Backwash

DCI Tom Caton Manchester Murder Mysteries Series, Book 8

By: Bill Rogers

Narrated by: Michael Troughton

Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

The body of a young man is discovered in a terraced house in East Manchester. DCI Tom Caton is drawn inexorably into the dark side of the Internet, where nothing is as it seems and where there lurks a threat to his own happiness - and that of those closest to him. In two weeks, Tom and profiler Kate Webb are due to tie the knot. It's an appointment that she fears he may never keep.

Part police procedural, part thriller, part mystery, this rich tapestry of a novel delves into the threats that face everyone who uses social media that has become an essential part of our everyday existence.

©2013 Bill Rogers (P)2015 Bill Rogers

Dull police procedural. Annoying production.

The is the first of the series I've listened to. (Only two others are available as audiobooks.) For the most part, it is self-contained, although there are times when it would have helped to have read some of the earlier books in order to flesh out the main characters. DCI Tom Caton is an admirable DCI, with seemingly few of the flaws that usually characterize protagonist detectives. Much of the color is associated with his primary assistant, He is about to marry Kate, a criminal profiler, who is four or five months pregnant with their child. There is quite a lot of time spent on character development and office politics, as one might expect in a police procedural. The story itself is not very exciting except near the very end. Not a bad read, but nothing to write home about.

The narrator, Michael Troughton, was adequate, and did give different characters different voices or accents. What was really annoying were the many telephone conversations, which the production handles poorly. The remote person was given a much diminished voice, very tinny and difficult to hear and understand. When I turned up the volume in order to make the person audible, then the person nearby is far too loud and distorted. Audible ought to exercise better quality control.

It seems this series is self-published, and, compared with most others of that type, the writing is pretty good. I doubt however that I'll be reading others.