How do you spell relief? For former Army Lieutenant Asher Benson, its spelled B.E.E.R.
Benson has a strange form of PTSD derived from a brain injury caused by an IED explosion that killed the rest of his team. His injury causes him to know the thoughts of everyone around him. It is an affliction, while useful at certain times, is overpowering and best controlled by copious quantities of beer. The result is a persona of vagrancy.

However, Asher’s psychic ability is not unique. There are others with psychic abilities, some more controlled and powerful; as Asher will find out, some are bound for revenge.

Ash is a thriller that combines dry, tongue-in-cheek humor with nonstop action and a tendency for the reader to cry “uncle” in sympathy for Asher…after all, how much can one man take? But Asher seems to be willing to take it all.

This is tall tale, one in which the main character has an ability that is not fully believable, an ability to absorb punishment that is not believable, and a lifestyle that is only marginally believable. Nevertheless, readers will cringe with empathy for Asher. His friend, Drew Lloyd, and Nami are more believable characters and Sammy is quite believable…especially her disbelief that a chance encounter with Asher has placed her life in danger.

Laced with sarcastic humor in the face of potentially fatal circumstances, this book will keep thriller and action books readers glued to edge of their seats well into the night. ( )

The protagonist, Ash Benson, a former soldier during the Iraq war - he was severely injured after driving over an IED. After months of recovery, he discovered that he could read other people's minds. It is unfortunate that he wasn't able to control the bombarding thoughts and turned to alcohol to deaden the nerves. This was his way of life for five years.
People in passing thought he was a homeless person in dire straits. He did have a small apartment, but his monthly disability payment was only enough to pay the rent and keep him drunk every night during the month. His mistake was walking into a bank during a hold up. He was a hero in hiding that was pursued by many.
Later that day, Ash is kidnapped by an American agency and recruited to find a monster with telekinetic powers that could force people to do things they didn't want to do. Hence, begins an episode of the X-Men. The story, itself, is okay as both parties seek one another, leaving dead bodies in their wake. We later learn why Murdock seeks revenge and how he escaped from his captors.
The scenes at the mall in DC were too over the top. I kept asking myself that since Murdock could only control people within a certain radius, then why didn't somebody take him out with a sniper rifle instead of trying to sneak up on him and shoot him with a pistol.
If you like a story where people turn on one another, dead bodies galore, snarky one-liners from the lead character, characters cussing like a drunken sailors that ends with readers scratching their heads - wondering if they missed the ending of the story...then this story is definitely for you. I will not be reading another book in this series. ( )

My original Ash audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Ash is the first in the Asher Benson Series, with a little paranormal hint. Asher Benson, a war veteran suffers from PTSD and has a purple heart, after a brain injury he was able to read people’s minds and with this new gift or rather a curse he is more troubled than ever because while walking on a street, the thoughts of the people around him form a chaos in his mind as if they are shouting and screaming in his ears.

Able to read people’s minds and unable to stop himself from filtering the thoughts, Ash is aware of the grave a danger he is in or how would the government make use of him if they ever knew what he could do. He only has one friend named Drew and he tries his best to keep himself out of Drew’s mind.

The story begins with Ash stopping a bank robbery by reading the robber’s thoughts and talking him out of it when he meets Sammy who considers him, her hero. The government gets ahold of him and that’s where the action starts and never stops till the end. Ash and his team get into a mess and are trying to prevent a tragedy about to happen.

As much as it is a thriller, it is quite humorous too. Nami, one of the characters is like a breath of fresh air in the story, and the dialogues between Drew and Ash bring a chuckle. Anyone who’d like to read a light but fast-paced thriller, this is for you.

However, after all the praise about the story, there were some things specific to audiobooks that are not like-able about this one. Some sort of music at the very beginning of the book is fine but at the beginning of every chapter it becomes annoying and distracting, it kills the mood. Besides, the music is also not that great. The production was not so convenient to listen to, the voice seemed suppressed and blurred at times, and it was just not clear on higher volumes. The idea of projecting people’s thoughts (whenever Ash listens) in a deep echoing voice was a good one but again they weren’t clear and didn’t seem really necessary. The sounds of gunshots and the police radios right in the middle of a huge twist made me feel like I was going to miss something which could have had a great impact on the story by itself. The narration was overall good, but had there been none of these extra little things, it would have been excellent.

Audiobook provided for review by the narrator. ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is a fast paced action thriller with great characters and a very unusual and interesting story line.

Ash, the main character, was a confident well-adjusted soldier leading a team in Iraq but after a devastating incident in which he was injured, he was sent back home to a future he could not come to terms with. He could not cope with what was happening to him and the bottle became his escape, that is, until someone wanted to use him and his gift/curse for their own gain. He then began to take his life back.

He certainly has my sympathy – I cannot even begin to imagine what it must be like to live with the thoughts of random strangers taking up space in my head – I have trouble organizing my own thoughts and having everyone else’s thoughts vying for space would drive me nuts within a few minutes, but it sure made for interesting reading and Jason Brant’s storytelling ability made this a very interesting and entertaining read.

I sincerely hope we get to read more about Ash and his friends in the near future – this is a great story. I loved it :)

ps I love the cover too. ( )

Okay, well first of all after recently reading Devoured and Consumed: the first two books in The Hunger by Jason Brant I was very much looking forward to Ash. I've only read four of Jason Bran'ts books (One of them co-authored with another author) but they were more than enough for him to become one of my new favorite authors and earned him his very own folder on my Kindle which pretty much means I will be buying every single book he has out or will one day put out. His books are just that good and Ash...Ash was something else entirely. It is in a league of it's own Aka in JamieSpeak: it was Freaking Amazing!!!

While serving his country, Ash who is the main hero of the tale was wounded and while recovering at the hospital he started hearing voices in his head only he wasn't going crazy like he initially thought he was but was actually hearing other people's thoughts. Think Professor X of the X-Men only it's not quite as cool as you would think. Imagine being able to constantly hear what everyone was thinking around you. Just think about some of the things that runs through your mind at times, all of your most private thoughts, all of the bad things about other people not to mention all of the insane and crazy things that happen to go through your mind each and every day, Just imagine what it would be like to be privy to all of that. Do you really want to know that your coworkers hate you or that they think you're ugly? What about the people who think you're sexy? That wouldn't be much better honestly. I can only imagine what it would be like and I doubt it would be very pleasant especially if you couldn't tune them out or shut it off at will.

Fast forward a few years and Ash is pretty much living like a bum. He found that alcohol can help dampen the echoes (that's what he calls hearing other people's thoughts) that constantly bombard him. The more exhausted he is the harder time he has shutting out other people's thoughts. When he first wakes up it's not so bad but as the day progresses he has to drink in order to literally stay sane. I don't know if I'd consider him an alcoholic at least not now, maybe back when he first started hearing the thoughts of others but an old army buddy named Drew (who also happens to be the only person who knows of his ability) has been helping him. He's been getting him back into the real world, helping him to exercise and stay in shape which seems to help hone his ability.

Fortunately for us Ash is a good person. He doesn't use his powers to harm others, to make himself rich. He doesn't like intruding on other peoples private thoughts so he pretty much lives like a bum. What little money he has from his Service Disability he spends on rent and beer. So on one very ordinary morning our extraordinary hero heads out to buy some beer and on his way home he happens to be passing by a bank that is being robbed. He knows he should just keep on going, to just not worry about it but that's just not the person Ash is. He was born to help others. He enlisted in the military to help make a difference so using his unique abilities he strolls right into danger with nothing more than a case of beer in his hands and a snarky attitude and ends up setting off a chain of events that will have far reaching consequences for our hero, his best friend and the most hilarious and unlikely group of ragtag heroes ever to grace the pages of a book. The rest is just one pure adrenaline ride of pure awesomeness.

Once again Jason Brant shows that he can not only write some of the best action scenes ever but also how well he can walk that fine line between action and character depth/character development. The pacing is perfect and the characters (both good and bad) are the heart and soul of this book and Ash is at their center. All of the characters were rich and had their own distinct personalities and the dialogue between Ash and his friends had me cracking up throughout the whole book, especially between him and Drew who is his best and probably only friend. Then there's Sammy who is just an innocent bystander (and a really hot one at that) who gets sucked into the middle of everything along with Nami whom I'm not even going to say anything about other than every single scene with her in it was just too much fun. You'll just have to read for yourself but she's just larger than life and had me laughing so hard I thought I'd broken something. Jason Brant has a wicked sense of humor and his characters really shine because of it.

There's just so many things to love about this book. The storyline was excellent with plenty of action, humor, witty dialogue and characters you will be thinking about long after you've finished reading the book. This is not only the best book by Jason Brant that I've read but one of the best books I've read period. The man has a real knack for telling a great story. I literally could not put my kindle down. I'd been having a bit of a reading slump because I've had so much going on but this book officially ended that slump. I loved this book and cannot wait to read more about Ash. The ending leaves it off in such an excellent place for a sequel and I am eagerly looking forward to the day that I get to continue my adventures with Ash along with all his friends. I really hope Nami and Sammy will be in the sequels. They were just too much fun and I would love to know more about both characters.

I cannot recommend this book enough. If you love any type of paranormal, action/adventure or thrillers then this book will be right up your alley. Even if that's not your normal cup of tea then I'd still urge you to give Ash a try. It's just written in such a unique voice that I think this tale will pretty much appeal to everyone It's just that good! Stories like this are why I read. I say it every single time I find a great book but it's the truth. I love the escape. I love identifying with characters on an emotional level and I love the way a good book makes me feel. Ash deserves at least 10 stars for doing all of that but unfortunately I can only give it 5 because that's all that's allowed. ( )