
Narrated by Euan Morton and Nicola Barber (2016)
Two con artists, Nigel and Cecilia Bowen, pose as a wealthy married couple and board the RMS Titanic with a single purpose: to rob its first-class passengers of their most valuable possessions. Working in concert, each targeting the ship's elite from their own angle, they find themselves caught up in a plan far larger and more dangerous than any theft they had ever conceived—one that could alter the fate of the world's most famous ship.
Part of James Patterson's BookShots series—short, fast-paced novels designed to be read in a single sitting—Taking the Titanic is co-written with Scott Slaven and unfolds through alternating first-person chapters, one for each of the two protagonists.
The narration
The dual point-of-view structure of the novel translates directly into the audiobook format: Euan Morton voices Nigel's chapters, Nicola Barber voices Cecilia's. Each narrator carries their character's perspective independently, the story passing between them chapter by chapter as the Titanic crosses the Atlantic.
Morton brings to Nigel the kind of controlled, understated tension that the role demands—a man whose charm is also a professional tool, whose narration holds something back even as it confides. His timing and tonal shifts carry the weight of dramatic irony: the listener knows, as Nigel does not fully reckon with yet, what lies ahead.
Nicola Barber is an Audie Award and AudioFile Earphones award-winning narrator whose stage background—like Morton's—informs her characterisation. The interplay between the two voices gives the audiobook a quality closer to a radio drama than a single-reader recording: the alternating narrators sharpen the sense of two independent intelligences at work, each with their own register and rhythm.
About the BookShots format
Launched in 2016, the BookShots line was James Patterson's explicit experiment in compressed storytelling: original fiction at novella length, priced and paced for readers with limited time. Taking the Titanic appeared in the inaugural wave of titles. The format suited audio well—at just over three hours, the listening experience mirrors the reading experience Patterson intended.
About the authors
James Patterson is one of the most widely read novelists in the world, with more than 400 million copies of his books sold. He holds the Guinness World Record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers by a single author and has received an Edgar Award and the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation. Taking the Titanic is co-written with Scott Slaven, who collaborated with Patterson on several BookShots titles.
Publication Details
Taking the Titanic
Links
Purchase & Listen: Audible | Amazon | Downpour | AudiobookStore
Visit James Patterson's official website for more information about the author and his works.