Down Cemetery Road

By: Mick Herron

Narrated by: Julia Franklin

Length: 13 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

When a house explodes in a quiet Oxford suburb and a young girl disappears in the aftermath, Sarah Tucker becomes obsessed with finding her. Accustomed to dull chores in a childless household and hosting her husband’s wearisome business clients for dinner, Sarah suddenly finds herself questioning everything she thought she knew, as her investigation reveals that people long believed dead are still among the living, while the living are fast joining the dead.

What begins in a peaceful neighbourhood reaches its climax on a remote, unwelcoming Scottish island as the search puts Sarah in league with a man who finds himself being hunted down by murderous official forces.

©2003 Mick Herron (P)2020 Isis Publishing Ltd

A bit of a slog....

Desperate for a new Mick Herron title - this, after being engrossed by his Slough House series -I tried this one. I stuck with it only because of Herron's other works. The dialog seemed over-extended as was the internalized exposition. Such created a drag on the pace of the story. Ms. Franklin is competent as a narrator, but lacks Gerard Doyle's timing and versatility. Last, the protagonist, Sarah, came across as a little "whiffier" than intended. Her personality did not quite sync with the story line.

I found myself looking forward to the book's ending so I could move onto something else - never a good sign.

Excellent Writing

Excellent Writing and Great Syory. Very clever. surprising female characters foil the bad guys in this drama.

Good.

Not as good as the Slough House series, imho. Took a while to get used to the narrator- so different from Doran - but she did well with all the different characters.

Edge of your seat listening!

Herron's story seems a bit slow to start, until you realize how important it is to know the characters as real people, in order to accept and appreciate his brutal and complicated plot.
The narrator's performance is flawless, keeping you intrigued and on the edge of your seat, holding your breath at one point and cheering the next.
BRAVO!!

Slow start but stick with it

This novel has a very slow start. It took a bit to engage, but I was so glad that I stuck with it!!!!

Herron 1

A lot of characters with a lot of roles. Easy to get lost. But overall a decent book.

I’m shocked!

Shocked at the poor reviews regarding the narration! I thought it was brilliant! Fit the character perfectly, I thought. And the story was excellent as well. Sure, it wasn’t Slough House, it’s a different story altogether that just happened to involve some spooks.

Cleverly written story, narrator's timing perfect

There is action in this story, but its heart is the way it draws you into the interior life of the principal characters. It follows them through some strange mental states -- some temporary, some permanent -- and the narrator captures that perfectly.

Herron's ability as a wordsmith keeps you entertained throughout, and Franklin's interpretation does full justice to the main character -- whose thinking, we might charitably say, often lacks clarity.

Like a lot of Herron's stories, some of the storylines turn out the way you would expect, but some don't. And you never know which is going to be which.

the narration ruined the story

this book did not measure up to the author's Espionage series. it was confusing in places, especially with the way it jumped between the spirit stories. however, had the narration been better, I would have gotten more out of it. the narrators painful attempts at male voices were annoying and every time I heard her swallow I wanted to turn off the book.

Not Slough House, but……

The Slough House series is far superior. However, until the next in that series, this will suffice. At first, I wasn’t enamored with the narration, but adapted my expectations and was quite impressed by the reader’s range. I look forward to more from the master, Nick Herron.