Bad to the Bone

DI Bliss, Book 1

By: Tony J. Forder

Narrated by: Greg Wagland

Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins

Publisher's Summary

A skeletal body is unearthed in a wooded area of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. DI James Bliss, together with DC Penny Chandler, investigates the case and discovers that the young female victim had been relocated from her original burial site. A witness is convinced that a young female was struck by a vehicle back in the summer of 1990 and that police attended the scene. However, no record exists of either the accident or the reported victim. 

As the case develops, two retired police officers are murdered. The two are linked with others who were on duty at the time a road accident was reported. As Bliss and Chandler delve deeper into the investigation, they start to question whether senior officers may have been involved in the murder of the young women who was buried in the woods. As each link in the chain is put under duress, so is Bliss, who clashes with superiors and the media. When his team receives targeted warnings, Bliss will need to decide whether to drop the case or to pursue those responsible. 

Will Bliss walk away in order to keep his career intact, or will he fight no matter what the cost? And is it possible the killer is much closer than they imagined?

©2017 Tony Forder (P)2018 W. F. Howes Ltd

A Very Pleasant Surprise..!!

This book was a very pleasant surprise.
I had no expectations from this author as I had not run across his work before.
It was well crafted, with a good strong narration...I will be buying the next in this series..

Good Listen

Keeps you hanging on for a twisting ride. Each turn ties a twisted knot of suspense.

Run of the mill plot, bizarre narrative structure

I’m going to return this book, but I feel like I want to justify why. *Partial/Possible spoiler ahead*
The plot starts out conventionally enough. Flawed, widowed cop takes on cold case. Competent lady sidekick. Cop drinks and is tortured. Wife is dead. He mourns, misses her.

Half of the book is done.

All of a sudden: LOOONG internal memory/ruminating retelling of what happened a few years back. Beloved wife did not actually die from cancer as previously hinted, but was murdered by her swinging partner/lover. The cop was perfectly cool with, and participated in the swinging, but - surprise, in retrospect - it wasn’t a healthy lifestyle. He hunted down (he remembers to himself) the murderer and punished him. Note past tense. This is a completed event, in the past.

The swinging flashback alone is enough plot for a whole novel of its own, but here it’s crammed into the middle of the novel as a _memory_, a narrative device similar to duct tape. If it were to work at all I could see it as a prelude to the main plot. Here it all comes across as an unedited cut and paste job. Who’s edited this book?

Ponderous and Dull

I found this book ponderous and dull. The characters lack nuance and are forgettable. The dialogue is flat, irritatingly predictable, and devoid of wit. Last, the plot shows no evidence of finesse. I felt the author used a sledgehammer to carve out the plot instead of a fine artisan’s sharply honed tools.

The narrator was decent: not great and not bad.

I have no desire to listen or read another of Mr. Forder’s books.

D.C. Smiths younger and much slower brother?

Can't any of these story detectives get along with the boss? Why are they all depressing widowers who play guitars in their meager spare time. And why do they all have fascinating love interest that just can't seem to be consummated? Are there really that many, smart, sassy, beautiful females in England, who are willing to put up with rumpled, out of touch, old farts? If so, I am cheered by the prospect. But this book runs out of steam fairly quick and soon becomes a who cares who killed the girl story. I could not become invested in the characters or their mission.

Terrific New Series

A relative newcomer to Audible,Tony J Forder has produced one of the best new series I have listened to in some time.

Although we have seen the old copper up against the new style of policing theme before, Forder skillfully develops his characters with an excellent narrative woven around a complex and interesting story that holds the listeners attention throughout. Gratuitous violence and unbelievable plot outcomes are replaced with a gritty creative story leaving room for the readers imagination to fill in the details as DI Bliss works the case in a logical credible and sometimes humorous manner.

I would be remiss not to mention Greg Waglands superb narration as he dispenses with the need to identify characters with anything other than his voice.

Once hooked - about 5 minutes in - I binged on all three novels in the series. As good as this one is, the sequels are even better. Forget the minimal number of ratings and grab this book. Be sure to leave some time when you do so as I found it hard to put down..

.

didn't actually finish wait maybe I did.

I don't like when our heroes make decisions that I find idiotic ....and completely improbable given not this one is a cop.

Unable to get to sleep? This narrator can fix that!

Some of my collage professors had more animation in their lectures than this gentleman. He reads well but no tone or rhythm variation. Hard to not drift off ...

Good mystery cliched love life

I often wish that mystery writers would just stick to the main story and skip trying to interject either love or sex. I know it’s already a cliche that all detectives are miserably single but that’s so much better than cringe-worthy romance. This book’s mystery is good but the romantic interludes and backstory were painful to get through. I wonder if some editor didn’t steer the author in this direction. *sigh*

I really tried to like it...

I wanted to give this author a chance. I wanted to see it through with the narrator. I did listen to the very end, but I didn't enjoy the story or the narration.

This reader treated every comma as a full stop, and it was extremely jarring to follow. There was very nearly no differentiation between characters, so trying to keep them straight was virtually impossible.

The story was unbelievably predictable, and the supposed back stories for the main characters were ridiculously contrived. A cop whose child was kidnapped and still missing in a foreign country?? Another who was a swinger whose spouse was murdered by a spurned lover??

I'm just not a fan.

Great start to a series

This is the first book in a series and it's a cracker! DI Bliss and DC Chandler are called out when bones are discovered in a wood, and are thrown into a complex investigation dating back years. The story is full of twists and turns and there's never a dull moment.

DI Bliss is a fantastic character, with an interesting, tragic past and is also battling a health condition. He seems like a bit of a loner, but is a great policeman and I grew to like him as the book progressed. We didn't get to know as much about DC Chandler but hopefully we will in future books.

Great narration too by Greg Wagland.

I don't know why it took me so long to get around to starting this series, but now that I have I'll be devouring the rest!

Average

I am a fan of the police procedural genre and regret that I can only describe this one as ponderous and cliché - ridden. It is quite adequate and I got through to the end without any great effort, but found it to be neither original nor exciting. The equivalent of eating a cheese sandwich. Overall, it is "okay" but I will not be rushing to buy more in this series

Bad to the bone

Really good I enjoyed it. Narration was good. Would buy again. Worth a credit.

Brilliant

Really enjoyed this book super story .Great narrative hope to hear more from this author.

Hmmn

I’m not sure how much I really like Bliss. The plot was well thought out, the narration was excellent and the writing is good enough that I’m going to listen to Book 2!

Excellent

A brilliant first book in the DI Bliss series, great story lines, excellent characters - can’t wait to read the next one.

Great book. Worth giving a go.

I liked this book and the performance is good. Story is clear and makes sense with characters that I cared about. The characterisation of the main character is complex and thoughtful. He really comes alive throughout the story and even the occasions when he could be annoying, it actually just adds to the story in a good way.

I do think at times the language used is far too “blokey”, such as “gunned” (driving a car) and “killed” (ending a phone call). However, I suspect that just goes with some parts of the genre and reflects my own prejudices rather than being an entirely fair criticism of the author.

Brilliant

Has it all. Been looking for something with real grit and great characterisation. Bought the series. Gripping stuff.

a very good read

the plot keeps you guessing to the end, with the two lines of the story

Awful Narration

First time I have ever given up on a book, I think. Narration is awful; so monotone & is especially bad when voicing the speech of the characters; I could hardly work out when one character stopped speaking & the next started!
Can’t really comment on the story itself as I gave up after chapter 5 but suffice to say even the story didn’t grip me enough to continue. Certainly won’t be trying anymore of this series. Very disappointing.