The Dead Room

By: Robert Ellis

Narrated by: Jim McCance

Length: 12 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

A young woman is found, brutally murdered and left on gruesome display in the "safety" of her parent's home. The atrocity kicks off an investigation into a bizarre string of increasingly disturbing murders, all believed to be perpetrated by someone of unprecedented savagery and cunning. As the city's panic rises, civil attorney Teddy Mack is thrown headlong into the grisly homicide case—and into a world of dirty politics and corrupt justice, where deceptions are as deadly as the killer's twisted secrets. Now, another woman is about to meet the same horrific fate as the others. To end a madman's reign, Teddy must enter his maze—a place of unimaginable terror and shocking revelations.

With his second thriller, L.A. TIMES bestselling author Robert Ellis delivers an explosive story with full-blown characters caught in a world stacked with twists and turns and an emotional intensity that burns white-hot.

THE DEAD ROOM serves as the introduction to CITY OF FIRE, and remains a truly one of a kind find.

©2002-2014 Robert Ellis (P)2014 Robert Ellis

Strong storytelling kept me guessing!

This is a great book! Excellent story, a well written, quick paced, who dunnit! Would highly recommend. The narrator’s voice seemed wrong in the beginning but once into the story- it was a perfect match!

Great story!

Very well written and read. Interesting never slow. I definitely recommend the book to all who like a twisted murder mystery

MY KIND OF THRILLER

A book with many twists and turns. It kept my interest until the end. In fact, I was surprised by the ending. I wasn't thrilled by the narrator, often it seemed that he was whispering. Still, quite worth the listen for those who like thrillers. Since I live just across the river from Philadelphia, I was pleased the city was the site of the story.

Wow! Refreshingly Different!

Where does The Dead Room rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I gave read many serial killer stories and it starts getting repetitive but this book was refreshing. This one follows a young criminal lawyer instead of a police detective. It is by far one of the best mystery novels I've read. Also I have never listened to Jim McCance before but he was great, at times he sounded like Buffalo Bill from "Silence of the Lambs" and other times he sounded like my favorite narrator, Scott Brick. If you like Scott Brick you should like Jim McCance.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I enjoyed listening to the evolution of Teddy who was somewhat naive and desperate for a mentor.

Which scene was your favorite?

The underwater scene, I'll leave it at that. ;)

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Once I got into it I couldn't put it down.

Anyone have a match?

Writing a review on a book, just based solely on 'the book' when it's audio is hard to do. The concept and overall story was different and left us all wishing we had a lawyer like the main character Teddy. It's well developed ,even tho farfetched: there wasn't unanswered questions and had a good ending. On to what makes an audiobook.
I had never heard of the narrator before. Yep, I listened to the sample. In that 4 minutes I started thinking of detectives of old. Of smoky rooms and crinkled suits, a red flashing ' Rooms Available' sign the only light in the room. That is what Vance's voice made me think. I started the love/hate almost immediately. His deep, drawn out, extremely slow baritone grated on me. Made even worse when he did female voices and worse still, when his deep voice went even deeper because it lowered the IQ of that character. I found myself wondering..can anyone light a fire under this man..just move him a little quicker in the telling? Give one persona a quick wit and sharp tongue and let it come out about 3 paces faster? Everyone sounded dull witted. I won't even touch the 'love scene' because before it even happened, before I even knew it would, I said to myself ' Please don't let this man do a love scene. Please!' And then boom it happened. I fast forwarded.
At some point, I took a deep breath and tried to focus more on what the author himself was writing and not so much on that very distinct telling. So, I shook myself of the 1946 'The Big Sleep' mode, tried to appreciate what Vance was bringing to the table and that is how I can give it 3 stars. The story was good. But it is Audio and you are rating that also. Would probably be better read on paper.

Great but no ear for Philly

I'm a muti generational Philadelphian. No one in Philly speaks like any of Jim McCance's characters. He's like listening to an Austrailian speaking American, you know, like drinking beer with fruit in it. Plus he sort of imitates Scott Brick.

Anyway, Robert Ellis's written an intelligent legal mystery with more twists than a Philly soft pretzel. I liked it a lot. I'm thinking it might be difficult to build the engaging hero into a series lawyer given the ending. Yet that's a shame since Ellis has invested a lot into creating layers of character into the young guy.

The cunundrums of life keep breaking over the guy's life prying out answers to some great inexplicable crack in every ethical person's life trip. Yep,I liked The Dead Room a lot and will even listen to Jim McCance again providing Robert Ellis doesn't make him take us again to my home town.

This One Makes You Think

The Dead Room started slowly but picked up steam as you went along. The biggest issue I had with it was that the author often used lawyers to do many investigative and enforcement functions that are really the job of police. The author could have brought one or both of the detectives into a closer relationship with the lawyers involved and handled that issue. Definitely some surprises with this one, even though the actual killer was identified rather early.

I wish this book had a sequel.

What made the experience of listening to The Dead Room the most enjoyable?

Lots of plot twists and turns kept it interesting.

If you’ve listened to books by Robert Ellis before, how does this one compare?

This is my first Robert Ellis book, but I would listen to anoter one if there was a different narrator.

What didn’t you like about Jim McCance’s performance?

The narrator was very boring, monotone and at times sounded like he was speaking through gritted teeth. One time he changed from gritted teeth to an odd sounding Austrailian accent. Very hard to listen to him.

Pleasantly surprised.

There was more depth to the story than I had originally anticipated. Not nearly as predictable as guessed. And worth the listen.

thriller

It holds on to you. Just couldn't stop listing, until the end.
thill after thill