• Blood Memory

  • By: Greg Iles
  • Narrated by: Joyce Bean
  • Length: 18 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (3,288 ratings)

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Blood Memory  By  cover art

Blood Memory

By: Greg Iles
Narrated by: Joyce Bean
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Publisher's summary

Catherine "Cat" Ferry is a forensic odontologist, a specialist in bite marks and the clues they provide. But while Cat's colleagues know her as a world-class scientist, she secretly attempts to manage her fragile psyche with alcohol, delving into the minds of rapists and murderers yet never allowing her own frightening past to creep into the foreground.

Cat's latest case involves a disturbing murder in New Orleans. Banishing her personal demons, she focuses on the potential killer, until one morning she's paralyzed by a panic attack at a grisly murder scene. Praying the attack is a onetime event, she continues her job as a consultant to the New Orleans Police Department, but when another victim dies in the same shocking way - raising fears that a serial killer is at large - Cat blacks out over the victim's mutilated corpse.

Suspended from the FBI task force, plagued by nightmares, and at odds with her married lover - a homicide detective - Cat finally reaches her breaking point. In a desperate effort to regain control over a life spiraling out of control, Cat retreats to her hometown of Natchez, Mississippi. But her family's secluded antebellum estate provides no sanctuary.

When some of Cat's forensic chemicals are spilled in her childhood bedroom, two bloody footprints are revealed. This sight shocks her more than any corpse she has seen in her career. Cat's father was murdered when she was eight years old, but she always believed the crime occurred in the garden outside their home. The bloody footprints suggest otherwise.

Driven by this fragment of her past, Cat attempts a forensic reconstruction of the decades-old crime, even as developments with the New Orleans task force pull her back into the case she left behind.

©2005 Greg Iles (P)2005 Brilliance Audio

What listeners say about Blood Memory

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,953
  • 4 Stars
    927
  • 3 Stars
    299
  • 2 Stars
    70
  • 1 Stars
    39
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,865
  • 4 Stars
    633
  • 3 Stars
    209
  • 2 Stars
    51
  • 1 Stars
    31
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,709
  • 4 Stars
    723
  • 3 Stars
    253
  • 2 Stars
    59
  • 1 Stars
    36

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Powerful... with a theme that haunts

I was overjoyed when Audible included author Greg Iles. It's such a personal charge to find an author so compelling, so gifted that I go searching the web for more information about what makes them tick, who they are as individuals. Greg Iles is such an author! Blood Memory takes incest and weaves a story with a sledge hammer kind of nuance - I promise you won't forget it!

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42 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

So enthralled in story I left my car running!

I got so involved in listening to this book I got out of my car while listening and went off and left it running! I loved this book. Cat is a flawed woman who many of us will relate to. Though she lives with issues that could be crippling to some (alcoholic and bi-polar) she has incredible strength to live her life intelligently and with courage. Though the story line is a nail-biter the real lesson for me was that if we can honestly evaluate our own condition and fully understand how it affects our emotional responses and our situational reactions we can function in a positive and at times heroic way. One of the previous reviewers was critical of the reader, and I couldn't disagree more. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the reading of it.

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40 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Psychology Documentary

This book had such great potential but the author threw in so much child molestation psychology and memory repression that the main plot got lost. Had Greg Iles stuck to the mystery, this could have been one of his great thrillers. In my opinion, 18 hours should have been 10 hours; it was tedious. Frankly this book turned my stomach hearing the horrible details of rape and hurting children. The narrator did a fantastic job earning my 2 stars.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

**sigh**

Way too long...an ineffectual heroine...

This could have been a splendid listen. But it absolutely needed someone to come alongside the writer to tell him that we do NOT need endless descriptions of the heroine's blood turning to ice and her hair standing on end.

The hero of the novel is only slightly more interesting that watching lawn bowling...and is constantly going into shock about stupid things.

I listened to it...and the ending was good. But I thought about switching to another book several times.

The plot seemed to go round and round in the same circle. No innovative characters.

Outstanding narration...in a losing text.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Signature Greg Iles

It's always interesting to see what Iles will do with a plot. His books - and this one is no exception - are always satisfying. They're longer than most with great detail. More than anything, I think he does an amazing job of creating characters with depth (and flaws) and tying up the storyline completely. When it's over, you actually feel like it's done. The ending isn't rushed. It's never abrupt. It has the same pace as the rest of the book. It may not end the way you want it to, but it ends the right way for the characters.

It takes me a day before I want to listen to another book. I know it's likely the next one I listen to won't be able to measure up to what I've just heard from Iles.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Well done!

If you could sum up Blood Memory in three words, what would they be?

I was so burned out on the cookie cutter thriller/mystery that I almost did not get this one. It seemed a bit different so I took the chance. I am thrilled that I did! Pun intended. This was a very good book. Yes, there were moments when the over the top reaction of the main character went to far, but that's the only downside. Narration was almost perfect. Having a female partner for years that worked on the NOPD I can say I thought I was listening to her again! Mr. Iles reallly seems to capture the human element, our worst fears, dreams, reactions. I just finished Spandau and that was amazing too, just different. I'm going to go through all his books, and based upon the two I have heard, I'm in for some good times!

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Many diverse threads woven into riveting story!

It will be difficult to write much without spoiling the story.

Several of the threads seem like the "same old things", but just when you think you know what's going to happen next, there's a new piece of information (some of it not true.)

The main character is carrying so much emotional baggage that it is a miracle that she gets out of bed in the morning! Yet, her expertise keeps her in the loop with the agencies trying to hunt down a serial killer. I was grabbed from the beginning by her situation and couldn't stop listening until all of the threads were truly bound off.

Geographically the stories include New Orleans, Natchez, the Mississippi River, and Angola Prison. This, with many characters, is a challenge for any narrator. I found some of the attempts at variations in the "southern" pronunciations annoying, but not enough to ruin the listen.

I highly recommend this book. However, it is not a quick listen nor an adrenaline rush so be prepared to sit back and get pulled into Blood Memory.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Well-researched, sensitive and a good story

There are two story lines in BLOOD MEMORY. The one involving the lead character's childhood sexual abuse can stand on its own. The 2nd felt more contrived. (They are interwoven in the book so my separation of them is artificial). I've given the book 5 stars based on how well-researched and sensitive is Iles' portrayal of the impact of childhood sexual abuse on adult survivors. He's an amazing author.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Pretty Good Book, Bad Narrator

I thought this story was pretty good but the narrator came up short with the character, Sean, and the pseudo New York/New Orleans accent. It made me cringe. If I hadn't been caught up in the story, I would have quit listening.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Don't bother if you care about credible characters

I selected this book based on reviews and I was very disappointed. The main character is a "super woman" who although she caves in on the job to a panic attack can mount a heroic escape from a deranged killer and move on with her agenda. I don't know people like this. The main plot of the victims of sexual abuse is interesting and compelling but the story built around this theme was cheesy to me. I like to have an illusion of reality and also it helps if you like the main character. "Kat" was neither believable or likable for me. Some of the other reviewers said this is classic Greg Iles, so now I know not to buy any more of his books.

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7 people found this helpful