The Dead Hour

By: Denise Mina

Narrated by: Heather O'Neill

Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

In the brilliant sequel to Field of Blood, reporter Paddy Meehan is riding high on the success of solving the Brian Wilcox case. Then she meets a mysterious blonde who later turns up dead.

Paddy Meehan is thrilled with her new job: working the police beat at the newspaper. Responding to a late night call, she arrives at an elegant villa, where a calm blonde woman with blood on her mouth answers the door. The woman has already convinced the police to leave, and soon Paddy realizes how: She slips fifty dollars into Paddy's hand and begs her to keep the incident, whatever it is, out of the press.

The next morning, Paddy sees the lead news story: The woman has been murdered. Soon after, the body of a suicide is pulled from the river. Was the blonde more than just a spoiled trophy wife? Are the two deaths related? In pursuit of answers, Paddy is drawn into a web of violence and greed.

©2006 Denise Mina (P)2006 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

• Mystery Writers of America 2007 Edgar Nominee, Best Novel

"Hopefully, this won't be the last breathless adventure for one of the most entertaining reporter sleuths in recent crime fiction." (Publishers Weekly)

So many twists

I love Denise Mina’s characters and Paddy Meehan is my favorite. Paddy is vulnerable and so relatable. She is a young woman with intelligence and coming into her own.

As with all of Denise Mina’s books there are intricate details and storylines which come together in ways you may not imagine but are so fun to go along with.

I didn’t really like the performance

The Dead Hour

This is the middle book in a trilogy that essentially is about the miscarriage of justice. The "whodunit" aspect of the book is good but Mina's ability to portray a culture, which I believe, is Scotland in the eighties or early nineties is outstanding. Mina never mentions the year in which the action takes place so the reader picks the era up from the politics and social behaviors she portrays. Since I’ve never been to Scotland I don’t know how faithful she is to the time and place, but if this book is accurate I would say that Scotland is about 30 years behind the U.S. when it comes to women’s status. This is one of the reason I love the main character, Paddy Meehan, who is a pushy, opinionated, witty and totally lovable female trying to make it in the solidly male field of journalism.
I thought the narrator did an excellent job – the dialogues were easy to follow which I guess must be an indication that the voices are varied. The narration never detracts from the story, which for me is the bottom line.
One criticism I have is that I don’t think there’s ever a good reason to abridge a 350-page book; it always negatively affects the storyline. I had already read all three books of this trilogy so it didn’t impact my enjoyment so much but I really don’t understand any benefits derived from abridgement. Invariably details are left out that help tie things up, especially in the mystery genre.
I do recommend reading or listening to all three books in the order they were written to avoid unnecessary confusion but I don’t think the sequence is mandatory for enjoyment of the stories. I actually read “The Dead Hour” first instead of “Field of Blood”.
I recommend this and all of Denise Mina’s books. I wish audible offered all her novels in the unabridged form.

Pleasant listen, worth considering

I thoroughly enjoyed Field of Blood, and had high expectations for The Dead Hour. I was somewhat disappointed when it didn't measure up to my expectations. With that said, it was still worth my time and I truly did enjoy it - but I enjoyed it a little less than the first.

Where the first book offered two lenses - Paddy at work, Paddy at home - the second offers two different lenses - Paddy's view, and the view from one of the protagonists. I wouldn't say that this book is worse than the first - it's just different.

While it was a little slow to draw me in, I did reach that point where just couldn't stop listening until I found out how it was all going to end. That's usually the sign of a good read (listen) - at least in my book (pun intended).

I enjoyed the narrator's performance and had no problems understanding the diction. For me, the accent really added to the sense of place and the atmosphere of the story.

All up, I'm glad I picked it and I will be moving on to Slip of the Knife next.

Denise Mina rules

Suspenseful but also funny with great attention to character and detail. Loved it. The narration is excellent as well

total disappointment

I loved the main character in the first book by this author but in this 2nd book the main character became "cheap" and not the stand up type she was in the 1st book. I was sorry not to meet the same character in this book.

Slow and confusing

I tried to listen to this book and got so confused by the various characters coupled with the lack of being able to understand the narrator's heavy brogue, I finally had to give up. I have listened to hundreds of audio books and I must say this is the first one that I actually could not finish. It's hard enough trying to listen to audios over the traffic noise without the brogue. This may sound cruel but honestly it is the worst, most difficult to follow book I have ever listend to. I will be on the lookout to make sure that I don't purchase this author or narrator again. A total waste of time and money. Sorry!