Deborah

I was so looking forward to the next Hart book. I loved King of Lies, The Last Child, and Down River. Just loved them. I almost gave up on this book, however, because the first half is excruciatingly slow and the Elena character is so whiny and insipid. The narrator slips between an Italian and Spanish accent and reads her half-speed like she's loaded all the time. The relationship between her and Michael is about as interesting as dust. HOWEVER, everything is kicked up to high gear in the second half of the book where Elena is a minor character. Hart doesn't do violence as well as Adrian McKinty but it's still horrific. There are a lot of threads to the story which can be confusing and leaves the reader wondering why they are part of the story, but it all comes together in the end. This book is nowhere near as good as the others and there are a few stereotypes, as a southerner, I get tired of reading, but I guess I'd have to say I'd recommend this book...the second half did keep me up til two a.m.

I thought this was a mystery/thriller not a romance novel. The main story is very good and could have been great with a male narrator and some editing. I'm not used to reading graphic and sappy sex scenes in the books of my favorite mystery authors. And I truly doubt that a real person, on the day of their son's kidnapping/possible murder and other assorted deaths, would be obsessed about boinking anybody much less doing it.

If Michael Connolly re-wrote this story, it would sell a gazillion copies because the story is stellar.

Listen authors, 90% of the time if there are two or more male main characters, use a male narrator. Men can do women better than women can narrate as a man. This narrator was awful in the male characters. I almost returned this book for that reason but the story hooked me into finishing it.

Almost a very good book.

This was a can't put it down read. Great writing, great performance, and a real whodunnit. The author kept it clean and tight throughout, but the ending is a bit convoluted. I usually don't like an author having to summarize the action at the end but it was helpful in this instance. So much story! There was a lot of beautiful writing and original and creative metaphors as well.

I won't summarize the story since the Publisher Summary does that, but I will say Talty has written a humdinger.

I want to say something about narrators. Though the main character is female, David Lawrence XVII was perfect. I find that men can do women characters much better than women can do male characters. I just finished Did You Miss Me by Karen Rose. The female narrator was awful with male characters of which there were many. I almost decided to return it and buy it on Kindle. Authors...the right narrator can make or break a book.

Anyway, I can't wait to read Talty's next, and I hope Absalom has her own series.

I love Neville's trilogy and they are a few of the not many books I've listened to over and over. Gerard Doyle is terrific as their narrator. I'm still on part one of this novel and have had to backtrack several times because the narration is so boring and strange. Weird accents come and go with the main character sounding American and bad Irish depending on a whim. It's just too distracting. I'm debating buying the kindle version. The story seems interesting but I just can't stay interested due to Mr. Smyth's reading of it.

I'd recommend reading this one.

This author and narrator matchup is nearly as good as the Burke/Patton duo. I was pleasantly surprised at the clean writing, the genuine capturing of two brothers' relationship, and a real depiction of small town life. I sorta forgot about the crime because I wanted to read about the characters' lives. I really cared about them.

Baseball is my game, but the thrill of high school football is truly depicted here and reading about Adam's last drive had me cheering. Just great writing.

There have been a few books over the last month that I didn't finish because I just got tired of prolonged and gross violence, the degradation and destruction of a human being. I wonder about the people who think this stuff up.

Koryta, on the other hand, writes a compelling story without a madman eating a child's heart still beating or people's heads on spikes. I cut my teeth on McKinty's trilogy so I'm no faint of heart pantywaist, but enough is enough. The lack of gore in The Prophet was because the story and writing was so stellar, the story so real, it didn't need to shock us.

I just ordered another title by Koryta and look forward to reading the rest. It's just unfortunate Brick reads a lot of them.

Robert Petkoff is outstanding!!

Pegasus Descending used to be my favorite Burke book but I'm pretty sure this moves to #1. Clete has always been the character that's moved me the most and I have to admit I cried at the epilogue --such a wanting soul.

Lots of villains to hate and I loved the appearance of Gretchen Horowitz. It's a hoot to listen to Clete deal with a similar personality. Helen's involvement at the end seemed just thrown in there, but that's my sole complaint. I'm glad it was a much longer book than usual...I wish they all would be six-parters rather than two or three.

The reader will understand Clete a lot better after this book. He's matured with each book and this one seems to land him in a state of self-acceptance. Dave pretty much remains the same. Molly rarely was mentioned (good - I like Dave on his own) and Alafair needs to move to New Orleans for a bit. It's Dave and Clete against the baddies for me. The writing is as beautiful as ever and no one can set a scene in one perfectly crafted sentence like JLB does. I was raised in the South, moved west to Utah for 20 years, then back here for the past 20 years. Believe me, he gets it right in his Lousiana books as well as his Montana books.

Goes w/o saying that Will Patton does a 10-star job; he IS Dave and Clete. Does anyone watch the TV series Falling Skies? Dave against aliens... it's just that voice.

I've read or listened to each of Burke's books and I hope the Bobbsey Twins of Homicide go on forever. This is my favorite series ever. I wish I'd get amnesia so I could read them for the first time again.

This book is ridiculous. Not one sympathetic character and a story so full of holes a basketball could pass through without touching the net. I don't know one person that even resembles these people. The constant multiple choice quizzes were obnoxious and Amy acted like a high school girl instead of a woman in her late 30s. Psycho wife has a cheating husband yada yada yada.

She collects the neighbor's pee??? Really?

Unless you are a fan of Knots Landing and the like, don't waste a credit.

You CANNOT tell that Robert Parker did not write this. If you love Robert Parker's Spenser series, there is reason to rejoice...halleluia! Lullabye is a typical Parker story but for some reason, his books never get old. It's a nice book to listen to while walking but I busted up at a Bon Jovi crack and got a few odd looks.

If it wasn't for the fact that Parker didn't write this, I'd say it was nothing special as far as Parker novels go...

A+ of course for Mantegna.

Val McDermid writes some great books that I love; this isn't one of them. I give her credit for an imaginative idea...Fletcher Christian in a British village mystery. But it's just boring. I didn't care a whit about the characters and some situations were out of character as well. I really didn't care who the killer was and the ending was ... "oh how convenient."

I don't really recommend it.

I haven't been so affected by a book in a very long time. I cried when it was over. I chose this book based on a review by a reader I admire; I'm sure glad I did. The narrator who is Arthur's voice did a wonderful, poignant, moving performance. He made Arthur become a real person to me. I can't explain how wonderful this character is on all levels.

There is no sex or violence, but a sweet suspense builds over the unfolding of the story. I wanted to skip ahead to see if I was right about the outcome. I wasn't.

It isn't a perfect book. Yolanda is a bit of a stereotype, yet I looked past it on the strength of Arthur's character. Kel's character is a little heartbreaking as time passes, but hope is always there. The three stories weave together beautifully and Ms. Moore keeps it interesting and believable.

I wish I could meet Arthur. Buy the book so you can fall in love too.

This would be a great book for a high school literature class.

Before I get nitpicky, let me say I was totally engaged throughout this great story. Mr. Storyteller (King) did what he does best -- told one heckuva yarn. There were times I was sick with dread, teary-eyed with romance, and appalled at the violence. It bogged a bit in the middle and could have used a second go-over by an editor, but those are minor matters. I was 13 in 1963 and was sent by the principal to go around the classrooms of Virgil Jr High with a folded note. Mr. Kong started crying uncontrollably. I was told not to read the note. I say that to let you know I am of that time. I guess that was why I invested myself so emotionally into this novel.

However, the narration was bothersome in spots. Wasson seemed to use, in turn, the voices of Jimmy Stewart, Burt Lancaster, Peter Lorre, John Wayne, even Schwarzenegger for some of the characters. I found that totally distracting. He also would be speaking in a normal voice volume and then would raise the decibles up to extreme to voice another character. I pulled the earphones out of my ears several times due to the loudness. When he was speaking as Jake/George he was wonderful.

Perfect novel? Nope. But one rollercoaster of a read.