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C

Not a writer, a writer wannabe, editor, lit maj, or pretend literary critic. Just an avid reader and now avid listener. I read at least one book a week and listen to an average of two per week. However, I am a snob and have yet to listen to my favorite novels preferring still to read some works.

East Hartford, CT, United States | Member Since 2010

73
HELPFUL VOTES
  • 81 reviews
  • 166 ratings
  • 369 titles in library
  • 57 purchased in 2013
FOLLOWING
2
FOLLOWERS
6

  • Snow White Must Die

    • UNABRIDGED (15 hrs and 47 mins)
    • By Nele Neuhaus
    • Narrated By Robert Fass
    Overall
    (604)
    Performance
    (524)
    Story
    (519)

    On a rainy November day, police detectives Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver von Bodenstein are summoned to a mysterious traffic accident: a woman has fallen from a pedestrian bridge onto a car driving underneath. According to a witness, the woman may have been pushed. The investigation leads Pia and Oliver to a small village, and the home of the victim, Rita Cramer. On a September evening eleven years earlier, two seventeen-year-old girls vanished from the village without a trace.

    Avid Reader and Listener says: "GREAT suspense, smart plot!"
    "Convoluted"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Too many story lines are not interesting if they don't tie together into one coherent story. I almost stopped listening halfway through when it became obvious the writer was reaching for intricate and coming up only with ridiculous and irrelevant.

    The narration was awful, making this bad book even worse with exaggerated emotions and plodding tones.

    I want my credit back, as for my time I've no one to blame but myself, I should have stopped listening.

    10 of 14 people found this review helpful
  • Beautiful Ruins

    • UNABRIDGED (12 hrs and 53 mins)
    • By Jess Walter
    • Narrated By Edoardo Ballerini
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (3978)
    Performance
    (3431)
    Story
    (3410)

    The story begins in 1962. On a rocky patch of the sun-drenched Italian coastline, a young innkeeper, chest-deep in daydreams, looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and spies an apparition: a tall, thin woman, a vision in white, approaching him on a boat. She is an actress, he soon learns, an American starlet, and she is dying. And the story begins again today, half a world away, when an elderly Italian man shows up on a movie studio's back lot - searching for the mysterious woman he last saw at his hotel decades earlier.

    Cindy says: "Best Mistake I Ever Made On Audible..."
    "I must be the only person in the entire world..."
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    to think this was a little too dramatic (wink). Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it, but following the reviews I was expecting life changing literature.

    I apologize to anyone offended by this review but it felt a little too much like Hollywood book to movie for me. A good movie probably, but not what I was expecting.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • The Anodyne Necklace: Richard Jury, Book 3

    • UNABRIDGED (8 hrs and 51 mins)
    • By Martha Grimes
    • Narrated By Steve West
    Overall
    (9)
    Performance
    (8)
    Story
    (8)

    A spinster whose passion was bird-watching, a dotty peer who pinched pennies, and a baffling murder made the tiny village of Littlebourne a most extraordinary place. And a severed finger made a ghastly clue in the killing that led local constables from a corpse to a boggy footpath to a beautiful lady's mansion. But Richard Jury refused, preferring to take the less traveled route to a slightly disreputable pub, The Anodyne Necklace. There, drinks all around loosened enough tongues to link a London mugging with the Littlebourne murder and a treasure map that would chart the way to yet another chilling crime.

    Wendy says: "Ahhh, Richard Jury!"
    "This is where it started to come together"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    This is the book that really hooked me on the series. Grimes spread her wings and it shows in character development and dialog. Just the right amount of sweet, sad and dry humor.

    This series won't be for every mystery lover, lots off British colloquialisms and I'm sure some people will be offended by Ash the Flash in this very sensitive century. This book was written in1983 and even with Ash the Flash in my very humble opinion is not dated.



    1 of 1 people found this review helpful
  • Midnight Riot: Peter Grant, Book 1

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 56 mins)
    • By Ben Aaronovitch
    • Narrated By Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (407)
    Performance
    (371)
    Story
    (374)

    Probationary constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London's Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he'll face is a paper cut. But Peter's prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter's ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale....

    Nancy J says: "I LOVE this Book!"
    "Not my cup of coffee"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    But well written, funny, interesting and overall not disappointing.

    That said, not really my type of storyline, I just don't find supernatural stuff that credibly explained within day to day life. It wasn't as well done as Harry Potter, but not as bad as the vampire tripe and zombie garbage that is being churned out by the bookstoreful.

    What made it truly enjoyable was the tongue in cheek style. It was also historically interesting.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • Fugitive Nights

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 59 mins)
    • By Joseph Wambaugh
    • Narrated By David Drummond
    Overall
    (4)
    Performance
    (4)
    Story
    (4)

    Joseph Wambaugh returns to glamorous Palm Springs and its ever-mysterious desert to give listeners a suspense novel rich in astonishing plot twists, fascinating characters, and the penetrating humor for which he is famous. Three mismatched people - one of whom is a police officer - become involved in the trail of an elusive and dangerous fugitive on a secret mission.

    C says: "Not his best"
    "Not his best"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    I loved his Hollywood Station series, but this was a little dated. The dialog felt very heavy bogged down with metaphor and simile instead of actual conversation. In all the other stories I've read by Wambaug it didn't seem crass or vulgar for the sake of a laugh.

    Overall I did enjoy the story and pace, he does set a scene nicely I just wish the dialog was as crisp as the Station series. The intersecting stories, character development and underlying humor saved it for me, but Lynne was unlikable, plain and simple.

    When an author is capable of writing like "The Onion Field" and "Choirboys" (both very bleak looks at humanity), its hard to believe the same author wrote this book.

    A beach listen, not much more.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • The Only Game

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 16 mins)
    • By Reginald Hill
    • Narrated By Seán Barrett
    Overall
    (180)
    Performance
    (75)
    Story
    (77)

    When a four-year-old child is abducted from an Essex kindergarten, Detective Inspector Dog Cicero soon realizes that this is to be no routine investigation. Something about the child's mother troubles him. Maybe it's just the fact that she comes from Derry, and Cicero's Northern Ireland scars go deeper than his ruined face.

    Sherri says: "Right on his game"
    "Hill is a great author"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Another great stand alone novel, a little sad as usual, but not grim. This is an older novel and I think as with a lot of novels of its era and place there is some reference to the IRA. However, it is not over political so it can be enjoyed for its wonderful writing.

    1 of 1 people found this review helpful
  • The Neon Rain: A Dave Robicheaux Novel

    • UNABRIDGED (8 hrs and 22 mins)
    • By James Lee Burke
    • Narrated By Will Patton
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (2308)
    Performance
    (1169)
    Story
    (1167)

    New York Times best-selling author James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux novels began with this first hard-hitting entry in the series. In The Neon Rain, Detective Robicheaux fishes a prostitute's corpse from a New Orleans bayou and finds that no one, not even the law, cares about a dead hooker.

    Susan says: "The perfect combination of author and narrator"
    "I really liked this but can't give it 4"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    This has a good storyline decent procedural steps with semi accurate if sometimes unbelievable police actions for Louisiana and the south during the time period. Something bothered me and I still can't figure it out. Maybe the narration? There was one glaring contradition but it was inconsequential to the story so it didn't rate. Maybe it was the girl, or the lack of other strong fleshed out characters.

    Anyway, Dave is kind of the southern version of Harry Bosch. I enjoyed listening and will look forward to reading the next in the series.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • Head Wounds: A Sam Acquillo Hamptons Mystery

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 59 mins)
    • By Chris Knopf
    • Narrated By Richard Ferrone
    Overall
    (66)
    Performance
    (40)
    Story
    (42)

    Peel back the glamour of the fabled Hamptons and you'll find a beautiful place filled with ugly secrets. This is Sam Acquillo's world. Moving effortlessly across the social divide with wry pal Jackie Swaitkowski and rich guy Burton Lewis, the ex-boxer, ex-corporate infighter seems doomed to straddle the thin red line between envy and love, hate and forgiveness, goodness and greed - and sometimes, life and death.

    Carol says: "Narrator and story click"
    "decent"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    A decent story, seems a little dated, but not horrible.
    If you are offended by chauvinistic thinking roll your eyes and keep reading. Overall it was a nice break from the endless serial killer books that seem to be the only reading on the market.

    I welcome suggestions on a good old fashioned mystery series that develops the characters maybe has one or two serials in the series but doesn't balk at a real whodunit and isn't cheesy or gimmicky.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful
  • The Man with a Load of Mischief: A Richard Jury Novel, Book 1

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 31 mins)
    • By Martha Grimes
    • Narrated By Steve West
    Overall
    (27)
    Performance
    (25)
    Story
    (24)

    At the Man with a Load of Mischief, they found the dead body stuck in a keg of beer. At the Jack and Hammer, another body was stuck out on the beam of the pub’s sign, replacing the mechanical man who kept the time. Two pubs. Two murders. One Scotland Yard inspector called in to help. Detective Chief Inspector Richard Jury arrives in Long Piddleton and finds everyone in the postcard village looking outside of town for the killer - except for one Melrose Plant....

    C says: "I stumbled onto this series 20 years ago"
    "I stumbled onto this series 20 years ago"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    Waited and waited for it to come to audible, only her last was on audible and without having read the series people might not really have developed the fondness for Jury and Plant that develops when reading a series.

    The books are witty and dry without being too graphic. Not as cutesy or silly as cozy mysteries tend to be; the gimmick is the inns so it doesn't seem as childish or staged.

    These are not modern mysteries with psycho serial killers and ritual murders, just plain old fashioned murder with a little wit and sadness.

    The only flaw is that after waiting soooo long, they picked the worst narrator. The dry humor is still there but he is so annoying it detracts from the overall enjoyment of the story.

    3 of 3 people found this review helpful
  • The Old Fox Deceived

    • UNABRIDGED (9 hrs and 44 mins)
    • By Martha Grimes
    • Narrated By Steve West
    Overall
    (16)
    Performance
    (12)
    Story
    (13)

    It is a chill and foggy 12th Night, wild with North Sea wind, when a bizarre murder disturbs the outward peace of Rackmoor, a tiny Yorkshire fishing village with a past that proves a tangled maze of unrequited loves, unrevenged wrongs, and even undiscovered murders. Inspector Jury finds no easy answers in his investigation - not even the identity of the victim, a beautiful young woman. Was she Gemma Temple, an impostor? Or was she really Dillys March, Colonel Titus Crael’s long-lost ward, returning after eight years to the Colonel’s country seat and to a share of his fortune? And who was her murderer?

    C says: "Waited so long"
    "Waited so long"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    For Martha Grimes Jury series on Audible, I love this series and it only gets better. However, the narrator is all wrong, he misses the wit and nuance. The humor is dry and smart, the narrator is not.

    Good mysteries, but I'm not sure I'll keep buying if they are all narrated by West.

    1 of 1 people found this review helpful
  • Sense and Sensibility

    • UNABRIDGED (12 hrs and 17 mins)
    • By Jane Austen
    • Narrated By Marion Castle
    • Whispersync for Voice-ready
    Overall
    (60)
    Performance
    (51)
    Story
    (51)

    Sense and Sensibility is a sharply detailed portrait of the decorum surrounding courtship and the importance of marriage for women in early 19th-century upper-class English society. The story revolves around Elinor and Marianne Dashwood who, as members of the upper class, cannot "work" for a living and must therefore make a suitable marriage to ensure their livelihood. Elinor is a sensible, rational creature, while her younger sister, Marianne, is wildly romantic - a characteristic that offers Austen plenty of scope for both satire and compassion.

    A. Thompson says: "Much better than the Victoria McGee version"
    "Performance was so so"
    Overall
    Performance
    Story

    I love the story and listened to a couple of samples, this seemed like it would be okay, it was just that, okay.

    If you haven't read the book, I'd suggest a different version. The women sounded ridiculous.

    0 of 0 people found this review helpful

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