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  • Life Sentence

  • By: Carl Williams
  • Narrated by: Tim Carroll
  • Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins
  • 2.5 out of 5 stars (74 ratings)

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Life Sentence

By: Carl Williams
Narrated by: Tim Carroll
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Publisher's Summary

Carl Williams' role as unlikely gang boss in the Melbourne Gangland Wars had made him one of the most infamous names in Australian criminal history. 

In 2007 he was sentenced to 35 years' jail in a high security unit. In 2008 he was given access to a personal computer where, confined to a tiny cell for most of the day, Williams began a daily correspondence with his friends and family, covering his life in jail, his thoughts and hopes for the future and his views and opinions on everyone from barristers and judges to fellow criminals and deadly rivals. Eighteen months later Williams was bashed to death by a fellow prisoner, a man he mentions in his letters as a warm and trusted friend.  

The letters are surprising, revealing, often manipulative, frequently self-serving, sometimes touching, and always a fascinating insight into the mind of one of our most notorious criminals.

©2019 Carl Williams (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd

What listeners say about Life Sentence

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Carl williams...enjoyed hearing about justice

Carl Williams...I enjoyed hearing how prison turned him from an arrogant wanker who thought he could do whatever he wanted into a whiny little bitch that ultimately got exactly what he deserved

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Carl Williams letters

This is a book of the letters that Carl sent out (and received) to family, friends and women. The narration is probably the best narration I've come across on Audibl app. When it comes to parts where Carl gets animated and excited, the narrtors voice goes with the flow. It's an okay book

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars
  • M.
  • 29-07-2020

Glad I only paid $2.99 on special

Threat narration by Carroll who personified Carl’s voice well, but the content was particularly boring and repetitive providing no more insight than already available .

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Drab.

Not one to generally give negative reviews, but found this book to be drab, unexciting, and difficult to enjoy. Regurgitated letter with little context.

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1 person found this helpful

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

Meh. Just another cash-in

Don't go into this book expecting anything even close to deep and meaningful.
It's literally just a bunch of letters Carl had written before his death, with a little bit of expositional narrative at the start of each chapter and to quickly explain who certain characters are.
Nothing new to add to his story bar the fact he was a bit of a horndog. Suppose that's probably prison life, I guess.

Tim Carroll does a great job with his storytelling. He gets the narrative down well. Particularly reading as though he's actually having conversations with people. Adding little chuckles and such. Awesome narration, sucky material.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

boring

just reading letters with no content nothing Interesting at all
fast forward a lot of it

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Don’t waste your money or a credit

Waste of time and money, seriously it’s a bunch of boring repetitive letters. He should have stuck to what he did best!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

poor story

poor story. poorly narrated. couldn't finish. don't bother wasting your time or money on this book

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Don’t bother

If I hadn’t got this for free I would want my money back.
Even if the story had some type of body the way in which endless letters were narrated made it a laboured listen, l took me a long time to force myself through to the end.

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2 people found this helpful

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

Boring

Only reads letters Carl sent off to friend while in prison could have been so much better with the story line.

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1 person found this helpful

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.