A Reason to Live (Marty Singer Mystery #1)

By: Matthew Iden

Narrated by: Lloyd Sherr

In the late 90s, a bad cop killed a good woman and DC Homicide Detective Marty Singer got to watch as the murderer walked out of the courtroom a free man. Twelve years later, the victim's daughter comes to Marty begging for help: the killer is stalking her now. There's just one problem: Marty's retired...and he's retired because he's battling cancer. But with a second shot at the killer - and a first chance at redemption - Marty's just found…a reason to live.

©2012 Matthew Iden (P)2013 Matthew Iden

Great detective story

If you like good old fashioned detective books this one is for you. Nice plot and it doesn’t have so many storylines that you can’t keep up. The narrator has the character down pat, he sounds just like you would expect a detective to sound.

Excellent detective thriller; great narration

This is the first novel in the three novel Marty Singer series. I have previously written reviews of the other two books in the series. Marty Singer is a 53 year old retired Washington DC police detective who is fighting colon cancer. A young woman is concerned that the man who murdered her mother 12 years ago is trying to kill her. A Reason to Live is a solid and worthwhile modern detective mystery/suspense thriller with some unexpected twists.

wow!

Would you consider the audio edition of A Reason to Live to be better than the print version?

The voice is a perfect fit. This audio book had me from the beginning!

Very entertaining

I don't read much fiction but happened to stumble upon this. It was a perfect book to listen to while on vacation and I can't wait to download the second in the series.

A good detective story with a great narration

Would you consider the audio edition of A Reason to Live to be better than the print version?

No, I wouldn't consider it better. I both listened to and read the book and also whispersynced it. There are good aspects to both just reading and just listening. I get a bit more of the urgency of this type of story when I just read and I can certainly read faster than the narrator. But the narrator does bring the words to life. So, it's really fifty-fifty for me.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the character of Marty Singer the best. Julie and Jim were good characters, too. Amanda, although the story centered around her, was not as dramatic for me as the other three. But Marty really tops them all. He's not so much the cynical ex-cop as a man on a mission. It's what he's been doing for over thirty years and forced retirement along with chemo and cancer are not going to change that..

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

Lloyd Sherr's voice and expression were so perfect for this story that I was drawn right into it. He's also the voice for Modern Marvels on The History Channel, but once I knew that, I didn't find it distracting at all. It actually added to my enjoyment of the narration.

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

If my time wasn't so limited, I would like to have listened for longer periods.

Any additional comments?

I see the next book isn't available on audio yet. I'm assuming it will be so I will watch out for it.

Cancer Sidelines One Good Cop

A veterean Homocide Detective is forced into an early retirement as cancer ravages his insides (and makes a mess of his plans at fishing and lazy days ahead). Amidst the upheaval this illness causes, he is given a rare chance at redeeming a bungled case from his past. This distraction saves him from thinking about his current misery, and may even save a girl's life.

It is a solid detective story, if a little predictable. The 'cancer' aspect of the novel was very informative and written neatly into the story; The author seemed very knowledgeable about the subject, and empathetic to the hero's predicament.

The narrator's timbre was appropriate for a gruff, worn-out cop.

Okay not Great

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Not bad, but not great.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

hard to say what I would change if anything.

Which scene was your favorite?

no favorite scene

Did A Reason to Live (Marty Singer Mystery #1) inspire you to do anything?

nope

At Last - a Voice for Marty!

What did you love best about A Reason to Live?

I loved the book when I first read it - a crime fiction story with a twist. A retired cop, fighting cancer, re-opens an old case. I was so excited to find it an audio version finally. Mr. Sherr does a great job narrating the story - so now I have a voice for my mental vision of Marty Singer. (You might recognize his voice - he does narration for Modern Marvels and the History Channel.) The narration was well-paced and voiced.

Which scene was your favorite?

I loved the opening scene where Marty meets Amanda, and the scenes with Julie Atwater scenes are great.

Any additional comments?

If you like crime fiction, but are tired of the wrote whodunit, then try Marty Singer out.

Good old fashioned detective story

Good narrator. Good story. Really liked Singer and felt characters were well-developed but story was just average, good but not outstanding.

Matthew Iden is a hidden gem!

I loved this book and I'm actually about to start on the third book in this trilogy! This author writes a realistic, believable police procedural, develops great characters you really care about and throws in all sorts of interesting trivia you never knew before. He does all this, holding your interest so you can't stop reading without any gratuitous violence or explicit sex! I'm hooked!