False Mermaid

By: Erin Hart

Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor

Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

American pathologist Nora Gavin fled to Ireland three years ago, hoping that distance from home would bring her peace. Though she threw herself into the study of bog bodies and the mysteries of their circumstances, she was ultimately led back to the one mystery she was unable to solve: the murder of her sister, Trona. Nora can't move forward until she goes back to her home, to the scene of the crime, to the source of her nightmares and her deepest regrets.

Determined to put her sister's case to rest and anxious about her 11-year-old niece, Elizabeth, Nora returns to Saint Paul, Minnesota, to find that her brother-in-law, Peter Hallett, is about to remarry and has plans to leave the country with his new bride. Nora has long suspected Hallett in Trona's murder, though there has never been any proof of his involvement, and now she believes that his new wife and Elizabeth may both be in danger. Time is short, and as Nora begins reinvestigating her sister's death, missed clues and ever-more disturbing details come to light. What is the significance of the "false mermaid" seeds found on Trona's body? Why was her behavior so erratic in the days before her murder?

Is there a link between Trona's death and that of another young woman? Nora's search for answers takes her from the banks of the Mississippi to the cliffs of Ireland, where the eerie story of a fisherman's wife who vanished more than a century ago offers up uncanny parallels. As painful secrets come to light, Nora is drawn deeper into a past that still threatens to engulf her and must determine how much she is prepared to sacrifice to put one tragedy to rest...and to make sure that history doesn't repeat itself.

©2009 Erin Hart (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Rich with atmosphere and Irish legend, this exceptionally crafted story of murder, family secrets, and redemption is a welcome addition to Hart’s suspenseful series.” (Library Journal)

“Few writers combine as seamlessly as Hart does the subtlety, lyrical language, and melancholy of literary fiction with the pulse-pounding suspense of the best thrillers.” (Booklist)

“Many readers will find this passionate, complex novel almost impossible to put down.” (Publisher's Weekly)

Silly and Confused

I kept expecting this book to get better but it just became padded out with odd storylines that seemed to be unrelated to much at all.
The narrators attempt at male dialogue was annoyingly high camp.

This probably would be a good story, but....

The language is just discusting! Too bad. Won't ever listen to this author again.

Irish Lilt

First, if you don't care for that Irish lilt in a narrator's voice, this book is not for you. For me, there was something too "theatrical" about the accent, but I persevered. Unfortunately, I didn't care much for the story, either. The author seemed intent on using lines from old Irish folk tales throughout a story otherwise told in present-day. There were too many coincidences and explanations for characters' behaviors that seemed to be simply convenient ways for the author to get out of the corner she'd written herself into. A lot of people will enjoy this book for its attempt to weave myth and "reality, but for me, the result was too heavy handed.

accent too "something"

The narrator's Irish accent was too thick, too strong for me. A bit was ok, but after a couple of hours, I had to give up.

Tedious

I spent most of my time with this book trying not to figure out the lame whodunit plot (the author pretty much tells you who did it in the first chapter), but rather why the narrator used an Irish accent when most of the book took place in America with American-accented characters. A woman narrator's attempt to portray male voices is rarely successful but this was particularly bad. If you want an Ireland-based novel, go with one by Tana French.

Just OK

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

I don't do many reviews, and usually only ones where I loved it. I'm glad I only paid $4.95, and to be fair this book might be a lot better read than listened to. It was really hard to follow at times, and made no sense at others. The people were not that likeable, not well developed. The underlying story was merely an annoyance and turned out to really have nothing to do with anything. I was looking for more of the supernatural angle, and the ending was just flat. It passed the time, but that's about all.

Very hard to get through

I have an average attention span and a wide genre of tastes in audio books. I just couldn't get into this book.

If you read the reviews, a lot of comments about the narration and the narrator's Irish accent. The richness of the accent used was kinda like a double piece of chocolate cake with warm fudge frosting, in other words, way too much of a good thing.

However, My problem with the story lies in the amount of superfluous Irish folklore. It was interesting. But it felt like listening to two or three different stories. One story rooted in folklore and another story rooted in the present day murder.

My second problem lies in the depth of development given to extraneous minor characters. For example, I may need to know who that Character X found the body, but I'm just not sure I needed to know about this Character X's entire history when it is in no way relevant to the main story. The depth that the author to provide information about this minor character, ends up taking away from the real story.

For me it all just got muddled and murky. With some editing, this could have been a great book.

Finally had to give up....

Very perplexing -- I've listened to hundreds of audiobooks in the last 20 years, and this has never happened before, but I absolutely could not stay focused on this book. Time and time again I backtracked, realizing my mind was "off with the fairies", only to loose it again, and then again. One section I think I "listened to" about three times, and still couldn't stay with the story. I can't quite identify the problem -- very strange, because I've read two Erin Hart books before and generally liked them. I expected to enjoy this recording a lot -- but that didn't happen.

It might be the narrator -- no problem with the Irish accent (I wouldn't know an authentic Irish accent from a bad one), but the constant switches among the piping of the little girls voice, the high-pitched garble of the policeman, the broad and somewhat grating American accents.... I found myself paying more attention to how she was pronouncing the words than following the story. Very odd. It just didn't grab my attention -- and I tried, I really did.

I finally gave up about three hours from the end -- at a point at which I realized that even though I didn't have more than a vague idea what this book was all about, I still knew what was going to happen next. When exactly what I expected did happen, I decided that was it. Enough.

confusing

I kept getting lost in the telling of this book, I kept listening because I wondered if it was just me as I was having a lot of problems following the story line. My mind continued to wander no matter how hard I tried to stay focused. Personally I like a book that holds my attention and this one failed on all levels.

Couldn't get past 1st chapter...

What would have made False Mermaid better?

Not sure, didn't get through the 1st chapter. Couldn't stand narrator's voice.

Would you ever listen to anything by Erin Hart again?

Not so sure

How could the performance have been better?

Narrator voice was annoying