Kimberly

Suspenseful, intricate, sad.

It did actually - and that doesn't happen very often. She did a good job with her twists, keeping you guessing about what was going on, and working the tension in the subplots so you couldn't quite relax. I listened to this whenever I got a chance, wanting to know what would happen next.

The book is kind of enormous - hard to pick one. I liked the scenes with Mike and his sister, getting to see a sweet side and an insecure side of this guy who seems kind of hard. His scenes with Richie are also good. French built good characters through a lot of good dialogue here.

The gradual reveal of events in Mike's childhood was effective. He becomes much more human through the course of the book.

I like Faithful Place better, but this was a good read. French gets very involved in melancholy, which wears me out a little, but she's a very good storyteller ultimately.

I loved Bujold's Chalion and Sharing Knife books, but had tried a couple of the Vorkosigan books and just couldn't get into them. Thanks to Audible's new series view, I was able to start at the beginning of the series, which made all the difference. I loved this book, and the sequel, Barrayar, which set the scene for the whole Vorkosigan series, and I ended up hooked and running through the books as fast as I could. This first book is a little awkward in spots - not as well done as her later stuff, but was fun and absorbing, and I adore Cordelia Naismith through these first two books!

The first half of the book was well set up, but after that, the main character became a horrible human being. I have a really hard time with books when I can't stand the main character. Also, there are multiple mysteries in the book, and one of them is simply never resolved, with a kind of "well, that's life."

No. Not even the author - I read this book because I do like her newer work.

Not sure of a favorite scene. She does a good job in the first part of the book setting the scene and giving you interesting characters.

Disappointment, mostly. The book was way too long. She got really stuck on the melancholy, "gosh his life was really ruined by this event." Wasted a lot of time.

I really like Tana French's later work, but she does seem to get stuck on "it's miserable and it can't change" sometimes, and I have a hard time with that - don't see much point spending time on it. Although it's still there in her later books, I think she handles it better there. She just doesn't make good choices with this book.

Absolutely! I have loved this book since I was a kid. Full of adventure and fascinating characters and places, with an inexperienced but heroic main character.

I have recently read Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan books, and for some reason they came to mind. Perhaps because of a young, well-intentioned but somewhat hapless young man plunging from one scrape into another.

Ralph Cosham is such a brilliant narrator - I loved his reading of Watership Down and all of the Louise Penny books, and I thought if anyone could handle all those Scottish accents it would be him. But the reading was a little disappointing. He does do a reasonable Scottish accent, but there's very little differentiation among characters, and a lot was in a kind of monotone. Clear, understandable and not hard to listen to - I just had kind of high expectations. I'm not sure when this recording was made, but he sounds younger.

Yes! Even having read it several times when I was younger.

Fun adventure story with an interesting and well-drawn friendship at its heart.

The characters were vivid - there's a considerable amount of detail on them. I found them outrageous, but consistent, and believable enough within the story. I wasn't sure I'd be able to finish - the book is so long, and I normally can't tolerate a book where I don't like any of the characters. But I didn't get really impatient until the last few hours. Overall, I found the story intriguing, but was not very satisfied with how it worked out.

Possibly.

The plot does some major twists and turns, and the scenes where these were revealed were usually quite fun. The author sometimes exhibits a sense of glee in turning a situation on its head, and it did make me laugh at times.

Stay single.

Interesting, but too long.

Don't know - the reader was very good.

The book is full of memorable moments - watching Tricia work through one obstacle after another is pretty amazing. As a former 9-year-old girl, I found myself pretty astonished that Stephen King did such an amazing job with Tricia's character. She is very completely and lovingly drawn. It was fun to hang out with her through this entire book.

No, I don't think I've ever heard her before. She did a wonderful job on this.

Well, it's pretty much just us and Tricia through this book. She is a remarkable character, and watching her cope with her situation was fascinating. She was talking to Tom Gordon throughout the book - I found myself talking to HER throughout the book, cheering or commiserating or giving advice.

I didn't read any Stephen King for a long time - I'm just not much of a horror fan, although his stories are fascinating. I've been catching up lately on his later work, which seems more thoughtful and interesting to me than his earlier, pure horror stuff. He is an amazingly skillful writer, and this book was a great pleasure!

Slightly above average. The story was interesting, but not as substantial, and the characters were not as clearly drawn as the ones in the Rizzoli and Isles books.

Somewhat. The story was interesting and I did not know what to expect from it.

She's always good. She does a nice job with both male and female characters.

No.

There is an interesting note from the author about her early writing experiences. Still a little too much of the romance left in this one - that made it a bit less enjoyable for me. But the plot was intricate and interesting. I liked the main characters, although they seemed a bit sketchy - not as clear as her later characters. Overall, I enjoyed the book very much, although I do like her more recent books more.

Very high. The narrator was brilliant - believable voices for all characters, and the story was gripping for it's entire considerable length.

I can't really - i don't think I've ever encountered a book I could compare it to.

His pacing was marvelous. Slower and faster in the right places, and, again, they were perfect and the emotions seemed perfectly portrayed.

I think Stephen King is a brilliant storyteller and an incredibly skilled writer, but I'm careful about which of his books I pick up, because his more gruesome horror isn't really my thing. This book was frightening, but I had no problem with it at all. The historical detail was fascinating, the background hum of something very frightening made it impossible to stop reading. Although the book is based on an incredible premise, the people were completely believable. This book was completely enjoyable!