Hidden River

By: Adrian McKinty

Narrated by: Gerard Doyle

Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Alexander Lawson is a former detective for Northern Ireland's police force. After a disastrous six-month stint in the drug squad, he became addicted to heroin and resigned in disgrace. Now 24, sickly, and on the dole, Alex learns that his high-school love, Victoria Patawasti, has been murdered in America. Victoria's wealthy family sends Alex to Colorado to investigate the case, and he seizes the opportunity for a chance at redemption.

But things don't go as planned. Plagued by a heroin habit, forced to go on the run after the only credible witness to Victoria's murder is accidentally killed, wanted by both the Colorado cops and the Ulster police, Alex struggles just to stay alive.

Gritty, with spot-on dialogue and black humor, Hidden River is a dynamic thriller.

©2004 Adrian McKinty (P)2005 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

• 2005 Audie Award Nominee, Mystery

"This is not only an expertly crafted suspense novel but also a revealing study of addiction." (Publishers Weekly)
"A storyteller with the kind of style and panache that blur the line between genre and mainstream."(Kirkus Reviews)

Entertaining

Enjoyed the story of the beginning of Duffy. A good writing style with a meandering, but interesting storyline. Not as good as the others I have read, but still definitely worth listening to. Gerard Doyle has a brilliant voice & tells the story extremely well.

Interesting read

I read this book after reading the Sean Duffy series by McKinty. This story was written years before that, but is actually the continuation of Lawson’s story from where it began in the Duffy series. Satisfying read, as I find all of McKinty’s work. Gerard Doyle is a good narrator, however, I wish he could do a decent American accent, as those characters sound like they are in a bad 1930’s gangster movie. Overall, worth reading.

Not Mc Kinty's Best.

Let me start by saying that yet again Gerard Doyle did a masterful job narrating this book. I can't imagine a better narrator for McKinty's characters.

The story was excellent is places, however as a whole the story left me cold, the ending was particularly annoying. It seemed like the author did not have a good plan and was spending a lot of time building some excellent characters, like the native Indian detective only to just give him a very trivial role toward the end.

I don't regret buying this recording, however I think this book could have been so much more.

Mc Kinty is an excellent author and I would urge anyone to start with the Cold Cold Ground or The Falling Glass series.

One of McKinty's Best-well written / spellbinding

I've read (in paper form) several of McKinty's novels but this was my first of his audio books. I was pulled in to the story by the writing and narration.

Sadly one jarring note was Doyles narrative interpretation of North American voices-everyone, including the women, sound like 1940's mobsters. It was discerning and became a slight irritation. I know that the various US accents don't make much sense to Europeans but as a woman raised in the west, the same accent Doyle gave everyone took away from what was a very dramatic novel. Having a hearty booming midwest voice form the words of a weak man dying from AIDS was, to me, the most annoying of these accent malaprops.

Of course his Irish voices were spot on, as one might imagine and carried the book for the most part.

The plot is slightly convoluted but very McKinty in feeling. I could easily identify with Alex and even with John.The story arc was full of side ways sub plots yet everything came together.

If you don't mind having young western characters sound like Chandleresque mobsters this is a great listen and recommended.

I enjoy actually reading McKinty books myself so much that I'm not sure if I'll audio another one but this was well worth my credit.

interesting

I normally do not listen to this type of book but this was really captivating! I really enjoy this book to the point I did not want to stop listening.

Tracking his foe!

I really enjoyed this book. It had thrills, mystery, adventure, travelling, and it kept me on the edge of my seat.
The narrator put just the right amount of suspense in all the right places.
I will be looking for this author and narrator to be paired up in other books.
This is a must read!

Excellent top-notch Thriller

While McGinty is the author of a current best seller "The Chain" please don't neglect his earlier books with a background of Northern Ireland in the 80s and 90's. "The Hidden River" begins in Northern Ireland with a disgraced ex-cop heroin addict who sets off to America to discover the killer of his first girlfriend, a beautiful intelligent girl whose Indian family lives in Ireland. She had gone to work for a non-profit in Colorado where someone shot her. Between the insightful writing and the wonderful audible reader I loved every minute of this book even though I was on the edge of my seat for most of it. A very talented writer that I admire very much for the philosophy and social commentery some stated and some implied. And he makes me laugh, sometimes when I least expect it.

Pretty darn good

Not quite Sean Duffy greatness, but pretty darn good book. Generic American accents also pretty good.

Another great story, brilliantly narrated

This was a wonderful listen. A great story, expertly brought to life by the narrator.

Too Long, but still a good listen.

I have listened to all of the Adrian mckinty books. This is a standalone and not related to the Sean Duffy series. While I enjoyed the story, which is said in the United States and not Ireland, overall I felt it dragged a little in the middle and found myself fast-forwarding from time to time. Doyle does magnificent narration of course but anyone who is also listen to the Sean Duffy books will notice that the main characters in this book sound an awful lot like the main characters in those books. McKinty always tells a good story it's just not as riveting as the Duffy novels.