Judas Child

By: Carol O'Connell

Narrated by: Erika Leigh

Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

It is three days before Christmas, and two young girls have disappeared from the local academy. This hasn't happened for 15 years, since Rouge Kendall's twin sister was murdered. The killer was found, but now Rouge, 25 and a policeman, is forced to wonder: was he really the one? Also wondering is a former classmate named Ali Cray, a forensic psychologist with scars of her own. The pattern is the same, she says: a child called out to meet a friend. The friend is the bait, the Judas child, and is quickly killed. But the primary victim lives longer. . .until Christmas day.

Rouge doesn't want to hear this. He's spent the last 15 years trying to avoid the memories. A little girl has haunted his dreams all these years - and he has three days to finally put her to rest.

Filled with rich prose, resonant characters, and knife-edged suspense that have won so many fans, Judas Child is Carol O'Connell's most powerful novel yet.

©2009 J.T. Ellison (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Good book, bad narrator..

I had a hard time getting through this book only because of the narrator, Erika Leigh. She should read children's books. She doesn't have the voice for this kind of book.

I really like Carol O'Connell's books and have listened to many of them and alway gave a four star rating. Not this time. The narrator was terrible in my opinion

Absurd procedural plot hole is infuriating

Most of this book was enjoyable and I was certainly interested. However, much of the plot and character activity focuses around the fact that a psychiatrist will not reveal the name of his patient who is the likely suspect. This is portrayed as some sort of noble code of medicine when in fact it is the opposite. Patient doctor confidentiality is protected EXCEPT when it is suspected that the patient will do harm to themselves or others and then it is actually illegal not to report it. So much dialogue and effort was put into trying to convince this doctor to do what he is legally required to that it was infuriating. This was a glaring oversight.

just okay

Spoilers. be warned. the book left me feeling dissatisfied. to many unanswered questions. the ending fell flat because she didn't do a good job of accounting for what happened in half the book. the book felt unfinished to me. why did the priest and fbi agent have same eyes? was sadie's body in that grave the entire time? the priest was the only priest the doctor could confess too? didn't like the character development. needed more to understand why the main characters acted add they did.

I am still confused! Is is over?

I have the strange feeling I have already read this book... but can't be sure. It's not in my Kindle library - so maybe not?!? I digress... I find myself at a loss. I am not really sure what to say. I liked the plot, but it all seemed a bit too shallow for me. You never really got deep into anything... things were just left dangling - like say David, mono-zygotic twins, the "shadow" under the bed, the whole story about the scar... and did they say they "buy" kids for scholarships?? It all seemed to be explained, but in a way that left you wondering if that was all there was to it. I feel like I missed A LOT about this book that should be important. It's like something evil this way comes, then bibbity, bobbetiy, boo! It's all fixed or just disappears all together - not to be mentioned again.

I did get the last twist... I had that pegged. Again, that feeling I had read this before. I do not really understand the dynamic between all the doctors or the doctors and Allie. Now, I did listen to this book - so maybe I just zoned out and missed something crucial, but after reading this in other reviews, I tend to lean toward my first instincts about the book. I think I may need to listen to the last few chapters again.

As for the audio version... the narrator verged on annoying, especially in the presentation of the "doctors".

WOW

My 40 year old daughter and I both enjoyed this book very much. It keeps you on the edge of your seat from the very begiinning. I loved the two young girl characters - espectially the one with the "actress" personality. What a slam bang ending. I don't think you will see it coming.

Horrible narrator

I would really like to have heard this book, but I just had to stop. The narrator sounds like she is reading headlines for the six o'clock news. I kept checking my iPod to see if perhaps I had set it to the fast speed. Nope. So, I tried to correct by putting it on slow speed. That didn't work either. I finally had to give up. The sing-song staccato with no sense of pacing is just too maddening. Too bad. Sounded like a good story.

WOW!

I know this book deals with a dark topic but that said all I can say is wow! I really liked this book. There were more than a few idintifiable characters. I especially like how much time was spent developing the character of the two girls. I especially liked Sadie as the protagonist. This book is a page turner and will not dissapoint.

Incredible writing and narration

I listen to a lot of crime mysteries, but tend to steer clear of "police" drama. I took a chance on this novel, and I am very glad I did! It might seem to have all the elements of a typical crime mystery- missing children, dedicated youthful police officer, sexy yet damaged female protagonist, a host of small-town suspects from the doctor to the lawyer to the school principal- but truly, this book was totally original. It is candid without being graphic, and it deals with the topic of pedophilia without becoming sentimental or judgmental. The characters are well-developed, and I liked that I didn't always like or dislike them, but rather changed my mind about them over and over as the story unfolded. But best of all, it is a really great mystery- it left me guessing, and guessing, and guessing. The last two hours had me so spellbound, I laid awake with my ipod on, waiting for the big reveal.
The narrator's voice does have a kind of "Mother Goose" quality at first, but the narration is solid and consistent, building tension well and keeping the characters voices distinct and believable.
Overall, I could not fault it. Recommended to anyone who loves the challenge of a good mystery.

Great book

Keeps you wondering who did what and why. I will be listening to it again it was so good!

Abridged version is probably a better option.

The story is dated, there are too many plot holes, and the themes are poorly researched . Overall, it would work better as a short story, but the ending is still not a good one. The gratuitous and irrelevant descriptions try to mask the poor character development, so keep that in mind when choosing this read.