The Cove: FBI Thriller #1

Dear Audible... can I give this book a negative rating? This book was so bad, I could barely finish it. Lame, cheesy, an insult to anyone with a few brain cells in their head, are only a few of the many ways I would describe this terrible story. Save your credits!!!!!

I'm one of those people who has a hard time with sexual violence of any kind and also with victims who are utterly betrayed by loved ones and those who say they'll protect them and keep them safe. Psychological abuse is also hard for me, too. So, I don't typically read suspense thrillers and tend to stick to romances or mysteries that mix in a good helping of humor and maybe a little romance. However, a good friend told me that she thought that I'd like the third book in this series, and being a stickler for doing things the "right" way, I decided to start with the first book, namely The Cove.

Oh, this book was so hard for me to get through because of the issues that I laid out in the first two sentences of this review. There is quite a bit of sexual abuse and emotional victimization (or maybe it just seemed like a lot to me) in a main character's past, and she was so powerless at the time to do anything about it and told that it hadn't really happened and was all in her head, it makes me sad just thinking about it. Also, even in the current timeline of the story, it's hard for her to know who she really can trust at any given moment. So, any readers who have trouble reading about this type of thing really shouldn't read this book. Maybe other readers won't feel it was as bad as this, but I was so depressed while getting through most of the book. I knew that the best thing was to see it through because my imagination would probably take it to even worse places in my mind if I didn't just find out how it all played out.

I agree with some of the other reviewers that the writing wasn't great, either. However, I've been known to forgive that before if there are other factors at times that make up for it in my eyes (such as colorful, compelling characters, great dialogue, creative twists and turns, a great love story, etc.). I don't think that I'll ever listen to this book again, even knowing how the plot resolves itself and knowing it may not be so dark and painful for me the next time because I now know the manner in which everything ends for each of the characters.

The only reason that I MIGHT re-read it is that there are characters in this book that show up and cross over with other books in the series. I just finished reading the second book in this series titled The Maze (since I'd bought the first three books in the series and am too cheap to not at least TRY to read what I've paid for), and I recommend that one. The writing still may not be Pulitzer Prize material, but I thought that it was much better and liked all but a few of the characters so much more than I did those of The Cove. Because The Maze's main characters are mostly FBI agents working together on cases, I think that gave the story-line more stability and Coulter was able to get a better handle on her plot, rather than The Cove's ever-shifting "What's going on in this sleepy, innocent little town, or am I just crazy to think that anything bad is going on?" This reminded me a bit more of the Patricia Cornwell novels that I used to read years ago, before I decided that the psychos that she tries to catch in those books were too dark and depressing for escapist reading (for me, at least). I'm hoping that the third book (which is actually the one that my friend said I should read) will be more like The Maze than The Cove.

The narrator did a good job. She can't be blamed for anything wrong with this book.

Bottom line for this review: skip this one and start with The Maze.

Another author would have made this book better!

I have never written an audible review but had to for this book. This was the most horrible

Catherine constantly repeated events by having another character say / relive it. It was like she had to write a certain number of pages. BORING to the extreme .. this said, the mystery portion of the book was great. A good story.

No more Coulter for me. Having never read her before, I assume she also writes romance novels.

The narration was good, but the pace of the story was painfully slow.

I would cut each and every time she repeated the telling of an event already explained in detail earlier.

Cheesy romance novel vaguely disguised as a mystery. I'm really surprised this lady has sold so many books. This was my first listen/read of Coulter and will be my last.

I wish I would have also read the reviews here before wasting my credits. Don't bother with this book, I barely made it past the 1st disc.

Do not waste your credits or money.

It's about in the middle.

James Quinlan - he was portrayed with more humor.

A little tough sometimes but there were a lot of characters to protray.

Finding out about the murders in The Cove

I think it's important to approach this as a "light" read. Not cloak and daggar. If you have that attitude you will find the book very enjoyable. Sometimes you just want to be entertained.

This. Is. The. Worst. Book. Ever.

I'm sorry. I really, really tried to listen to this book. I kept hoping it would get better. It didn't. A monkey could write a better book. I bought the second in the series as well, but I am hoping I can get a refund for both. The plot was intriguing at first, but the writing is that of a teenager forced to write a book report. Actually, a teenager's book report is probably better than this. Don't bother.

I can't leave no stars, so I am forced to give this 1 star. The publisher should be ashamed of themselves for publishing this piece of crap. There are better writers out there (as I raise my hand). Publish their work instead (raising my hand again)

Ms. Coulter, take some writing courses or give it up and try something else.

Hell no.

The narrator, bless her soul, did her best to try to make the book better. She failed.

The whole book.

Quirky, entertaining, funny

This is the first of the author's FBI series and it's a great opener. This is sort of "Psycho" without the mummified mother at the end.

The reader kept my interest and dramatized the story without making her reading a play.

When I first read this story, I didn't like it and didn't thibk it lived up to the second book in the FBI Series, but this second reading brought the story more to life and I appreciated it much much more.