• Hour of Need

  • Scarlet Falls
  • By: Melinda Leigh
  • Narrated by: Cris Dukehart
  • Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (3,381 ratings)

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Hour of Need  By  cover art

Hour of Need

By: Melinda Leigh
Narrated by: Cris Dukehart
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Publisher's summary

A 2015 Daphne du Maurier Award finalist from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh.

While fighting in Afghanistan, Major Grant Barrett receives devastating news: his brother and sister-in-law have been murdered in Scarlet Falls, the sleepy suburb of Grant’s youth. Emotionally scarred from war, the career soldier returns home on emergency leave to temporarily care for his orphaned nephew and niece. But when someone tries to kidnap the kids and their teenage babysitter, Grant knows it’s not a random act…and neither were the murders.

Already devastated by her neighbors’ violent deaths, Ellie Ross is shattered by the attempted abduction of her teenage daughter so she desperately turns to Grant for help. As they navigate a deadly search for the truth, they struggle with growing feelings for each other and Grant’s impending return to Afghanistan.

But time is running out. The killer is growing bolder by the hour, and Ellie and Grant must find him before the children become his next victims.

Bestselling author Melinda Leigh delivers another gritty mystery simmering with spine-tingling passion in this first Scarlet Falls novel.

©2014 Melinda Leigh (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

What listeners say about Hour of Need

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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    2,096
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • 1 Stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Unoriginal

Despite the fact I wanted to find out "whodunit", skipping to the end would have been the only answer had I been reading the actual book. Since I was using the audio book I just let it keep running while I was painting a large room. The plot was ordinary, the characters were generic and the 'romance' was contrived. I found the love sequences so ridiculous, out of place and unnecessary that I did speed through them. Maybe it was the paint fumes, but I held on to the end for the mystery to be solved and was left with an ehhhh who cares feeling.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent suspense novel, but too much...

...romance in the form of graphic sex scenes. This seems to be the case of lots of female authors who write both romance and novels. The novel kept me guessing until the end.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

More than an hour...

The story was very good,and I enjoyed the characters. The description of Grant Barrett gave me a very good idea of what he looked like, and I could picture him and Ellie working together side by side.

The story had some great twist and turns, and I liked how the story was all tied together in the end.

Hour of Need is the first book by Melinda Leigh I have read and the first narrated by Cris Dukehart. I thought the narrator was a little flat in the beginning of the book, but she seemed to improve as the story moved along.

Overall, I enjoyed Hour of Need, and would recommend this book.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Narrator is the worst I've ever heard!

This was the most colorless, monotone, and at times, robotic reading I've been subjected to. Rather than enhancing the writing, it did the opposite. I should have heeded the reviewer whose advice was to read this book rather than to listen to it.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fantastic Romantic Suspense @$7.34 Bargain

I was already hooked by the story from the very beginning when a shocking event happened. Lee and Kate, who had just being described as ordinary people, parents of a 4-month-old baby girl and a 6-year-old boy, are shot to death right after leaving the restaurant where they had been diligently celebrating their anniversary, in a moment that seemed to be turbulent in their marriage . When I thought I was being coaxed into the difficulties and lies of a couple in some kind of crisis, I was involved in a different atmosphere, skillfully created by the author, in which I then wanted to know who had killed people I already cared about.
From then on, through an outstanding writing style, we get to know several well-built characters, smoothly and purposefully introduced to us in a multi-layered plot that showed a perfect balance between romance and suspense, which intensely held my attention until the last page.
The center of the narrative is the murder whose investigation introduces all the characters. The mystery around it is very well built and the solution is so craftily hidden that it makes us keep on trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together until the very end. If after the startling solution of the suspense we rewind the story back to the beginning, we can see the clues leading up to the unexpected and intelligent elucidation. The gradual unfolding of events is masterfully tied through to the end, with flawless development and no loose ends.
The romantic aspect of the book establishes a solid foundation for the mystery because it has a lively plot with realistic and lovable characters, whose background we get to know gradually, and of whom we become fond since they are well developed and psychologically deep. Even the supporting characters have their spark, and not only make great sense in the story but also play a significant role in the dynamics. They all touch us deeply, either because we care about them or because they are so puzzling that we can’t stop trying to figure out their actions. We feel captivated by each developing conflict because the author harmoniously integrates the characters in a consistent unity, which is a positive foundation to establish the connection with the listener.
Furthermore the author brings to light two topics really worth thinking over, bullying and PTSD, which are centrally plotted and, although not fully explored and with no pretension to deplete the subject, are very well dealt with by being displayed from a thought-provoking perspective.
It is a heartwarming book and the author is brilliant at creating a gripping thriller along with a believable moving romance. I think she masters not only the art of writing but the one of talking very close to the reader through her sensitive and high quality work.
Melinda Leigh artfully ties everything in the plot, leaving no loose ends for us to question in the rewarding unfolding of the mystery, and the only thing she leaves open is our positive expectation for the following book in the upcoming series.

Cris Dukehart was fantastic with the delivery of the story

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

outstanding

What made the experience of listening to Hour of Need the most enjoyable?

It had a real nice flow and some nice twists.

What other book might you compare Hour of Need to and why?

I couldn't do that. Different in a nice original way.

What does Cris Dukehart bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I was able to tell who was talking without a problem.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, just very enjoyable.

Any additional comments?

Will read or listen to more.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good book....bad narrator.

This book was a great read, but I don't enjoy the narrator. I've read another of Morgan Leigh's books and have the same criticism. Great read, but the inflection and tone of the narrator is not enjoyable.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed it

Liked it enough to get the 2nd book and I do not read mysteries. The performance was good too.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

monatone reader

maybe just me but the reader seemed to monatone. like she was just reading a script a lot of book. plot was good but not impressed with audio.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

not worth it

Terrible narrator. Story too sappy for suspense. I didn't enjoy the book at all. Beware

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4 people found this helpful