A Test of Wills

By: Charles Todd

Narrated by: Samuel Giles

Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Ian Rutledge returns to his career at Scotland Yard after years fighting in the First World War. Unknown to his colleagues he is still suffering from shell shock, and is burdened with the guilt of having had executed a young soldier on the battlefield for refusing to fight. A jealous colleague has learned of his secret and has managed to have Rutledge assigned to a difficult case which could spell disaster for Rutledge whatever the outcome.

A retired officer has been murdered, and Rutledge, fighting the torment of his illness, goes to investigate. As he digs into the lives of the villagers, the witness who disturbs him most is a war-ravaged ex-soldier who chills Rutledge with the realization that he could become like this man.

©1996 Charles Todd (P)1999 W.F. Howes

A good start to a series

I had read this book several years ago, and wanted to read more in the series, so I listened to this one to get reintroduced to the main character. I found the narrator to not be great at differentiating multiple characters' voices,and sometime I just couldn't tell who the speaker was, unless the name of the speaker was revealed. I found the solution to the mystery to be a complete surprise; there is nothing in the book that even hinted at the identity of the murderer. I'm not sure what I thought about that technique; I'll see if that continues in later books

Good Start to this Mystery Series

A good tale that was too drawn out. About two thirds of the way through, and having gone over the same clues for the 3rd or 4th time, I was ready for the resolution. I listened through to the end, though, and it was an interesting and unexpected twist that could have been woven in more effectively earlier. Felt contrived. I'm backfilling this series after listening to #22 first. Really enjoyed that, and this is good background. Good narration.

So much talking

Narration great, but the detective talks & talks & talks. Good enough to want to read more.

Murder Mystery with a Ghostly twist!!

Todd has added a 'dead' army colleague as his Detective's conscience and part time narrator. It was odd at first but as this book progressed the idea grew in its integrity.

Ian Rutledge brought his conscience 'Hamish' back with him from WW1 and he is essential to the problem solving of Scotland Yard's least respected and psychologically fragile crime fighter.

First in the series, it will make you want to hear more.

Reader

The reader's accent was annoying. Every sentence ended plummy. It was very annoying

I did not much like the story either but the reader just grated

Heard the same ideas over and over

Is there anything you would change about this book?

This could have been about half as long. Not enough plot, not enough of the story
moving, just the same thoughts and ideas and people saying the same things over
and over. No where near as good as the first in this series.

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

Good narrator.

good story, dragged in places

great characters, somewhat slow plot in places. narrator not bad at all despite other reviews

It’s OK

Good intentions but a flawed depiction of PTSD and an incredulous ending. Too much coffee drinking in the land of tea.

Good

I was not sure what to expect and it took awhile to get a handle on the characters. But I really enjoyed this story and look forward to more

A broken man inside, trying to get back to life after the war, Ian has a lot going on. It brings the horrors of war alive

Agree with previous review

Narration was hard to listen to; I almost gave up several times. Story dragged on and on then in last 5 minutes was over. Was rather anticlimactic after all the buildup