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Silent Siren cover art

Silent Siren

By: Matthew Franklin Sias
Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
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Summary

Paramedics save lives. Morticians bury their mistakes.

A 23-year veteran of emergency medical services, paramedic Matthew Sias took a detour in his career to pursue the death-care business and found a complementarity between two seemingly divergent careers. Silent Siren: Memoirs of a Life Saving Mortician is the record of some of the more memorable calls he has responded to through the years.

Often intense, at times gruesome, and frequently humorous, this memoir takes you from the back seat of the medic unit racing to the hospital with a trauma patient, to the brightly lit embalming room of a funeral home, and everywhere in between. Having the ability to calmly assist a person in crisis is, perhaps, one of life's most awesome privileges.

©2018 Matthew Franklin Silas (P)2019 Tantor

What listeners say about Silent Siren

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Self righteous, fatphobic and a little racist??

Totally different from his other book, The Removalist.
Lacks humility, is awful about some of his patients, and seems to be seeking praise constantly in a “look how great I am” kind of way that got really annoying. Liked the Removalist but this has left a bitter taste in my mouth. Narrator is a little monotone which I could have put up with if the content wasn’t so disappointing. Shame.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Prognosis poor

This is ok - it is heavy on the medical-speak which is to be expected but often without explanation which would prove useful to non-medics.
It does jump around a bit and I get the impression Mr Sias doesn't really appreciate people could be quite as good as him at the job...by about 3/4 way through you almost beg for a tiny bit more humility in the whole thing.
Other reviewers have mentioned his frequent reference to people's weight which I actually didn't have an issue with. If I had a job that revolved around moving people (alive and dead) then I would probably be sighing as I caught sight of the next patient or corpse who happened to be vastly heavier than the ideal weight.
The narrator was ok but he had an uphill struggle to make this more interesting.
I much preferred his other book, The Removalist read by the same person - a much better 'read'.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Mixed Bag

Narrator and stories are good but the author's views on overweight people are just awful. Can't help but feel sorry for this guy's patients.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

didn't like it

I love this type of book, but unfortunately this one is just not good. narrator is okay, but the critical reviews are right about the author.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

derogatory

love this kind of book but surprised at derogatory names and descriptions of people especially overweight people. I stopped after a short start to check reviews and see only one which happened to mention the same thing. I persisted but have actually stopped listening in disgust at yet another overweight person being discussed. One star for each category as the narrator isn't great and the storyline is a little boring at times but even if not it would have been killed pardon my pun by the attitude towards overweight people. especially in an environment where compassion should be shown?! scrapped.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent book

I really enjoyed this book it was so interesting. The narration was excellent I could listen to this book over and over

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Awful

The good performance can’t make up for how cruel the author is about his patients and clients. The book itself is less a narrative and more a collection of anecdotes, and most of them are mean spirited. The compassion he claims seems to extend to cats but not fat people, poor people, immigrants, or the disabled and mentally ill.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

informative and interesting

really enjoyed this, was very truthful and in parts funny. a great insight into the life of a ME and paramedic.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A good listen

A good listen & view on life as a mortician. Really enjoyed & chuckled a few times

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Fat phobic and racist

Blatant prejudice against fat people and racist comments about immigrants. I stuck with it as long as I could but the racism tipped me over the edge. I can only hope that this individual is in the minority amongst the paramedic community.

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