The Fisher King

A Jack McBride Mystery, Book 2

By: Melissa Lenhardt

Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan

Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

When the dust settles in this Texas town, who will be left standing?

It's been six weeks since Jack McBride's life went to hell: The resolution of his first case as chief sparked a county-wide drug war, his brother Eddie rode into town with a pocket full of cocaine and trouble on his mind, his estranged wife returned from her one-year sabbatical determined to win him back, and Ellie Martin ended their brief affair.

To the Stillwater natives, the increase in local crime can be traced directly back to the day outsider McBride took the job, and they're gunning to get rid of him. One particular group is led by Joe Doyle, a successful local businessman who's running for city council against Ellie and her plan to revitalize downtown. Now Jack has discovered proof Doyle is the biggest crime lord in the county, and, with murders piling up and the drug war intensifying, Jack suspects the crimes aren't business but personal - and he's the target.

The bitter election and Jack's investigation spark old rivalries and new jealousies, making Ellie and those who love Stillwater most wonder if it's even worth saving.

©2016 Melissa Lenhardt (P)2021 Tantor

Stillwater Revisited

I was thrilled when Audible made this title available after listening to "Stillwater". The novel continues the exploits of Jack McBride just shortly after the ending of the original tale. If you have not listened or read Stillwater, stop now and pick that one up first.

As the story opens, Jack's wife has joined him after a year long "sabbatical" away from him and his son. Since Jack has moved on, to say that he is unhappy with her return is an understatement. However, making the best of it, the sheriff continues with his duties in the small town which still has plenty of stories to tell with local corruption, drugs, and murder. Call it an East Texas Peyton Place if you will as that is what you are getting here.

Overall, I found the story solid and easy to listen to. PJ Ochlan does a much better job than the narrator from the first novel. My only complaint, albeit minor, is his tendency to pause mid sentence from time to time with the delivery. I will give him major props for being the first narrator I have listened to that does an exceptional job with the female voices. Most of the male attempts come across fairly weak, but Mr. Ochlan does a great job. This one concludes some major plot points from the original novel quite well and leaves room for future Jack McBride novels which I hope are on the way. A very solid entry to my library.

hated the narrator but story was good

I really wanted to finish this series, so I struggled through this book. But this narrator was awful, it really made it hard to pay attention. I'd definitely listen to it again with a different narrator though.

Jane

Just one criticism, somehow Jane lost her German accent in favor of what could be interpreted as an accent of the locals. Other than that I very much enjoyed this book!

LOVE!!!!!!

I’ll just sit her and feverishly stalk Melissa Lenhardt’s fb page waiting for updates on book 3. My heart can’t take it 😩😩😩😩

P.s.
if you like detective books, thriller books, small town books, murder books, romance books, etc. do yourself a favor and start at book 1. Try not to rush…..it’s almost impossible not to, but TRY!!! Because otherwise, you will be pinning away for book 3 just like me.

Couldn’t handle the reader’s voice- didn’t get more than 20 minutes into this book

I tried hard to listen to this…I really want to hear this story. I picked it back up 4 times, but I just couldn’t handle more than 20 minutes of this narrator’s voice. He ends every sentence with a drop in his tone, and it was so distracting, I couldn’t continue.

Changed narrators from first book.

Why did they change narrators? Ruined the whole series. The story was ok but the narration was terrible.

meh...

the story was good but the reading was robotic. I liked it though. I like the author.

Ok story, the presentation could have been better

Doesn't seem like this writer is very developed. There are way too many repetitions of certain words, like "said". There are.many words more descriptive than "said", I started paying more attention to the repetitive words than the story.

Mono tone narrator not good for story

Couldn’t finish listening to the story. First book was great but this monotone of he said, she said has no inflections and is very boring