• The Advocate's Betrayal

  • The Advocate Series, Book 2
  • By: Teresa Burrell
  • Narrated by: Meghan Kelly
  • Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (171 ratings)

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The Advocate's Betrayal  By  cover art

The Advocate's Betrayal

By: Teresa Burrell
Narrated by: Meghan Kelly
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Publisher's summary

The Killer left nothing behind but a rosary, a kitchen knife, and a dead man. But the dead man is a friend of Sabre Orin Brown. When his unsuspecting wife is accused of the murder, Sabre will stop at nothing to uncover the truth, even if it means unearthing chilling secrets.

From a San Diego jail to the shady Chicago nightlife, Sabre's search for the true killer forces her to face the question: What do you do when the ones you trust the most are the ones with the most to hide?

©2010 Teresa Burrell (P)2014 Teresa Burrell

What listeners say about The Advocate's Betrayal

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

Pretty Darn Good

I read - and listened to - Teresa Burrell's "The Advocate" (2009), first in the series, first. It was good, but a little messy: Burrell had a lot of great plot lines and threw them into the same book. It's almost as if Burrell was afraid she wouldn't get the chance to publish another book. The vocabulary was stilted, too: Burrell's a lawyer, and most of her characters sound like they are, too in Book 1.

Burrell got off to a rocky start, but I liked the character of San Diego kid's lawyer Sabre Orin Brown well enough to sign up for Burrell's mailing list at a Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. And that's how I found out "The Advocate" series is on Audible . . .

Book 2 - "The Advocate's Betrayal" (2012) is just plain good. I'm really used to figuring our "who dunnit" pretty early in a legal procedural thriller, but I didn't with this book - and it wasn't because the author as deus popped something into the narrative late in the game. It was just that well plotted. And the dialogue: Sobs, as her best friend calls her, still sounds like a lawyer, because she is - but the non-lawyer characters sound like real, actual people.

The book is set in San Diego, and I know it well enough to know the freeway directions and were on point, as well as the description of the areas in general. It's not a San Diego Zoo/Sea World/Lego Land/Wild Animal Park kind of book, though. It's a working person's San Diego, complete with a description of where to find more than one Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

The narration on this one was pretty good but - oh, no, please, no sound effects! The first time I heard one, I wondered what had fallen or was falling off my car. That startled and distracted me from what was otherwise a really good experience.

Recommendation: Start with Book 2 first, and then go to Book 1 for the background.

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14 people found this helpful

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

This great series is now complete!

I listened to the series out of order. The Advocate's Betrayal is Book 2 of the 7 book suspense series (there may be more in the future). Book 4, The Advocate's Dilemma, is the only novel in the series that does not earn a solid 5 star rating. The series uses several different narrators some of whom are disappointing. The Advocate's Betrayal is the the best narrated but Books 6 and 7 are also very well narrated.

Sabre Brown, a lawyer and child advocate in San Diego, is the protagonist of all books in the series. The repeating characters are her lawyer friend Bob and her investigator JB. There are different antagonists in each of the novels. The genre is legal thriller, but most of the suspense and action are outside the courtroom.

The series has my strong recommendation for all that like mystery, suspense, and legal novels.

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8 people found this helpful

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

Another Hit

Who was your favorite character and why?

You gotta love JP

Any additional comments?

Sabre is awakened in the middle of the night with a phone call from a good friend Betty, who has just found her murdered husband in their bed. Naturally she rushes to her aid, acting as a friend until she realizes that she should be thinking like the lawyer she is.
Earlier in the evening Sabre, Betty and Sabre's wonderful new boyfriend Luke had all gone to the casino. They weren't together the whole time so Betty doesn't really have an alibi.
The next day Sobs (derived from her initials Sabre Orin Brown) and her work husband Bob, agree to do everything they can do to help Betty, Both .working pro bono .
The characters Sobs and Bob worth with in juvinial court are so well described you want to either hate them, comfort them, or just shake your head in amazement.

Betty isn't very forthcoming with her past so Sabre's investigator JP, begins looking into things. His searches only lead to more confusion.
Nothing is as it seems and that gives the plot more twists and
turns than a carnival ride. The book is one of those books that I couldn't put down. I had to know what happened next. And what mystery would be complete without a surprise ending?
The narrator was excellent. The slight variations in her voice (different characters with a slightly different sound) made for an excellent performance.

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6 people found this helpful

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

A Fantastic Edge Of Your Seat Legal Suspense

If you could sum up The Advocate's Betrayal in three words, what would they be?

If I had to sum up The Advocate's Betrayal in three words they would be: authentic, enjoyalable, and thrilling.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The plot kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire book. There were many unexpected twists. The Advocate's Betrayal was an excellent follow up to Book 1 of The Advocate Series. The characters are all well developed with some added intrigue.

Which character – as performed by Meghan Kelly – was your favorite?

My favorite character performed by Meghan Kelly was Sabre, the female protagonist of this story. She is such a likeable character and easy to identify with.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

This was indeed a book I wanted to listen to all in one sitting and almost did.

Any additional comments?

I absolutely love this series and hope for a Book 3. I love Teresa Burrell's writing and knowledge in this field. She really raised the stakes with this book. I received this audiobook free of charge in exchange for an unbiased review.

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5 people found this helpful

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

GREAT SECOND IN SERIES

Really enjoyed this audiobook. Love the continuing story of Sabre, JP, and Bob in The Advocate Series. Betty's story had so many twists and turns, Lucas was interesting and Sabre's work as a children's advocate is fascinating. Looking forward to listening to the rest of the series.

Audiobook provided for an honest review.

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5 people found this helpful

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

Better than the last

Would you listen to The Advocate's Betrayal again? Why?

Yes it was very clear and reader uses different voices very well

What did you like best about this story?

All the intrigue and how Teresa has entwined all the chacters

Which character – as performed by Meghan Kelly – was your favorite?

Saber

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

The very beginning where saber was with Betty and she was telling her what happened when she woke up

Any additional comments?

Love the series I have read all of the books and can't wait for the next one to come out

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5 people found this helpful

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

Great Mystery

I enjoyed The Advocate's Betrayal. Although it is the second in the series, enough background was given that I didn't feel like I had to read the first one in order to get to know the characters and the story was standalone.

Overall it was a great story and a great listen. Just a couple points to note: There were parts where the dialogue felt a little stiff and stilted. It wasn't in the narration, but in the content. There was a lot of legal information, medical information, and even background info given in dialogue that felt unnatural. It just didn't feel like that is how people would really talk to each other.

The mystery was topnotch. It kept me guessing to the end, and though I did finally guess it all, it wasn't until it had played out almost to the end. I did feel like the ending was just a tad abrupt. While the mystery was completely solved and there were no missing links or cliffhangers, I felt like the ending allowed for no real closure, especially for Betty.

The performance was, as is usual with Meghan Kelly, wonderful and very entertaining. If I had one bit of observation it would be the voice used for Betty. I found it very whiny and annoying. HOWEVER... that was probably EXACTLY as Teresa and Meghan planned, so I can't really say it was a "problem". :)

I will definitely be looking forward to more books in this series.

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

The series has promise...

I read the first book, and thought it was good, though not a blockbuster. Had been hoping this second one would be more polished. I guess I could say it begins to appear that if all the books are similar, they might be a bit too predictable. Didn't exactly follow a formula, yet the patterns of actions were quite similar to the first one, and it was way too easy to scope out the culprit.

I think, based on this book (and the first one) that it will be a reliably good enough crime series. What I really like about the series is that Sabre Brown (the protagonist) is a children's lawyer/advocate. While this led to the main story in the first book, the part about the legal and psychological needs of children was more secondary in this one. In my opinion, that is where Teresa Burrell can make the best impact, and where her stories are best. I hope she will bring the major focus back to that concern in future books. But I also sincerely hope that this will not turn out to be a series that is written with such a predictable formula that reading them will be less interesting. That is what I felt about this one. It seemed like déjà vu. The plot differed in characters and situation, but moved too much along the same lines as the first. I like her writing, just hope it will be more varied.

Now about the listening experience. I has hoped that the narrator would improve with practice, but I don't think she has. She is not bad, but sometimes seems a bit flat here and there. And what was with the random sound effects? About half a dozen times my peaceful listening was shattered with a car horn honking, or a huge metal door screeching open... This book needs to decide if it wants to be a radio production (in which case it needs a cast of voices, not one narrator) or else simply read the words that there was a honking horn, etc. The few times the sound effects happened were so scarce as to feel more like a shock than something that supported the story.

So this is not a bad book; in fact it is good. I just don't see myself continuing to follow the series unless the author shifts away from some repeating pattern of characters who do "X" followed by "Y" and then "Z." It will be everything I believe Ms. Burrell has tried not to make it be, and will have diminishing interest to at least some readers. For now, I still think it is promising as a mystery series focusing on kids in the legal system. I recommend this book, with the hope that the future ones will not be too easy to predict. Love her insights into the needs of children!

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3 people found this helpful

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

Was a treat

Top notch feel as if I am sitting right there with the characters this is a book that I will come back and listen to again

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

Finished in Two Days - It was that good!

Would you listen to The Advocate's Betrayal again? Why?

Yes. The story was good and the narrator made it better!

Which character – as performed by Meghan Kelly – was your favorite?

J P Torn -- loved how she captured his southern accent.

Any additional comments?

I listened to a different book by the same narrator. After reading my review on that book, she offered me the opportunity to listen to this book for an honest review. Truth be told, both books were already on my to-read list, so agreeing to listen for review was not a difficult decision.

This is the second book in Teresa Burrell's The Advocate series, centered on the main character Sabre Brown, juvenile court attorney and advocate. Author Teresa Burrell has/had a private law practice where her work focused on abused minors and has herself worked countless hours of pro bono work with children and their families. While this series and this particular story does include courtroom scenes, it is not strictly a courtroom drama per se, but also includes a bits of detective work, mystery/suspense and romance.

In short, Sabre is friends with a couple. The husband is murdered by stabbing in his bed while he slept and the wife was not home at the time of the murder. She does not report the murder until the next day because, when she came home, she did not want to wake her husband. She readied herself for bed in the dark, went to sleep in their bed and did not realize he was dead until the early part of the morning, when she found blood on her pajamas. As it turns out, nothing is as simple and straightforward as it seems and there is more to this couple's history than Sabre knows.

Ms Burrell keeps the dialogue and reveals moving along very well. At times, the descriptions of the scene or action is a bit heavy on the detail and takes away from the momentum of the story, but there are many sub plots going on together and Ms Burrell weaves them together well.

The book was an enjoyable read which kept my interest with the plots as well as the characters. I will go back to read the first, which I had already purchased, and listen to the third, which I purchased because of this.

The book/story itself earns a 3-star rating from me. The narrator added another star for her performance. She does a very fine job ascribing distinct voices for all of the characters, including believable male tones, and handles accents very well.

Thank you, Meghan, for giving me the opportunity to listen to this book.

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