Holy Island

The DCI Ryan Mysteries, Book 1

By: LJ Ross

Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble

Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Detective Chief Inspector Ryan retreats to Holy Island seeking sanctuary when he is forced to take sabbatical leave from his duties as a homicide detective. A few days before Christmas, his peace is shattered, and he is thrust back into the murky world of murder when a young woman is found dead amongst the ancient ruins of the nearby priory.

When former local girl Dr. Anna Taylor arrives back on the island as a police consultant, old memories swim to the surface, making her confront her difficult past. She and Ryan struggle to work together to hunt a killer who hides in plain sight while pagan ritual and small-town politics muddy the waters of their investigation.

Murder and mystery are peppered with a sprinkling of romance and humour in this fast-paced crime whodunnit set on the spectacular Northumbrian island of Lindisfarne, cut off from the English mainland by a tidal causeway.

©2015 L J Ross (P)2015 Audible, Ltd

Critic reviews

" Holy Island is a blockbuster." ( Daily Express)

good not great

I've read better but this book is a good start of a series looking forward to book 2

Written like a romance novel...

Disappointed. Had hoped for a British detective series similar to Peter Grainger’s excellent DC Smith novels. This reads more like a romance novel.
“His eyes screamed intelligence.”
“He plundered her mouth.”
Embarrassing.
I gave up on it. Sorry I wasted a credit.

A Promising Series

I enjoyed this book enough that I plan to read the next entry in the series.

DCI Ryan is a complex, fascinating character. The mystery was well plotted and the revelation of the villains was a surprise. The location was unique. I live in the United States. Before reading this book I wasn't aware that Holy Island is a real place. I spent some time on the Internet learning about it. The author does an good job of describing look and feel the location.

The narration was OK. I listened on five year old Kindle Fire. I experienced some problems with the sound- specifically a slight whistling sound, primarily when words with an "s" sound were spoken. This could be the recording or my device. I was able to eliminate the whistling by slowing down the speed. I haven't noticed this problem on any other audio book.

I look forward to the next entry in the series.

A mixed bag

Although this was too misogynistic for my taste I actually listened to it all to find out who the culprit was. The mystery part was a good enough story, but the love interest was very unbelievable and detracted for me.

Very uneven

writing/plotting of the mystery were great but the romance was cliche/bodice-ripper & neopagan info error-prone

Eh

Its more a bodice ripper than a mystery…which was unfortunate for me. Oh well.

A nicely twisted mystery

DCI Ryan is on a not entirely voluntary three-month sabbatical from the police force, due to the horrific ending of the last serial killer case he investigated. He's spending this sabbatical on Lindisfarne, a.k.a. "Holy Island." Ryan is living very quietly, but the total population of the island is somewhere around 200, so he's gotten to know, at least slightly, a good proportion of that population.

So one morning, when one of the local women, out walking her dog in the early morning, stumbles upon a dead body, with no police force on the island, she goes directly to DCI Ryan.

Ryan acts immediately to protect the crime scene, get the one local doctor to do a preliminary examination of the dead body, and successfully lobbies his boss to get his sabbatical revoked and put him in charge of the case. Because the dead young woman, Lucy Matheson, was killed sometime during the five hours of the night when Lindisfarne was completely cut off from the mainland, the pool of potential suspects is limited to the local residents. That's a mixed blessing, because it means that at least initially, Ryan can't rule out anyone capable of being of use in the investigation. That includes the tiny Coast Guard force that are otherwise the first responders to anything on-island that needs police-like action.

It's worse that Lucy's death looks like a ritual killing.

As Ryan pulls together a team from his off-island colleagues, and starts serious investigation, he discovers a web of secrets, private scandal, pagan religious activity of varying degrees of seriousness, and complicated relationships that will make this about as difficult as it can be.

And then a second body is found, another woman, killed in a similar ritual way..

Ryan is facing another serial killer.

This is a nicely complex tale, with characters who have real depth and substance. And there's a twist at the end, after you are sure you know the whole thing, that really took me by surprise, and sets up some interesting possibilities for future books in the series.

Recommended.

I bought this book.

Felt a Disconnect with Narrator

I enjoyed the storyline but felt a disconnect with the narrator. His voice is soothing and calming but for me it didn’t match DCI Ryan. I kept listening because I did want to see how this ended but I feel like I missed a lot because of the disconnect I had with the narrator. Again, his voice is wonderful but to me it made me think Ryan was older than he is supposed to be so when the attraction started between him and Anna it felt weird to listen to.

Maybe the first few since they are free....

So I started this series because a couple of my other authors have mentioned that LJ Ross was inspirational to them and the first few books were free. So I gave it a go, and I ended up liking the characters enough that I kept going but then stopped because I wasn't going to spend a whole credit for a mediocre series with books under 6 hours. Then there was a huge sale and I could buy all of the rest of the books in the series for about the cost of one credit so I did. Turns out that I should have just stopped when I did. The series gets progressively worse as it goes and I don't understand how any other author could find these books inspiring in any way. There is no mystery in any of the books. The MC just suddenly has a revelation and knows the answer. All of the characters are constantly doing stupid things to get themselves in trouble or to get captured by the bad guy. I paid for the books so I couldn't return them, so I listened.... At the end of book 20 now. So wish I hadn't seen that sale....

Keeble takes some getting used to, and he does speak very fast but after a while it's ok.

Enjoyed

I enjoyed this. I bought it because I come from the area where the book is set. If I did not know Holy Island I would have enjoyed it more. Having been to Lindisfarne many times you do have to suspend disbelief a bit. Not sure people who live there will appreciate the Satanic cult based on their Island. Anyway I liked the Characters and the pace enough to buy the next book "Sycamore Gap" I appreciated having the 1st chapter free as an add on to "Holy Island " and it is on sale! The narrator is good although his Northumberland accent wobbles a bit at times but on the whole v. Good.