Peter

Absolutely! I also have the abridged version (on CD) and thought that was good but the 'full' version is even better. Gripping to the end.

Frederick Forsyth gives so much detail and it really makes the story interesting and gripping.

It's hard to single out one scene because they all interweave to create the whole picture.

How and why Iraq lost the Gulf War.

The narrator was just perfect too. His voice, his understanding of what he was reading and the emphasis on certain parts of the book made this a pleasure to listen to.

The storyline is, as ever with books by Barry Maitland, a good one although DCI Brock meets some very strange characters this time. However the narrator is totally wrong - he gives Brock a voice that sounds young and uneducated which is not the impression I get of the character from Maitland's books. There are certainly enough bodies to go round and some very sick people with which he and DS Kola have to deal. There's a good twist at the end, so don't be tempted to peek.

The twists and turns of the plot. Barry Maitland is an expert at this and No Trace is no exception.

Only if it better matches the characters.

Easily, except there's a plethora of detective series being mades for TV. I don't know that there is sufficient difference between Brock and some of his counterparts in other police procedurals currently being aired.

Barry Maitland is a good author, one of the best for this type of crime novel.

On a par

The 'flashbacks' qualified the present extremely well.

Martin Jarvis has a smooth and consistent voice which isn't always suited to the circumstances described in the book.

It's not that sort of book.

The story is carried extremely well by the narrator who instils a sense of suspense though out.

Not applicable

Consistently good

Most certainly

Apart from the racing world Dick Francis's novels are also set in a world of 'gentleman crooks' - rather clinical ("It's a fair cop, guv") but nevertheless gripping right to the last page. The plots are great; the way they are played out does make you wonder whether Dick Francis lived in the same world we all inhabit. Nevertheless, I would heartily recommend this - and, indeed, most of Dick Francis's books - to anyone wanting an exciting yet undemanding read.

Dick Francis is a reliably consistent author who produces what in the UK would be called 'pot boilers' - great stories which don't tax the mind too much. This book, like all his other works, provides the reader with some highly improbable situations which the hero comes through with flying colours (if not a little bruised). It IS a very easy read (or listen) and there are many twists and turns before the end but in all Dick Francis books the criminal is either the perfect gentleman ("It's a fair cop, gov") or a psychopath getting away with the most outrageous crimes in full public view...and nobody doing a thing about it. In spite of this I always look forward to the next one.