Bright Shiny Things

Hakim and Arnold, Book 5

By: Barbara Nadel

Narrated by: Charles Armstrong

Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's Summary

Out of the blue, private investigator and ex-soldier Lee Arnold receives a visit from an old army mate, Abbas al'Barri. Now living in Ilford with his family, Abbas is convinced that he's had a message from his estranged son, Fayyaad, who was radicalised and was last thought to be fighting for ISIL in Iraq.

Does Fayyaad's message indicate a change of heart? Abbas is desperate for Lee's help in establishing some contact with him.

©2017 Barbara Nadel (P)2017 W. F. Howes Ltd

Critic Reviews

Praise for the Hakim and Arnold Mystery series:
"A new and original pair of detectives...it has the ring of truth." ( The Independent)

"Bleak, brutal and timely." ( Financial Times)

Great story, poor narrator

I found the narration of this book very disappointing. The narrator appears not to have done his homework in listening to the previous books and was inconsistent with his pronunciation of Bangladeshi names, varying at random (it seemed) between "Hook" and "Huk" for Mumtaz's family. He also seemed to confuse "he" and "she" a lot. Paul Thornley did a great job with books 1-4 so perhaps Charles Armstrong suffered in the comparison. However, I'll avoid his narrations in the future.

VERY DISAPPOINTED!

I love the Hakim and Arnold series and have listened to them all, so was very excited to get the latest offering, No 5 in this series!
Got in my car today to drive to work, switched on and OMG...she has ditched the brilliant Paul Thornley and replaced him with someone called Charles Armstrong!
I don't want to continue listening as he is not holding my attention and he is just NOT right for these books!
Whatever possessed her to do this??? Such a shame...not sure I'll continue with them anymore as the narrator is vital for me!!!

Wrong narrator

What did you like best about Bright Shiny Things? What did you like least?

Good plot and development of the main characters' story lines from the previous books, but a real shame that it wasn't Paul Thornley narrating.

Would you be willing to try another one of Charles Armstrong’s performances?

Not on a Hakim and Arnold novel.

Long awaited - book 6 please

What made the experience of listening to Bright Shiny Things the most enjoyable?

like the characters and finally some movement on the relationship between the central two characters

Who was your favorite character and why?

the two leads are well drawn balanced and sympathetic

What about Charles Armstrong’s performance did you like?

it was fine but had enjoyed Paul Thornley reading to date

Change the narrator why

Changing the narrator on book five what a shame I won’t even waste my time listening to it now

Great narrator...

...and a wonderful series that I've now unfortunately finished. Hakim and Arnold are a fascinating combination, listen to them...

Oh for Paul Thornley

I gave up at chapter 3! Compared to Paul Thornley, the narrator of the previous books in the series this narrator seemed very second rate. I just couldn't identify with his interpretation. Suppose I will have to read this one

Why would you change the narrator for this series?

So, the Hakim & Arnold books are great. The stories are strong and all the sub plots work and they are not predictable. My major problem with this particular production is the narration.

Paul Thornley does the other books in the series and you get to know and und Rostand each character well.

This is the reason why I couldn’t get into this book. It was like going to see a great play and then half an hour before the end, changing the whole cast.

It just doesn’t work.