Bryant and May On the Loose

By: Christopher Fowler

Narrated by: Tim Goodman

Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

Long regarded as an anachronism, the Peculiar Crimes Unit is to be disbanded. For octogenarian detectives Arthur Bryant and John May, it seems retirement is now the only option. But then a headless body is found in a freezer, and a suspicious, gigantic figure has been spotted - dressed in deerskin and sporting antlers made of knives. It looks like the PCU are back in business...

©2009 Christopher Fowler (P)2011 WF Howes Ltd

Bryant and May On the Loose

I love the PCU books but think that this is the weakest of the lot, unfortunately. The various elements of the story don't seem to gel as well and the closure of the Mr. Fox storyline was a bit anticlimactic. As usual, however, Tim Goodman's narration is wonderful and adds great life to all the characters. Note that the "Publisher's Summary" is incorrect and describes "Bryant and May Off the Rails" (the previous book in the series) and not "Bryant and May on the Loose."

Wonderful detective series

Bryant and May are perfect partners. I enjoy the British humor, history and interesting twist and turns to solve the crimes. Narrator is excellent.

Nooooo.....

As a fan of this series, I am continually delighted with with the stories, with Bryant and May, with the characters and their development particularly over the length of the series and with the dialogue filled with wit, wry humor and language arts worthy of an English professor. The myth and history of London are a character of their own standing. Due to visual impairment, I listen to audiobooks and the narration is excellent. While I typically hurl myself into the next book, I will need some time to process this particular story. It is rife with villains and evil bureaucrats that can curl your hair. It is this I’m a lance that requires me to pause. Good guys and good intentions seem to be overwhelmed and (spoiler alert) if Liberty pays the price, well, justice and my faith in book endings will deflate like balloons after a party.

Too much bureaucracy

All the political bureaucracy about the admin side of the PCU is distracting from the mystery. I fast forwarded through about an hour of this book. The story has a very hard and dark ending. I love the narration

Bryant and May Addict!

Came across Bryant and May when one of the titles was on offer on Audible. So entertaining, great stories they are a classic double act, fast paced and great background information on London threaded throughout. Now i'm completely hooked and am working my way through from book two onwards, it's a shame Book 1 isn't on Audible. Tim Goodman's narration is outstanding, great character voices and he gets it right with the accents and is very consistent.

What a gem

Came across this by accident and am so pleased, I'm ignoring family and chores until I get to the end. The characters and narration are brilliant. Story may be a bit far fetched but I am enjoying the historical details and occasional laugh out loud humour. Can't wait to get the rest.

addictive

I've heard it said that you either love or hate Bryant and May. I love all of the episodes that I have listened to. I intend to get the entire collection.

Top form Bryant & May

Any additional comments?

Aged detectives and a Peculiar Crimes Unit? Utter nonsense in modern London. But the crime story is far from nonsense with splendid characterisations and, after many weird and wonderful distractions and ruminations, ultimately logical and satisfying.

Not a good choice to read as first book in series

To be honest, this was a bit of a disappointment to me. The blurb and reviews made it seem appealing when I found it in a 2-for-1 sale. But I had never read anything in the series before, and all the different characters and their relationships and backgrounds were quite confusing to me. This combined with the fact that they were all in disarray because the unit had been disbanded made it very hard to connect to the characters. There wasn't one I could identify with, I found most of them not very sympathetic. Also, it's been awhile since I read a book where the point of view changes all the time between more than two or three people, and I found it a bit restless.

The story itself is slow, but I knew that beforehand and generally have no problem with slower stories.

The narrator is very good, no doubt about that.

Maybe if I had been able to purchase the very first book in the series, things would have been different. As it is, I won't be going after other books in this series.

Intriguing and thoroughly enjoyable story

This was an intriguing and thoroughly enjoyable story, what a gem. There's not just the crime story but you also get the bonus of a comprehensive history of London. This is my first outing with Bryant and May and the PCU (The Peculiar Crimes Unit) but the seventh book in the series. The basic history and background of the the unit and team is explained which doesn't distract and therefore can be listened to as a stand alone story. The characters are quaint but very likeable, and the narration by Tim Goodman is outstanding. I now fully intend to start from the beginning and listen to the entire collection (if available) Thoroughly Recommended.

Excellent listen.

This is an excellent series - extremely well written and brilliantly voiced - I can recommend it to anyone.

Excellent and as weird as ever

These two detectives are a breath of fresh air in the world of crime novels. Bryant's character is particularly well drawn and Tim Goodman catches it to perfection. The background to Fowler's books are fascinating and the history of London really comes alive while the plots unravel.

Gripping story with quirky characters

Christopher Fowler doesn't disappoint .. I was hooked from the begining You will enjoy if you like crime fiction interlinked with humorous characters!

Clever mix of history and fiction

If you could sum up Bryant and May On the Loose in three words, what would they be?

Interesting as well as clever.

What did you like best about this story?

Distinctive variety of characters. Fascinating historical facts . Now when I visit London I often see it from a different perspective.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narrator has the right voice for the main characters of Bryant and May. However the rest of the characters, especially the younger ones are made to sound like characters from a children's book, instead of the flawed adults that they are.