The Magpies

By: Mark Edwards

Narrated by: Elliot Hill

Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Meet the neighbours from hell, in the gripping thriller that reviewers and readers describe as "fast-paced", "chilling", and "impossible to put down".

When Jamie and Kirsty move into their first home together, they are full of optimism. The future, in which they plan to get married and start a family, is bright. The other residents of their building seem friendly too, including the Newtons, a married couple who welcome them to the building with open arms.

But then strange things start to happen. Dead rats are left on their doorstep. They hear disturbing noises, and much worse, in the night. After Jamie's best friend is injured in a horrific accident, Jamie and Kirsty find themselves targeted by a campaign of terror.

As they are driven to the edge of despair, Jamie vows to fight back—but he has no idea what he is really up against....

The Magpies is a gripping psychological thriller in which the monsters are not vampires or demons but the people who live next door. It is a nightmare that could happen to anyone.

©2013 by Mark Edwards. (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

It's exactly what you think it'lol be

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

It was awkward at times, strange pauses and cut offs

Did The Magpies inspire you to do anything?

Save for a house

Any additional comments?

No twist no turns, you know who it is from the get go. I know not every book needs to have an unexpected ending but I wish there would have been a better explanation as to why. I read that in the print version the author added an additional chapter explaining the ending but it's not in the audio version. Wish I knew where to find it.

Easy to follow

Good book. Listened while doing 10mile hike. Good ending but little slow in parts. Thanks

Okay, But Not Great

Is there anything you would change about this book?

If I could change anything I would have Jamie grow a pair and take more action.

If you’ve listened to books by Mark Edwards before, how does this one compare?

I have never listened to a book by Mark Edwards before.

What does Elliot Hill bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I thought he did an excellent job with the material he has been give to work with.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No, probably not.

Why?

So this book kept me guessing for most of the chapters. My question is who allowed the characters to devolve into complete idiocy? Toward the end the characters didn't seem to have any brain cells left and I was very disappointed to see two seemingly "intelligently and well conceived characters" just disappear in favor of willing stupidity. Hopefully there's all evolution in book #2. Fingers crossed.

Magpies

Very interesting story. Held my attention right to the end. Listened to it on a cold rainy day. It was good entertainment.

Fast paced, good to the end!

Good story…nice pace, unexpected ending. Interesting characters. Freaky neighbors—makes ya wonder!! Worth the time to read.

Binge-able & suspenseful domestic noir!

This was a binge-able listen. I was really surprised at the reviews that said they thought it was slow! To me it was anything but as it’s a very engrossing story. I didn’t put it down and not I’m super tired! The narration was good. The one thing I could have done without is the gratuitous sex scenes. They were gross and very un-sexy, but mainly just unnecessarily descriptive. Makes me wonder about the author reading too many mailed in readers penthouse ‘stories’. But wow, talk about the neighbors from hell! When we used to visit my ex brother in London they lived in a flat and I guess the walls and flooring were paper thin. They were always so stressed out if we made the tiniest noise! I had a toddler at the time, he was fussy and jet lagged. His uptight brother kept acting freaked out when he cried or ran around. He would tell us to make him stop and we looked at him incredulously! Like what tape him to a chair and add a gag for good measure?! Lord, talk about a miserable existence! If I had lived there, and it was for some reason my only option, there is no way I would stop living a regular life and as long as my ‘noisiness’ was between 6am-11pm they would just have to live with it! We have had annoying neighbors before but nothing remotely like this! I read this authors other book Follow me home and it was good too, definitely an author I will look out for. That one had some unpleasant sex passages as well. I hope he cuts those out though as these books are suspense not ‘erotica’!

Meh

Definitely not his best. Follow you Home by Edwards is one of my favorite books of his. Much better suspense. This was not quite as exciting. And holy porn. Quite graphic sexual scenes haha!

My wife and I loved it!

We couldn't put it down! A must read or listen. We are on the next!

Could have been great ....

He’s a great writer but I did get sick of all of the cussing. The story was interesting until the end. I kept hoping for a wild “twist” at the end BUT...... it was a dud. So boring and disappointing. Great performance though!
Will try another book!