Helene

Zafron's 2nd book is another great foray into that narrow land between intrigue and fantasy ... who is "the boss," what is the nature of and limit to friendship? Stevens' narration was a disappointment after hearing the rich narration of Shadow of the Wind read by Jonathan Davies - I wish Davies had narrated Angel's Game as well. But, narrator aside, the book is magic. I loved it - read it page by page once, as an audio book once, and will listen again.

This is, perhaps, my favorite audio book of all time (and I've been listening for years). The language is lyrical, the story is dark, but redeeming. The narrator does such a fabulous job giving this story the passionate delivery that it deserves. I've read "A Reliable Wife," as a print book twice, listened to it five times, and never tire of this incredible book. The story takes place in early 20th century rural Wisconsin where a rich man advertises for "a reliable wife." Katherine Land responds to his ad and brings to Ralph Truitt all that he has hungered for, all that he has feared, and all that his longing has sought - but will he survive it??? A marvelously done story, well written, well read, and well worth your time.

Louise Penny has developed a series and a set of characters that keep on becoming deeper, more interesting, more compelling. And Ralph Cosham does a masterful job of conveying these characters and their foibles. I've listened to or read each book in the Inspector Gamache series, and have enjoyed each one more than the one before. The Quebec setting, the plot lines, and again, the characters, are all so real, and their dramas are all intriguing. Love this series, this author and this reader!!!!

A less contorted story line; much better editing, and a far better reader. Every cliche in the literary world was used in this book, especially, "if this was a story in Graystone," the mystery magazine used as an anchor.

Most disappointing was that the book had been so well reviewed - must have been Dolan himself or his best friends writing the reviews. The story line stretched on beyond far beyond where it should have stopped and put us out of our misery.

At first I thought I was listening to an amateur - perhaps the author - reading the book. Davies' articulation of sentence structure was awkward at best; his accents - of African American and Asian American characters - were terrible. He took a bad book and made it worse.

Disappointment - if I had had anything else to listen to at the time, I wouldn't have wasted 10+ hours on this.

Please, better, more honest reviews; LISTEN to the book yourselves - this was so far below the usual Audible standards that I was astonished it got by.

If I could rate this book and it's author reader below a one, I would. The last good thing is the title. That this book is being pushed is a tribute not to publishing, but to marketing and placement gurus who know how to sell even the worst kind of junk. The author needs better editing ... he said, I said, she said ... we get it. The audio edition needs a better narrator. The worst book I've ever ordered from Audible. What's your refund policy?????

Helene/Washington Island, WI