Canary

By: Duane Swierczynski

Narrated by: George Bryant, Casey Holloway

Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

It's dangerous enough when an ordinary college girl turns confidential informant. Even more dangerous when she's smarter than the killer, kingpins, and cops who control her.

Honors student Sarie Holland is busted by the local police while doing a favor for her boyfriend. Unwilling to betray him but desperate to avoid destroying her future, Sarie has no choice but to become a CI - a confidential informant.

Philly narcotics cop Ben Wildey is hungry for a career-making bust. The detective thinks he's found the key in Sarie: her boyfriend scores from a midlevel dealer with alleged ties to the major drug gangs.

Sarie turns out to be the perfect CI: a quick study with a shockingly keen understanding of the criminal mind. But Wildey, desperate for results, pushes too hard and inadvertently sends the 19-year-old into a death trap, leaving Sarie hunted by crooked cops and killers alike with nothing to save her - except what she's learned during her harrowing weeks as an informant.

Which is bad news for the police and the underworld. Because when it comes to payback, CI #1373 turns out to be a very quick study....

©2015 Duane Swierczynski (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Such a strong female protagonist!

This was an amazing peice of work, the female protagonist was amazing, not super woman but believable and strong as any I have read.

canary pitch

had no issue with the story, but the male narrator had such a low tone in his voice that was sometimes difficult to understand when there was white noise in the background (especially when i was driving/walking down a busy city street)

Absolutely loved it!

Didn't know what to expect going into the book. Had no idea what it was about. I was taken in by the story and waited eagerly as it unraveled. A definite must read/listen for anyone who enjoys crime novels.

Story not bad, Audio performance is subpar

Overall I liked this book. The story could be a little predictable at times but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment.

The narration is a little lacking. Well, let me be clear. The female narrator is great. My only complaint is the actual mixing of her audio. Needs some higher frequencies taken out. It’s too harsh. The male narrator is great at his own voice, but like others say, is pretty bad at voices. Also there’s no emotion or variance in his voice to draw you in to the characters’ emotions. However, I hope others will listen anyway because I did enjoy the book.

Terrific Storytelling

Great story! Not my usual genre so I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this book! The story moves quickly keeping the reader at the edge of their seat. I think I will pass the book along to my teenage daughter sort of a cautionary tale? Really liked the feel of Philadelphia and the odd-historic elements. Highly recommend this book looking forward to reading more from this author.

One too many narrators

Despite a complete implausible plot and annoying alternating narrators, the novel did hold my interest. But when the accent of a character changes from the Russian accent which we are told she has, to a black southern accent in alternating chapters, it is discencerting and annoying. Wasn't the production team listening while recording?

If you can suspend your need for realistic plots, it can be a fun, fast read. But go for this one in print.