Goodbye to the Dead

The Jonathan Stride Series, Book 7

By: Brian Freeman

Narrated by: Joe Barrett

Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Nine years.

It has been almost a decade since Duluth said good-bye to its innocence. The city creeps ever closer to the 10th anniversary of the year in which it found itself both gripped by murder and united in terror and during which the pillar of its community, DS Jonathan Stride, had his home and heart torn to ribbons by the claws of cancer.

Nine lives.

Cat Mateo, an orphan with a knack for landing on her feet, has bid farewell to a life on the streets. This once-stray teenager owes her rescue to Detective Stride, the father figure she holds close to her heart. But Cat holds something else to her chest: a secret, the sheer power of which she could not possibly comprehend. A secret that, once out of the bag, will viciously scratch at Duluth's still-healing wounds. It will make Stride wave good-bye to his convictions and say hello to his darkest fears.

©2016 Brian Freeman (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

JUST GET THE BOOK!

Any additional comments?

Joe Barrett gave an Excellent performance! He is a wonderful narrator and I wish he would do more mystery/thriller books. I would purchase them for him alone!

I didn't want this book to end. Brian Freeman is such a talented author, and this was such a good book. There are four major plots going on and a few minor conflicts in the background that all appear to be independent story lines. They aren't independent and all culminate in the final chapter giving this Stride book an explosive ending.
The book begins 9 years in the past when Stride's wife Cindy is still alive and jumps forward to his relationship with Serena Dial. In the center of it all is house guest pregnant teen Cat Mateo. This story has it all. Betrayal, murder, adultery, lost love, human trafficking and catfishing - who could ask for more? If you're familiar with the previous books you'll know there has been a major rift between Serena and Maggie. In this book there is the start to a reconciliation. Jonathan Stride also finally gets the stirrings to move on and realizes that his deceased wife would not want him pining away for her all these years later. Lots of revelations that I won't name. Like I said REALLY GOOD BOOK.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
If you found this review helpful please indicate so.
Thank You.

A great mystery!

Goodbye to the Dead has everything. It is a murder mystery, there is intrigue, the suspense is great, there is lots of action, and finally there are great personal stories. The author makes the effort to fully develop the characters. This is a must read page turner. Joe Barrett does an excellent job of narration although I am not a fan of the slight nasal sound of his voice.

I have spent a lot of time finding Audible listeners to follow for recommendations. My favorite genres are espionage and police mystery/thrillers. I now get many of my recommendations by reading Shelley reviews. This is the 10th book I have listened to based solely on her reviews. All have been wonderful! Thanks, Shelley! If your tastes are in the espionage and police mystery/thriller area, you may want to follow her and read her reviews; and give her credit by checking the "YES" box when her reviews are helpful (Just to clarify, I am NOT acquainted with Shelley. My comments are based solely on reading her reviews.)

Following me is likely a bad idea unless you turn off the automatic emails in Account Details because I average more than a review a day. Also, i listen to lots of novels of other genres as well as non-fiction.

Another Good Installment To The Series

I have finished my binge listening of the Jonathan Stride series! Wow, what a ride! I am so looking forward to the next book! I listened to this book in 3 days because I couldn't bear to.put it down. However, I am disappointed that Stride was so cold and indifferent to Cindy when she wanted to talk to him on the beach about her cancer diagnosis. She didn't get to. I am left wondering how all of that was resolved and what happened when he found out. Maybe the next book will deal with that. I thought they were closer than that. Stride didn't sit well with me in this book as he seemed emotionally unavailable to me. Maggie needs some updating and not made to sound like an immature character. I don't care for the Cat character but maybe she will grow on me in later books. Otherwise, I loved this book!

Joe Barrett was outstanding with the delivery of the story

Brian Freeman's Best So Far

I couldn't stop listening to this book! I love so much about Brian Freeman's writing, especially his ability to make you "feel" the surroundings as you're listening. He has a great talent for describing key minor details that make the scene feel real. And that's just the icing on top of a fantastic story with a ton of twists and turns that literally kept me guessing to the end. Just when I thought I figured out "whodunit," I found out shortly that I was wrong and pleasantly so. In addition, Joe Barrett is THE voice of the Stride novels now and I think his style matches the material perfectly. If you're looking for a great mystery story and a wonderful feel for the surroundings of Duluth, then this is the book for you. Highly recommended.

Great latest Jonathan Stride novel!

I love Brian Freeman's novels. They're a guilty pleasure. Very entertaining and fun to listen too. Not great literature, but he's a wonderful storyteller. I like the narrator too.

Let me count the ways I love Joe Barrett.

As a native Minnesotan I cringe at most attempts to do the accent. The usual mistake is overdoing it. I thought Joe Barrett must have been one of us-so subtle and understated were his Minnesota voices. Then, in search of more Joe Barrett, I discovered all the east coast, Italian,New York and mob voices in the Don Winslow books. I have deeply enjoyed them all. Joe Barrett, you can read to me all day!

Intriguing as all of Brian's are so Executed!

I believe one of his absolute best but then
I am so easily drawn because he fascinates.

Combination soap opera and mystery

There's a good mystery in there but unfortunately it is smothered in soap opera stuff.

mucky where it is not solid

This is a good readable mystery - plots and more plots. I tired of the constant exploitation of all the characters' personal stories, I fast forwarded through the trial but stuck it out to the end. It is interesting.

Freeman delivers. Narrator does not.

Would you consider the audio edition of Goodbye to the Dead to be better than the print version?

No.

What other book might you compare Goodbye to the Dead to and why?

Any of Freeman's books. My favorites currently are Marathon and Night Bird.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The 'gender' voices he used were incredibly distracting and misrepresentative of the characters. All the women felt like wide eyed, uncertain does and all the men felt like they just stepped out of a 1940s detective story. The book wasn't written this way but it was read this way. I had to fight to overcome paying attention to this throughout the entire book.

Any additional comments?

The story is a good one, true to Freeman form. I listened on a long car trip and it was a great travel partner.

I was totally enthralled with goodbye to the dead

In addition to being incredibly well written and performed by the excellent narrator, Joe Barrett, it was a fascinating story with many twists and turns, believable characters who were well rounded and multiple story lines that were meshed together in the end despite the fact that I never thought they would. The story really had me fooled all the way to the end.

I highly recommend this book and this reader.

Always enjoyably

Really enjoy the Stride books shame the full series not available. Good narration and decent stories that keep you engaged with interesting characters and different possible outcomes until the end.

Amazing!

Definitely the best in the series since Strides Vegas foray. Goodbye to the dead is a brilliant multi layered story combining a flashback to the period before Cindys death and the links to present day crimes. We see a lot more character development and depth in this book too.
One comment I would make (being a uk listener) is that not all books in the series are available here, which does leave big story gaps.
Narration is great!
An excellent series, highly recommended.

Twist in the plot

A good read, but possibly too many side plots. Got bored after main story solved.

Emotional

I have really enjoyed previous Stride books but this one has moved to another level in its writing and narration in dealing with relationships. Good plot too

Fantastic read

Wow! Kept me listening frombeginning to end. Enjoyed characters, plot, twists and turns. So well constructed.

Another great read from this author.

I have read at least five of its authors books and all have been well crafted and well read.
I definitely recommend. Enjoy.

Best Brian Freeman book so far

Loved the multi faceted story, huge numbers of characters and lots of red herrings along the way.

Any Audibles listener who likes crime will like this book. The twist in the tail is a surprise.

fantastic listern

gripping all the way through
I really enjoyed this audiobook
great book
well worth a listen