Captive on the Fens

DI Nikki Galena Series, Book 6

By: Joy Ellis

Narrated by: Henrietta Meire

Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's Summary

A young woman's body is found in a remote barn on the Fens. Before she was killed, one of her fingers had been cut off. Who is inflicting this violence and why?

The young woman in the barn had been kept captive for some time. And the case shows strong similarities to an unsolved murder in Derbyshire. When another woman is found alive with similar injuries, the case grows even more complicated.

At the same time, the Fenland police have received intelligence that the ruthless criminal Freddy Carver plans to make Greenborough the hub for his new enterprise. DI Nikki Galena is desperate to track down Freddie Carver and make sure that he does not put down roots in the Fens, but finding him is not easy. And what's his connection to the kidnapped girls?

©2017 Joy Ellis (P)2017 Tantor

Author Joy Ellis never disappoints!

Captive on the Fens, Book 5 in the Detective Inspector Nikki Galena series, was released in audio this week. I'm delighted to see that there have been six ratings prior to mine. There is now only one novel in the series yet to be released in audio.. This novel is a wonderful and unusual police procedural mystery. Henrietta Meire does a great job of narrating all of the On the Fens novels. I very highly recommend this series.

The rest of this review is a discussion of the Fens. Having as a US citizen lived in England The Fens is one of the areas I found most interesting.

The Fens , also called Fenlands, is a 1500 square mile area of the English North Sea coast approximately 50 miles northeast of London (it is about 20 miles north northeast of Cambridge). There are also references in Captive on the Fens to Fenland which is a 200 square mile political unit of the Fens located entirely in Cambridge County (Cambridgeshire). The Fens is part of 4 counties. Much of the Fens is below sea level and was flooded with every North Sea high tide prior to the first successful attempts in the early 19th century to use embankments to tame the high tides. River embankments are also used to prevent flooding. The Fens is approximately the same latitude as Amsterdam.

The word fen comes from the designation of a specific type of marshland. The history of the area goes back to pre-Roman times.

Dead young women & gangsters with unknown motives

DS Jospeh Easter's daughter, Tamsin, is about to marry Niles, a young detective constable with the Greenborough police force. Freddie Carver, a vicious criminal boss formerly based in London and more recently hanging out in Spain, is apparently in Greenborough and planning to stay. Joseph and DI Nikki Galena are determined to catch him before he becomes a fixture in their district. Two dead young women have turned up, both apparently held prisoner and tortured for some time before being killed and dumped.

And because their lives aren't exciting enough yet, a young man storms into the station demanding that finally, once and for all, they find his missing twin sister, who is believed to have simply run off, which is the right of any adult to do. He's certain she didn't, and is in danger.

There's a lot going on here, and some outstanding plot threads from previous books get more attention here. There are dangerous signs that hardnosed Nikki might be mellowing a tiny bit, duty takes Cat into Derbyshire, where she meets a detective sergeant she might have a future with. Joseph's ex-wife arrives in town for the upcoming wedding, and might be a source of future trouble. Nikki's biological mother, on the other hand, may be turning into a real asset.

The plot is excellent as always, but, also as always, the real reward here is the ongoing development of the characters as they continue to live their lives while doing their challenging and dangerous jobs.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

Hard to believe this was published

The story line barely hangs together, the characters are caricatures and every cliche is used--from their language to the scenes played out. It amazes me that this book made it past the editors, it is truly that bad. I am returning the book.

Become Captive of Your Desires

I like that this story expanded on the new relationships developed in the earlier books. The story shows the personal developments within the police team while investigating the crimes. Captive pertains to the crime and the emotional developments within the team. Another good narration and story in the series.

Finally!

Best one so far. Finally they don’t all act obtuse. Enjoyed this one. Can’t wait for the next.

One of the most powerful installments ye

Joy Ellis has written one of the most powerful installments yet. I highly recommend this this book and series.

Another winner!

Joy Ellis knows how to write a book! A series of books, in fact. This is another great story with Nikki and Joseph and the cast of characters on their team. While not my favorite in the series it's still a tense and villain-filled adventure.

I see trouble ahead for Joseph though.

Fabulous narration! I love these audiobooks but I wish we didn't have to wait so long for them.

Wonderful series!

I’ve had to keep buying more credits because I can’t stop listening to the Nikki Galena series. Joy Ellis is a masterful storyteller!

Another Awesome Story

Joy Ellis does not disappoint. Many twists and turns in this story that keep you listening to find out the results. Her stories just keep getting better .

SLOW

Very slow and narrators were rather monotone. Started and stopped, listening to other books in between. Finally quit with three hours left. Can't
recommend this one.

A shame

The book was not a bad story and the narrator’s voice is pleasant but oh dear, those atrocious accents. What makes people think that everyone north of Watford has that awful generic ‘northern’ accent?

fantastic

these books get better and better ...another great read.love the character development . already reading next in series!

Absolutely brilliant

From the very first chapter i was enthralled. The book twists and turns along the way. Everytime i thought 'oh it is finished' it went off again. i have enjoyed all the series so far but this is the best so far. cannot wait for the next one

Awful narration

I say this every time - great story but just about the most awful narrator. Pronunciation is beyond belief and silly accents with screeching high pitched voices. It’s testament to the great story that I stick with it. Please change her!

Narrator

I have to agree with another review. The narrator sounds like our late Queen when she is not using an exaggerated northern accent. This spoiled the story for me.

Excellent book, disappointed with the narration.

I thoroughly enjoy all Joy Ellis's books and have just finished reading her Jackman and Ellis series, narrated by Richard Armitage which is included in Audible unlimited. I found Henrietta Meire's narration really grating. The pathologist, Rory Wilkinson who appears in both series has a lovely Scottish accent in Richard Armitage's rendering but a dreadfully posh accent in Henrietta Meire's. I've had to abandon her narration and just stick to my kindle. Sorry to have wasted a credit on this.

Not as enjoyable as other reviewers made out

This book was ok. I was expecting it to be very good going by the 5 star reviews. It's the first Joy Ellis book I've paid for but I have to say that I much preferred the free ones. I didn't love this narrator, whereas the Richard Armitage narrated books had a fabulous performance from him and he is very skilled with accents and voices, in comparison. The story line was ok but left something to be desired. I may have missed a bit but I didn't hear a reason for the culprit intentionally giving the game away to the police, so it made little sense to me.

Northern accents?

Some of the accents are dreadful! Story interesting but accents mar it as it’s hard to keep listening in places. Thanks

Marked down due to poor narration

A good listen but dreadful narration. So many mispronounced words, and the narrator sometimes seems to forget whether or not she is still speaking in a character’s voice, or continuing with narration, and she continues in the voice of the character. I really enjoy Joy Ellis’s books and have listened to all of this series because at present I’m unable to read and need to listen, but as I’ve worked my way through the series I’m surprised to hear the same narrator. There have been so many comments about mispronunciation that I’m surprised that the narrator hasn’t been changed - or at least that someone hasn’t done the equivalent of ‘proof reading’ the narration. The simplest of words are mispronounced.

Fens series

Excellent series with great characters and u usual plot lines but really spoilt by the awful narration. Irritating incorrect pronunciation of simple words eg SOCO as sewco and unnecessary fast. I will avoid this narrator in future.