Forward Slash

By: Mark Edwards, Louise Voss

Narrated by: Jessica Ball, Ben Elliot

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

He's posted on your wall. He's following you on Twitter. He knows where you are right now....

When Amy receives an email from her older sister, Becky, announcing that she's off travelling and 'don't try to find me', she is worried. Becky would never do such a thing on a whim.

Amy - who is recovering from an abusive relationship that has left her terrified of love - soon finds that Becky had started using online dating sites. Aided by Becky's neighbour, Gary, Amy sets about tracking down the men her sister had dated, following a trail that leads her into the darkly seductive world of Internet hook-ups. But Amy is unaware that a sadistic killer is watching - a killer who's been using the Internet to stalk, torture and kill.

Now he's got something very special planned for Amy, and she is about to find out that romance really is dead.

©2013 Mark Edwards and Louise Voss (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic Reviews

"The tension simply keeps rising and rising.... Brilliant." (Booksmonthly.co.uk)

Praise for Voss & Edwards:
"I was gripped all the way - the ending is terrific." (Peter James)
"A very clever, very pacy story that kept me guessing right to the end." (Elizabeth Haynes)
"An ingenious tale of stalking and its twisted repercussions. Took me in a very different direction from the one I'd been expecting." (Alex Marwood)

I Wanted to Love It, but was Disappointed

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I was looking forward to the release of this book as a fan of The Voss/Edwards team. I was a little disappointed. The story was a little contrived and a little bit slow. I felt like the authors took a few dating websites, changed the name, and plugged in characters to make a marginally engaging thriller that never really grabbed me. By the end, I was ready to be done. I would recommend Kill Cupid and Venus Trap over this one.

If you’ve listened to books by Mark Edwards and Louise Voss before, how does this one compare?

Not as good by a long shot.

What does Jessica Ball and Ben Elliot bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narration was great and added to the overall feeling.

Did Forward Slash inspire you to do anything?

Inspired me to finish and pick up a better Edwards/Voss book!

Any additional comments?

The moving parts were just too plodding. There wasn't enough innovation here; the authors are talented and could have done better with the components they were working with. The characters were blah. The main characters, sisters Amy and Beth were stereotyped and I couldn't get invested in their plights. Overall, not the authors' best.

Explicit graphic violence. A mess of a book.

I’ve gotten books by these creative authors before and enjoyed them. This one, however, drags on and on. I got to the point where I didn’t care about how it ended and skipped chapters. Warning: Graphic violence parts were too much for me. I fast-forwarded through those. The story was so convoluted, ridiculous and slow. Happy I didn’t waste a credit.

Could not stop listening

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was very gripping, and i liked Amy and Rebecca , so I cared what happened to them. Interesting plot twist although not completely a surprise. The narration is excellent, and the storyline is a riveting, even if some parts are cringe worthy

loved it

Mark Edwards and Louise Voss always deliver edge of your seat reading
You will not be disappointed

slow starter.with tension building to the end.

Overall a good story,didn't expect the twist at the end. Well narrated by both readers

Great book

At first I through this was a straight forward plot but half way through they is some huge plot twists, that I didn't see coming, characters are good and believibke and have good depth.

Loved it

from start to finish it had me. I love books like this and so much easier in audible.

Good read

This book has all of the suspense that I've come to expect from Edwards and Voss. They excellently weave together their characters individual narratives, and keep you guessing all the way. You initially start feeling sympathy for a character and this gets slowly eroded by the twists and turns in the plot. Edward and Voss do have a tendency for the unrealistic and depending on your tastes that can be a positive or a negative. I enjoyed this book - it's very easy to listen to and to follow. The narrator portrayed the characters well although her accents, at times, were quite laughable.

Gruesome villains!

Which character – as performed by Jessica Ball and Ben Elliot – was your favourite?

She voiced all of the characters extremely well. Only lost a star due to incorrect emphasis occasionally.

Any additional comments?

The main villain in this story did some very gruesome things. However, the descriptions of these were not over-egged. Parts of the book are nasty, but not gratuitously so. There was a point when it seemed that all men who weren't in the Police force were dangerous, but it was so well written and had me on the edge of my seat throughout, that this was forgivable.

Great book if you can stomach the violence

Really enjoyed the book. Kept you guessing till the end. Not sure it needed the horrific and graphic accounts of the rape and murder scenes though.

Great.

Really enjoyable book! had me hooked really quickly after trying and returning so many bland boring books this one was a breath of fresh air.

Excellent

Great listening. I have enjoyed Mark Edwards books previously, and this was no exception. Recommended listening/reading.

Interesting story. Shame about the narration.

I would have enjoyed this book much more had the female narrator been less concerned with having a pretty sounding voice and more concerned with bringing some energy to the characters. She made Amy and Becky, already generic and basic names, sound interchangeable and vapid. I kept getting them confused and I didn't care about either of them. I found the killer much more compelling. He should've been developed more instead of slapping on his back story at the end. My other issue with this book is the writers must be from a totally different generation because of their obvious contempt for online dating, sex parties and hook ups. It's fine if you want to use this story as a cautionary tale, however, don't try to make that the entire takeaway when two of the characters suffered domestic abuse at the hands of boyfriends they did not meet online. This story mightve actually been more interesting coming only from the pov of the killer. But give it a try if you dare.

Not for the faint hearted

This book is dark and at time quite graphic. Really good story but some parts are disturbing.