Midnight

Nightingale, Book 2

By: Stephen Leather

Narrated by: Ralph Lister

Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

"Your sister is going to hell, Jack Nightingale."

Somehow, variations of that line keep former police negotiator Jack Nightingale’s life careening in wild, unforeseen directions. And now, as a PI trying to put his life in perspective after his last go-round with the ultimate evil, the chilling phrase returns again. This time it is uttered by a dead woman hanging over a staircase, her neck broken by the laundry cord she tied around it before tossing herself over the banister. But Jack and his sister have been separated since birth…. How can he save someone he’s never met?

Jack goes on the hunt for the sister he never knew, but everyone he talks to about her dies horribly. It’s as if someone — or something — is determined to keep them apart. If he’s going to save his sister, he’s going to have to do what he does best: negotiate. But any negotiation with the forces of darkness comes at a terrible price, and first Jack must ask himself a question: is every soul worth saving?

A vise grip of sharp-edged intensity, the second book in the Nightingale trilogy is a relentlessly paced thriller that takes you to the darkest corners of midnight itself.

©2012 Stephen Leather (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Disappointed

I really enjoyed "Nightfall", the first book in this series and started the second recording soon after the first finished which may have been part of the reason I didn't enjoy this as much.
I much preferred the narrator of the first book in the series "Midnight". Actually, I much preferred the first book - then the story seemed fresh and I was willing to overlook some minor irritations with the writing. This time, the story seemed stale and recycled and the minor irritations became more major. The phrases "Nightingale shrugged" and "Nightingale lit a cigarette" were used so frequently that if they were removed from the text, I'm, sure the book would be pages shorter. A disappointing follow up .

Rich tapestry of British-flavor voices

What made the experience of listening to Midnight the most enjoyable?

For me, the lovely voice of Ralph Lister is one that I want to immerse myself in to pick up the subtle nuances of the working-man London accent, as opposed to the BBC-sterile voices that I usually get exposed to.

What other book might you compare Midnight to and why?

This one was pretty unique in its presentation. It reminded me of a Brit cop show (like Cracker), more reality-based, with the supernormal elements being illustrated as possibly just superstitious crap. Really well done.

What does Ralph Lister bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The voice. Compelling and believable characterizations.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

This Time Tomorrow, You Will Be Dead.

Any additional comments?

Yes.

Enough !

This book really began to annoy me about two hour in.
it seemed the author followed the same plot from the first book; only super sized the scene
within the plot by three; more suicides, more devil, more marlboro cigarettes.
to me it was like every person you came across is a chain smokers.
the constant repeat of establish ideas, force me a few time to stop the recording, i found the story was difficult to listen to. Jack Nightingale You are going to Hell and you are a little psychotic.

Very Entertaining

This book definitely kept my attention and I kept listening to it every chance I got. I am really enjoying this series. the narrator was excellent.

Not Quite as Good as the First Book in the Series

Ignoring, Stephen Leather's recent faux pas about having created sockpuppet accounts to stir up interest in his books, I thought this book was quite good but got knocked down half a star because it had some problems. None of the problems involve the narrator. Ralph Lister does a truly excellent job.

If you read the first book in the series then you will have fewer questions about this book. Telling much about the plot of this book will inevitably include spoilers

Just to cover all the bases I'm going to explain first why I did not like this book as well. Part of it was annoyance with Jack's smoking. Jack spent a large part of the first half of the book wanting a smoke, asking if he could smoke and complaining because there were laws that prevented smoking in various places. Yes, yes, I'm an ex-smoker too, but it's pointless to carry on about it too much.

Also a number of the characters were pretty much stereotypes-- a woman on welfare who is living in a nice apartment because the economy is so bad that the owner of the building kept having to reduce the rent to the point that the local council could pay it. Then there is the taxi driver from Afghanistan who had been granted refugee status in England because he was a member of the Taliban and was escaping the US invasion-- and was given some special perks. This was all in the first half of the book.


SPOILERS FOR FIRST BOOK

Jack Nightingale is looking for his half sister, born two years after Jack, adopted by an unknown couple, and whose soul was also traded to a devil by their father so he could gain power over beautiful women. The plot is very similar to the first book as Nightingale runs around trying to get information from people and the people keep dying. Nightingale also continually ends up in a situation where he is suspect in the deaths although there is no direct evidence that would connect him.

If it weren't for the things I complained about above I would give this a full four stars-- oh, except for the American millionaire who is wearing snakeskin cowboy books with spurs. The spurs are the problem, they would just rip up the furniture and carpet when he stretched his legs out.

Another fun read!

Becoming a fan of ol Jack. There was so much going on in this one, you have to pay attention. But then I am listening to 2 other similar books, kinda mixed and matched characters, lol. Caught a blooper! When Robin is lighting candles in her circle it says "she took a lighter and lit the 5 candles, then put the match back in the box". Heading for the next adventure...

Boring mouthpiece for the author's politics

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

BNP members, maybe. If they're not turned off by the author's obsession with smoking.

Would you ever listen to anything by Stephen Leather again?

Nope

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The Welsh accent was a bit silly.

Any additional comments?

Every character in this book exists to trumpet the author's politics, either as a strawman target of them or a mouthpiece for them. Some particularly egregious examples include a housing welfare recipient who literally says "I'm entitled, so fuck 'em!" about her neighbors and a taxi driver who brags about getting asylum in England for being Taliban. I wanted a fun supernatural mystery, not a boring political tirade.

The narrator isn't Paul Thornberry and sucks

oh dear, Paul is so thoroughly Jack, Accept no substitute, This guy is stilted and does awful accents