Infection by Scott Sigler

scottsigler.net
podiobooks.com/title/infection


So, this is a good choice for a first analysis out of the block. Primarily I've picked it because I just finished listening to it but it's also a good representative of the whole medium.
Scott Sigler, himself, is quite a name and this is think Infection is his 3rd podcast novel. It shows because it's slickly produced, tightly plotted and written and read with great confidence and gusto.

Reading

The vast majority of podcast novels seem to be read by their authors and this is no exception. Scott Sigler comes over as a force of nature. He is energetic and in your face absolutely reveling in the story which is itself an unapologetic romp.
It would be easy to screw up a story like this. It's got big dudes, guns, aliens and covert government agencies. It could have been an utter cliché ridden disaster but the writing and the (can't... resist... must... use... pun...) infectious charisma of the reading that pull it off.
There's good consistent use of vocal range. When Scott whispers "chicken scissors" you know exactly how scary and how prurient the protagonist's interest in them is.
On the downside his female voices are abominable. Consistent still but I'm listening to Earthcore as well and they all come off kinda screechy.

Writing

This is a Science Fiction piece firmly in the thriller mode. It veers into horror with the sheer violence and bloodshed of it all.

The Infection in question is a kind of alien spore that infests human hosts and gradually takes over them. Seven of these spores are growing on 'Scary' Perry Darcy who's a big ex-football player with anger management problems. One of the most interesting threads of the story is Perry's relationship with his abusive (and long dead) father. As the spores grow into living Triangles on the host and take over their nervous system Perry systematically mutilates himself killing them off - a feat only possible to him because of the brutal conditioning his father gave him.
In the end I didn't really like the resolution of this particular thread because Perry essentially achieves a kind of absolution from his father which was pretty distasteful. Perry for all his battle with his own self control is quite a likable protagonist and it seems disappointing to see his asshole father become a prescient hero to him rather than the degenerate sociopath he clearly was.

The second lead protagonist is Dew Philips, and here's where the razor edge of action cliché is ridden closest. He's a hard-assed, uber-soldier who in later years has worked the black ops missions so secret you can disappear just hearing about them. Blah-di blah.
He's the guy they send in to catch the infected hosts when they start to wig out. The government is keeping it all a secret (mostly so the storyline doesn't get too muddy) and they need the One Good Man they can trust to Get The Job Done no matter What It Takes.
For all that he makes a good part if only for the tension that having him an Perry on a collision course. In fact at the beginning I thought that Dew was going to be the lead character and that all Perry's Ex-Linebacker and history of violence stuff was to make him more of a match.
Apparently there's a sequel coming... so that still may happen.

In the end the major conflict was between Perry and the Triangles which eventually burst from their hosts in order to form a kind of beachhead invasion force. Which ends with Dew Philips and the Artillery pounding the aliens' transporter gate thingy.
Which is all very big and pyrotechnic but really is just what had to happen at the end.

The real climax comes earlier as Perry plans to kill the Triangles he is infected with. He endures increasing amounts of pain and self mutilation all while trying to keep himself passably sane with the telepathic aliens taking over his nervous system.
The last Triangle is growing in such a way that Perry finally emasculates himself with chicken scissors to destroy it. Now that's not something you read every day.
But you can get a Tshirt about it.

Arithmetic

Infection weighs in at 21 episodes ranging from 18-47 minutes each. Plus there's a Q&A with the author at the end.
Each episode kicks off with ~30 seconds of housekeeping: Chapter, Title, podshow.com, Adult content warning ("Lots and LOTS of violence")
Followed by a minute to a minute and a half of recap.
After the chapter is about a minute of stuff: Credit to the band, podshow again and solicitation to join up on the feeds etc. That's capped by a Podshow promo that they've clearly either tagged on or supplied.

Overall

On the whole this is a tight, well engineered product. The audio packaging is good with a recurring edgy sting sound effect used consistently for punctuation and rocking music included judiciously.
Great performance from Scott himself and nice use (and not over-use) of filters to delineate characters and styles.
An excellent and well developed example of the Podcast Novel form.