The Red Road

A Novel

De: Denise Mina

Narrado por: Cathleen McCarron

Alex Morrow faces her toughest opponents yet in this brilliant new thriller about criminals, consequences, and convictions.

Police detective Alex Morrow has met plenty of unsavory characters in her line of work, but arms dealer Michael Brown ranks among the most brutal and damaged of the criminals she's known. Morrow is serving as a witness in Brown's trial, where the case hinges on his fingerprints found on the guns he sells.

When the investigation leads to a privileged Scottish lawyer who's expecting to be assassinated after a money laundering scheme goes bad, and a woman who's spying on the people who put her in jail, Morrow has her hands full. And that's before she even gets to her family issues.

The Red Road is a thrilling new audiobook from a masterful writer, proving once again that, "If you don't love Denise Mina, you don't love crime fiction." (Val McDermid).

©2014 Denise Mina (P)2014 Hachette Audio

Timeline confusion

This book was confusing to listen to on audiobook. The switching between timelines was not seamless. It would start the 1997 timeline by stating the year, but there was not a transition back to the “present tense”. Also, I thought book 4 was supposed to be finishing up book 3 with all those unresolved storylines. I was displeased to realize that this is a standalone book in relation to the her cases. The only thing this book had continuing on from book 3 was the fact that Morrow had her kids.

I'm completely torn

I love Denise Mina, and it turns out that I love this book. But it just wasn't a good story for an audiobook, at least for me, because it flips back and forth between times and places, and it was just way too hard for me to keep track of given that I listen to audiobooks during my walking commute and while running errands. I gave up partway through but tore through the book in about 2 days. I really can't get enough of Denise Mina and have had to ration my reading so that I don't read all of her books too quickly and so I don't burn out on her.

Well written and narrated

What did you love best about The Red Road?

But it ended abruptly.

What about Cathleen McCarron’s performance did you like?

The narrator handles the characters well. She makes one loathe some characters by the tone of her voice and feel sorry for others.

complex novel took awhile to track

Like the writer but this particular book was too complex for audible; took awhile to keep all the generations and characters straight. Narrator diud not really voice anyone differently but mostly it was 3rd person narration and so hard to ID who was who. Some parts were a bit annoying to me -- "The Hippie" -- Really?? Plot seemed much more important than characters instead of being balanced with both being believable. I think I would have preferred reading this one.

Another great entry from Denise Mina

Any additional comments?

Always well-written and character driven, this author has a place on my list of favorites. Wonderful lead character in this series, a tough, smart but not infallible woman cop trying to make it in a man's world with twins and a young husband at home. Great series, spend the credit, you won't be sorry!

Confused

I was confused for a while…too many characters. It was hard to understand the narrator.

Well written as usual, but hard for me to follow.

Any additional comments?

I'm writing mid-way through listening, out of need to express my frustration. On one hand, I've read Mina's other books (not listened) and appreciated them a lot. She writes beautiful prose and is magical depicting archeology of damaged characters. The reader performs well with a lovely, exacting Scots brogue, which while authentic, leads me to rewind fairly often to be sure I caught what was said.

On the other hand, it's hard to keep track of past and present, who did what to whom, when and why, and what has evolved in the characters' lives from then to now. Some chapters start with the the 1997 date, others with no date, and we're left to assume they're happening 'now', but if you've forgotten a character from earlier chapters, it's easy to feel lost. It's back and forth, back and forth.

Thus far, I'm thinking I'd more enjoy this book as read than listened to, so I could thumb back to previous sections to remind myself of events and people. As it is, I'm disappointed and exasperated, tempted to quit reading but not wanting to. Sigh. Maybe it's just senior brain.

Love Denise Mina

Another home run from Mina. Her stories are complex, well-told, and interesting. I recommend them all.

A bit hard to follow, but worth sticking with

If you could sum up The Red Road in three words, what would they be?

Complicated, character-laden, surprising

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

Like the other books in this series, the plot was a bit hard to follow at times. This book's flashbacks were particularly confusing initially, and I mixed up the back stories of some of the characters. (This would only happen when listening; if I were reading I would simply flip back to ascertain who was who.)

Which character – as performed by Cathleen McCarron – was your favorite?

The protagonist, Alex Morrow -- smart, sympathetic, tough.

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

No. I was tempted not to finish it several times.

Any additional comments?

This novel features a lot of slow bits and, as I mentioned above, I experienced some character confusion. The narrative and plot did not become compelling for me until I was more than halfway through. At that point I was definitely hooked.

couldn't stop listening

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

yes, lots of twists

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

yes, loved the way the plot jumps from one story line to another

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

like the different dialects