London Crime Thriller Boxset

Desecration, Delirium, Deviance

By: J.F. Penn

Narrated by: Rosalind Ashford

Length: 22 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's Summary

Evil stalks the city of London at night. Can Detective Jamie Brooke and reluctant psychic Blake Daniel stop the murders before it's too late?

This audiobook contains three full-length crime thrillers with an edge of the supernatural from J.F. Penn.

Desecration. When the body of a young heiress is found within the Royal College of Surgeons, Detective Sergeant Jamie Brooke is assigned to the case. An antique ivory figurine found beside the body is the only lead and she enlists Blake Daniel, a reluctant psychic, to help her discover the message it holds.

Delirium. When a prominent psychiatrist is found murdered in the old hospital of Bedlam, Detective Sergeant Jamie Brooke finds herself investigating the history of madness to fathom the motive. Blake Daniel, a reluctant psychic, helps her to research the case, only to discover that his own family are entwined with the shadowy forces that seek to control the minds of the mad.

Deviance. When the body of a priest is found in the ruins of Winchester Palace, his tattooed arms flayed, his mouth stuffed with feathers, the artists and outcasts of Southwark huddle in fear. Private investigator Jamie Brooke begins the hunt for the murderer aided by Blake Daniel, a psychic researcher, who is haunted by visions of the past. As violence erupts, leaving a trail of bodies in its wake, Jamie and Blake must find the skin collector before those they love are taken down.

©2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 Joanna Penn (P)2016 Joanna Penn

Highly recommend this exciting series.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would definitely recommend this audiobook to my friends. It is well presented, with the characterizations of all the different characters extremely well interpreted. I thoroughly enjoy being read to since, if I wish, I can relax, close my eyes, and actually be there.

What did you like best about this story?

In all three books, the interaction of the characters within the absolutely amazing circumstances. Everywhere you turn there is another situation brewing, You are constantly running at full speed. Jamie's performance as a detective, a mother, a victim, a friend, an adversary, a partner, a caregiver, all work together. When she pairs up with a person with an unusual psychic ability, the mixture of the two characters is electric.

What about Rosalind Ashford’s performance did you like?

Rosalind was able to interpret the accents, emotions and inflections of the characters, actually keeping them separate from one another and allowing you to imagine how they look, how they react to situations and with each other. I was able to “see” the people, places and things. Thoroughly enjoyed the narration.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

DESECRATION. This is the type of book where you are tempted to read the last page to see if your hero survives because the suspense is so intense. It was an awesome thriller. The intensity of the story just builds and builds. Being trapped underground and prepped for sacrifice in the "Hellfire Caves" was more than enough to get me moving. This was only one example in this excellent story.DELIRIUM. What a better place for a psychic thriller than an old insane asylum with a history of not so humane treatment of the patients. What could an emotionally damaged police detective and an abused psychic possibly get involved with in a place like this? You plunge head first into the adventure from page one and never stop after that. Jamie Brooke and her partner are immediately immersed in the horrible crime, with much more to follow. It's hard to find time to take a breath before the next page hits you. Lots of adventure with supernatural fun thrown in makes for a wonderful, exciting read.DEVIANCE. You will not want to be interrupted once you start this book. Exciting third adventure with our now ex-cop and our psychic. Author weaves into the story the social ills of modern society, the determination of a greedy land developer, and, of course, horrible serial killings, all mixed in with a mesmerizing evil politician, street people, and marching "clean up our streets" groups. All the ingredients for a thriller that takes our heroes right to the edge. The entire book was mesmerizing.

Any additional comments?

Lots of adventure with supernatural fun thrown in makes for a wonderful, exciting read. I would expect nothing less in a book from Joanna Penn. Would like to see a fourth in this series.

Repulsive in a juvenile sort of way

I've been an Audible member for 18+ years but haven't reviewed much in a long time despite a serious audiobook habit, but this one really calls for feedback...and a warning.

By my subject line, I don't mean that the subject matter is in any way suitable for juveniles -- necrophilia, necrophilia and other threatened attrocities with a dead child and the mother forced to watch, repeated torture, vivisection, sexual "art" with dead bodies, satanic-cultish dismemberment of a live victim, torture of the mentally ill, flaying, human skin trophy-ism, and on and on. What I mean by juvenile is that it is as if the author just tried to think up the most taboo subjects possible and then thought, "But wait, I can top that and be even more repulsive and outlandish," a technique that is nothing more than cheap shock value rather than storytelling skill, IMHO.

Then, there's the mediocre and repetitive writing. How many times can the main villain be described as having the appearance of "a CEO," the main characters as "damaged," etc.? Simple sentences, no metaphors I can recall, so don't look for anything in the way of interesting writing style either. The main "love interest" never goes anywhere for no particular reason except that they are both "damaged." (That word repeated over and over.) The author seems to be infatuated with tattoos which is fine, but the obsession and deep spiritual meaning attributed to tattoos and the cast of tattooed misfits-with-hearts-of-gold in the book just gets to be eye-rollingly boring. A supernatural "gift" of a supporting character makes only a brief appearance before showing up again as a critical element in the resolution of the final book with no explanation whatsoever.

Finally, the narrator reads in a style that I struggle to describe: Breathy, pedantic school marm, maybe? She adds an odd drawn out last syllable to many sentences for some sort of dramatic effect when none is called for. Very annoying. Her "Scandanavian man" accent is awful. Thankfully, that was a one-off.

If I wasn't desperate for something to listen to, I'd have never finished this one. 'Wish I could scrub my brain.

A Great Listen

I purchased and listened to each book separately, but I'm very happy that they are available in a collection now. All the books are fast paced with very interesting plots that keeps you reading long after you had intended to stop with no waiting between books now. I'm just hoping we hear more from Jamie and Blake in the future. This series is listed among my favourites and will be on my Christmas gift list for friends.

Explosive set of Thrills !!

This is a very very complex, intense, edge of your seat, unpredictable dark thriller/chiller that has many many twists and layers upon layers of intrigue as well as a bitter-sweet romance running through it. I can't and won't even try to begin to describe it except to say it's a mixed up 'brain freeze' of a story that'll hook you in as you try to sift through clues to get to what is and isn't real and you just won't see the surprising WTF, WTHH.... AH-HA & OH, NOW I GET IT of an ending coming..... and it'll blow your mind.

FANTASTIC !!!

Unable to stop listening, really very good This author is new to me, first time ever, but I'm certainly going to be looking to read/listen to more! Thanks for a great story that truly took me away from this world and its reality into a world of your making 😊

Excellent Series

Great series with memorable characters and engaging story lines that are well connected across the three books. Narrator does an excellent job of bringing the story to life.

I Loved This Trilogy

I can be a pretty hard sell when it comes to crime stories, as I find a lot of them to be either too mundane or too soft-coated for my taste, but this trilogy is neither. The author calls on some of history's more horrifying aspects of man's inhumanity to man and resurrects them in contemporary tales—she links her present-day stories to the seedier bits of Europe's past very nicely.
The main characters are likable, the female characters are strong, and even the person who touches on the supernatural is still believable (because it's not over-done).

Female narrator with a British accent, very easy to listen to.
I absolutely recommend this trilogy.

(Note: I've read several comments which cite the ending of the third book as feeling rushed and abrupt. I concur, but it doesn't bother me because it's believable. Sometimes, a case DOES end without a drawn-out chase scene or a dozen tense confrontations. Didn't detract from my enjoyment at all.)

London crime thriller box set review.

Nice set of captivating books. Keeps listener engaged. Gets predicable sometimes. But worth a listen nevertheless. Rosalind's style definitely captures the listener's imagination.

Excellent listen

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. With that being said I loved this book. The narration was spot on. I love British crime thrillers and this book did not disappoint. Each story was engrossing and I liked the main character.

Disturbing but extremely engaging...

It's an extremely engaging box set though the crimes Detective Jamie Brooke has to solve are quite disturbing (putting it mildly)...
All three cases involve morally ambiguous and controversial issues: genetic manipulations, insanity treatment and sex trade workers... Jamie herself is on the verge of an emotional breakdown in her personal life and there's also her "sidekick", dr Blake Daniels, blessed (or cursed) with the ability to "read" objects through mental visions...
It's not an easy set to listen to, as all three books take us where we normally don't go or want to go and they make us realize that certain stereotypes, views ingrained in our minds make us ignorant and oblivious to sufferings of those on the verges of what is considered "normal" society... It was a clever move on the part of Ms Penn to make her detective as vulnerable and in a sense so much an outcast as the victims of the crimes she has to solve - it makes her decisions and her need to act much more believable for the reader.
I also like the paranormal/spiritual element present in the books - dr Daniel's gift being an essential part of the investigations. Surprisingly, it doesn't make the books less credible; it just adds strength to the emotional layer of the stories...

Narration by Ms Ashford is really good, though maybe a bit slow - I did speed it up a bit. But she does the voices very well and adds life to the story.

DISCLAIMER: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

There are better ...

... I was a little disappointed, the storyline was a bit thin. The narration was slow with some very terrible attempts at character accents.

Dark stuff!

I'm a crime fiction buff and couldn't resist the value of a 3 for 1. Took a while to get used to the willowy narrator who's trying to sound like a ghost, and story 1 took a while to get going, but stuck with it and once it gets going, this is great gothic horror crime fiction. Recommended, not for the faint hearted!

Great series

This author has a dark mind! This was an impulse buy, not my usual type of listen at all but it's a great series. The narration is good and the story is excellent.

narrator dreadful had to listen to one book at

time as the reader spoiled it. Story its self not too bad but overall gard work

Dark and gripping

This boxset was my first introduction to J.F. Penn’s fiction, and now I’m hungry for more! I loved the blend of crime and the supernatural - for me it’s a winning combination when it’s done well, and J.F. Penn has executed it brilliantly with these three novels. She clearly puts a lot of research into her novels, but without overwhelming the reader or including needless detail. I particularly loved the choice of atmospheric locations, including the creepy Hunterian Museum, Bedlam, and Winchester Palace.
Other reviewers have mentioned that the narration wasn’t ideal, but I disagree. I got used to the narrator’s style quickly and found myself instantly immersed in the story.

Exciting Story

J.F. Penn always tells an exciting, edge of your seat story & this trilogy does exactly that. It's much darker than her Arkane thrillers, you have been warned, but is never gratuitously graphic. The darkness is vital to each story & balanced with humour & hope.

I learnt a lot about different places & history - although I've visited the caves at West Wycombe & heard of The Hellfire club, there was a lot in these books that I didn't know. The author informs you without lecturing you, without dumping a lot of information for information's sake. Her love of research is apparent in all her books, & I love knowing that not only am I going to read a well plotted, pacy story, I'm going to learn about things that I didn't realise I was interested in.

The narration is very good - the crisp, almost accent-less English delivery adds an extra something when the occasional really, really dark prose appears.

While the books cover some 'difficult' subjects (such as the death of a child), these are handled carefully & thoughtfully. These books leave you with a lot to think about long after you've finished listening to them - as all great books should.

Accents

Whether African or Scandinavia. All accents sounded the same. Lol. This took the edge off the stories for me

Gripping

I really enjoyed this box set got really invested in the back story and was able to work out who was behind it but always just before they where identified struggled to stop listening at times and finished it over 3 days

Bonus history lessons

Love this authors work and the narrator does the books and storyline justice.
I love the in depth research the author carries out for each book and thoroughly enjoyed hearing all about London.
Fab story line and great characters.
A must read

Good story.

I think the narrator could have been alot better but I listened to the end anywY because it was a well written story.