B.J.

This was a most unexpected surprise. I selected the book because of the narrator - Edoardo Ballerini - and the amazing job he did with "Beautiful Ruins." He does an equally superb job with this book ... a dark, historical thriller.

If you want to pick it apart, you can. Historically speaking, it's flawed. For mystery readers in general, there's no surprise in the end. But none of that matters. This book has a distinct pace and storyline - one that moves along and takes you for quite a ride. It is perhaps one of the best one-credit values on Audible.

I was reminded of a couple other books while I was listening. The comparison to Gabaldon's "Outlander" series is inevitable. There are similar characteristics. If you combined that with "Fingersmith" and "Mistress of the Art of Death," you have some idea of what it's like. Dark, grisly and utterly compelling.

I think Will Patton does a stunning job of bringing these characters to life. I thoroughly enjoy listening to him. (I should say I enjoy listening to MOST of it. The violence sometimes is just too raw.) It's not like he's working in a vacuum, though. James Lee Burke certainly gives him a full range of characters with which to work his magic. Speaking of that ...

I don't know if I was distracted while listening or what the deal was, but the characters in this particular Burke were hard for me to keep straight until I was about 75% done. There's a point where Dave reviews in his mind all that has happened. That helped me enormously. This is something I just don't think I can fault the writer on. I really needed to pay attention to names and details when each character was introduced. My bad.

I've read a ton about post-Katrina New Orleans and nothing has come close to how it's described in this book. With Patton's delivery, it nearly breaks your heart. It's so spot-on, it becomes another aspect of the book.

Though the relationship that's developed between the characters adds to the richness of the storyline from book to book, I believe this book can stand alone in the series. If you've ever wanted to get your feet wet in one James Lee Burke book, this might be the one. I'm not certain what it's like to read this book rather than listen, but I can tell you for certain that this is one of the finest blends of writing and narration you'll encounter.

This is typical Courtenay fare. We always get a character (or two) with a hard-luck beginning, tons of familial dysfunction and - after trials and tribulations - redemption. With this book there's at least 3 of those characters, depending on your definition of hard-luck. I would never have listened to more than a few hours if it had not been for one thing - Humphrey Bower. One of the characters is such a perfect fit for his expert narration that it saves the entire thing.

This book is too long by 25%, too repetitive and too fantastical to call it historical fiction. Courtenay has a way of picking up a phrase and beating it into the ground unmercifully for an entire book. In spite of that, it's a great listen just because of Humphrey Bower. Really. He's that good.

I can't believe I listened to this whole thing. There's enough material here for maybe a 200 page book. Anything beyond that is just drivel.

First of all, the "heroine" doesn't have the depth of personality of, say, Frank Abagnale in "Catch Me If You Can" or "Sutton." (Or even Seabiscuit, for that matter.) And the writing doesn't come close to the non-fiction benchmark set by Laura Hillenbrand. This was a waste of time for me. Save yourself the frustration. Download a different book.

I get my share of murder and mayhem from other authors. It's such a nice change to listen to something that's not so raw, but still interesting. This is a wonderful little story about people doing the right thing. It's simply lovely - and one book you can share with your grandma without risk of embarrassment.

I love the way Nevil Shute weaves his knowledge of engineering into his books. I always learn something new. It's engaging for me and takes this out of the realm of mindless fiction.

this is your book. Ivan Doig has been called "The New Wallace Stegner" for a long time. I love Wallace Stegner, so I take that comparison seriously. There have always been similar threads, but never has the quality of the writing been as close to - or better than Stegner's - than in this book.

Doig has a way of writing about small events and everyday people that makes even an annual fishing event sound interesting. (Perfect example is a "bit" he wrote about looking for ticks. I never would have guessed there was a story in that. There is when it's in Doig's hands and it's funny.) I also think there's an element of autobiography in this one with Rusty, the young narrator.

I love the crisp writing, the use of local jargon - as he calls it "lingua America" - and the bits of history woven in for good measure. I love the 87 ways he can allude to sex without ever getting into the nitty gritty of it. But I especially love his characters - so real you can almost reach out and touch them.

There's a special feeling you get with certain books. The characters come and live at your house while you're listening. Rusty and his dad have been at my house the last few days and I miss them terribly now that they're gone. Very few books measure up to this in terms of pure, good writing. It's such a joy.

This is one of those cases where you read about someone who really impacted history and you're astounded that you've never heard of them before. What a pity that is. Nancy Wake's life during WWII needs to be a movie.

I loved this book. No, the writing isn't fabulous. Nor is the narration. But the heroine is so wonderful it outshines everything. She's just a marvelous character - perhaps born too early for a world that wasn't quite ready for her.

It struck me just how bad we are at integrating veterans back into society once they've made their contribution. Many have lead exciting lives doing impossible things in the face of great danger and yet we expect them to be able to come back into a humdrum world and be fine. Her explanation of life after the war illustrates it perfectly. And her story proves that one woman can make a huge difference.

It's always interesting to see what Iles will do with a plot. His books - and this one is no exception - are always satisfying. They're longer than most with great detail. More than anything, I think he does an amazing job of creating characters with depth (and flaws) and tying up the storyline completely. When it's over, you actually feel like it's done. The ending isn't rushed. It's never abrupt. It has the same pace as the rest of the book. It may not end the way you want it to, but it ends the right way for the characters.

It takes me a day before I want to listen to another book. I know it's likely the next one I listen to won't be able to measure up to what I've just heard from Iles.

Clearly I am not the right audience for this book. The inner workings of the two main characters were not that interesting to begin with and certainly not captivating enough for hours of listening. For a story with such a simple plot, there was WAY too much detail. The narration was just fine. It's the book that's the problem. It should have been a short story.

I'd much rather listen to mysteries or history or just about anything except books like this with all kinds of gooey emotion. I couldn't ignore the ratings - and in spite of my preferences for "tough" books - I gave it a shot. I'm glad I did. Yes, it's sad. But it's much more than this.

Even though I've been through deaths with people close to me, I never quite understood how people lived through that time between finding out the end is coming and when the end actually comes. What do you say? What do they want to do? I just never expected some of the answers to be in a book like this.

It's tough subject matter. But it's dealt with honestly and fairly. And the narration is perfect. I think this might be one of the best book club books for 2013. There's LOTS to talk about.