Midnight Exposure

Midnight, Book 1

By: Melinda Leigh

Narrated by: Scott Schumaker

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

The first suspenseful thriller in the Midnight series from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh.

When two hikers disappear from their hometown in Maine, everyone blames the blinding storms. But the truth is far more sinister. Unaware of the danger, tabloid photographer Jayne Sullivan follows an anonymous tip to find the most reclusive sculptor in the art world. Instead, she finds mysterious handyman Reed Kimball - and a small town full of fatal secrets.

Five years ago, Reed buried his homicide detective career along with his wife. But when a hiker is found dead, the local police chief asks Reed for help. Why was a Celtic coin found under the body? And where is the second hiker? Desperate to avoid the media, Reed doesn’t need a murder, a missing person, or a nosey photographer. Until Jayne is attacked, and he realizes that her courage is his undoing. Reed must risk everything to protect her and find a cunning killer.

©2012 by Melinda Leigh. (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Very good story

Anything written Melinda Leigh is worth reading. I really enjoyed this book. The characters were well developed and interesting.

A fun who done it.

Well crafted and unpredictable but lacked detail and character development that immerses you in the people and setting. Main problem was narrator, who did a good job overall but did not have a talent for female voices, especially for lead female character, who was described as a tall beautiful "Celtic goddess" sort of woman. She is supposedly a woman of strength, intelligence, and experience, but the narrator's voice made her sound like an a fragile, innocent, helpless, little toddler. Very difficult to maintain a mental picture of the character described by the author when the narrator turned her into a third grader. There were very few female characters in this story and in fact the narrator's voice turned them all into little girls. I suspect his very masculine range simply cannot perform mature female voices. Instead, he compensates by making them sound super child-like. There is a part 2 to this story but doubt I'll listen to it. Maybe. I'm curious about some loose ends that part 2 might tie-up but not curious enough. I'll think about it.

Interesting start to a new mystery/romance

Maybe I've read too many Melinda Leigh books, but while I find this book and a good mystery/romance, sometimes it seemed a little predictable.

I still will try next book in series and look forward to it.

I acquired the book through Kindle Unlimited and primarily listened on Audible.

A one Time experienced

A Book that is worth it? Absolutely, you will enjoy every minute you spend listening to it. Keeps you wondering what is around the corner.

A decent mystery.

This was a decent mystery. It had me guessing for quite a while before I figured out who the kidnapper/killer was.

I liked the main characters Reed and Jayne. Reed was tall and sexy. Jayne was beautiful and kick azz. I liked that she was a blackbelt in Karate and could take care of herself, she didn't have any TSTL moments so that is a bonus. They had some good chemistry and there is one nicely written sex scene not erotica.

There is quite a bit of dialogue which is good but there are also A LOT of internal thoughts going on in the variety of I have too much baggage.

The story line and plot were decent. It was different, a Celtic rituals sacrifice=kidnapping and murder in a very small town.

The narration was very good. I really like Scott Schumaker. He does a really good job with the female voices and he reads with emotion like whispers and coughs as its called for. He has a very nice reading voice too.

I got this as a free read free listen with my KU subscription. So for that it was worth it.

Gripping fun read

I am grateful to have discovered Melinda Leigh here on Audible. I throughly enjoy her writing style, intriguing plots, and the full rich characters she produces for our enjoyment.
I’ve read 5 of her books now and will read/listen to more since she has captured my attention.
Thank you Melinda for your body of work

Whiny little girl voice

The narrator used an obnoxious, stereotypical voice for all the females that I can only describe as a whiny little girl voice. It was especially annoying with a female lead who managed to save herself multiple times.

My only complaint about the actual story is that the female lead and a couple other characters would randomly become very indecisive or start making dumb decisions at the weirdest times. I realize it was a plot device, but I wish the author could have found a better way to keep the story going. It weakened the plot, in my opinion.

Excellent!

Loved the characters! It was an interesting story. I like how Leigh describes her characters.

Narrator should really work on female voice

I usually don’t comment on narrators doing the opposite gender, but Scott made the female character so unlikeable because of his tone. It sounded like a man mocking how woman talk. The sad part was that his male characters were awesome. Work with a voice coach and he will be great.

Sex scenes are reminiscent of a immature, teenagers view of romance

I seldom write reviews, but this one was worthy of making a few notes. We have the main male and female characters who is the author works hard to depict as strong, confident, respected ambitious people yet every time they glimpse a quarter inch of flesh, their groin swells and their nipples harden. In one scene, the female is vomiting, and the man touches her neck and she’s horny. What the heck. I have no problem with sex scenes, and romance, when they are written, as in maturely, as these they detracted significantly from the storyline.