One Last Prayer for the Rays

A DCI Yorke Thriller, Book 1

By: Wes Markin

Narrated by: Aubrey Parsons

Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

School should be the safest place in the world. Not this winter. Detective Michael Yorke faces his most harrowing case yet.

When 12-year-old Paul disappears from school, Yorke’s only clue is a pool of animal blood. Fearing the worst, he turns toward the most obvious suspect: recently released local murderer Thomas Ray. But as the snow in Salisbury worsens, Ray’s mutilated body is discovered, and Yorke is left with no choice but to journey into the sinister heart of a demented family that has plagued the community for generations. 

Can he save the boy? Or will the evil he discovers change him forever? 

The shocking and exhilarating new crime thriller will have you listening late into the night.

Praise for the book:

"An explosive and visceral debut with the most terrifying of killers. Wes Markin is a new name to watch out for in crime fiction, and I can't wait to see more of Detective Yorke." (best-selling crime author Stephen Booth)

©2018 Wesley Fletcher-Markin (P)2020 Wesley Fletcher-Markin

Excellent crime thriller

A boy disappears from school and DCI Yorke must unravel the truth behind a demented family to try and save him.
 
This book starts off with a bang and keeps up the fast pace throughout. Through various twists and turns, the sordid truth unravels leaving the listener on the edge of their seat throughout to hear what happens. This book was a nail-biting crime thriller revealing disturbing secrets of a scary family that you will never believe! Wes created a sinister and captivating story that I could not stop listening to.

The narrator was good and i enjoyed his performance.
 
I recommend this book as an excellent and gripping crime thriller that you will not be bored with and definitely not be able to predict. Warning: do not start this book unless you have a lot of time, you will not be able to put it down! I cant wait to hear the next one!
 
Note: This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this objective review voluntarily.

it needs an in-depth prequel

I enjoy the overall story as I was reading this book I kept feeling I was reading this book out of sequence that there had to be a book that came before it I found that there was a short story written about the main character very well written short story which it answered some of the questions i had about this book but it did not answer all of them I wish there was another book I love the characters in this book but their backstories are foggy to me do you believe this author is on the right track and is going to develop into a incredible storyteller I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more of his books

Intriguing

Great storyline with fascinating plot twists along the way. Narration spot on as well. Definitely recommended for those that love psychological thrillers.

This was a very interesting story

I will certainly never look at pigs the same way again. A story that made you so mad at times but then Martha would come along. A lot of abuse, trauma, lies & mystery. The characters were all unique in their own way, good or bad. Poor Paul having to witnesses these horrific things & Martha for being forced to participate. I also really enjoyed the narrator.

Family business pain

Never have I seen or read such graphic doings in and around a family. From pigs to pops as the bones break. My kind of book yes sir I loved it I will recommend it to anybody with the guts to read it come on.

Very entertaining

This story was full of energy and some very drastic scenes.

The characters were so well developed I felt very specific ways about them.

Aubrey Parsons made this story come to life.

I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, narrator, and/or publisher.

I voluntarily left this review.

A little hard to follow, but...

...maybe I was distracted. This one just didn't do it for me. Also, the subtitle: "A shocking and exhilarating new crime thriller for 2019 (A DCI Yorke Thriller Book 1)" is really annoying because clearly is for marketing and SEO.

A crime thriller that is a page turner for sure

*This book was given to me by the author at my request, and I provided this voluntary, unbiased review.*

4/5

An interesting and enjoyable crime thriller. The characters were rounded (the good and bad ones too), the story kept me at the edge of my earphones, and there was plenty of gore to go around. All in all, this is a solid read that may keep me interested in the Michael Yorke series.

A family of killers, the race to save a child.

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

A family with a long history of mental health issues, warnings for blood and animal slaughter.

An interesting story that I believe I would have enjoyed more reading it because of a high amount of characters. I was somehow lost a few times because of this.

The narrator was amazing and made me want to finish the story, helping me be interested in it throughout. He kept a good pace, differenciated every character with his voice and narrated properly. I loved his accent.

The characters were well rounded and their stories explained, but I think there are too many for an audiobook.

I enjoyed listening to it, but I believe the descriptions of animal slaughtering and their body parts was horrible. Those were the sections where I lost interest.

If you're not easily impressed by this, I recommend the book.

Very good story!

This is an awesome mystery story that was quite enjoyable. Both the writing and narration are impeccable.

Possibly a good story but narration appalling

I think this would have been a good read but for me, a dreadful listening experience. I am able to listen to my books via earphones whilst at work (no wonder my library is extensive) but Mr Parsons has a voice like a foghorn and seemed intent to shout rather than speak. I stayed the course long enough to be interested in the narrative but could go no further with the narrator - gave up with reluctance!

a gripping story

I received a free copy of this audio book in exchange for my honest review. I had not listened to any of this authors books before, but thats already about to change. This is a gripping story that is very well narrated, and keeps you hooked until the very end. An excellent storyline

great stuff

Aubrey Parsons is a fantasic narrator who brings the story to life and a well written book with great characters

Weird and 'bloody' entertaining

This is an exciting and rather novel story that starts off with a bang and heads off into the weird and bloody at full speed..

Please note that it's not for the faint hearted, there are some fairly graphic descriptions of torture in this story.

There are some editing issues here though, I'm not sure if they're in the book itself, or within the audio, but having listened to this narrator before, I'd guess that they are within the book, names being muddled up (Paul being referred to as Phil, Lacey being referred to as Lucy on several occasions BEFORE she 'reinvents' herself as Lucy) , mispronunciation of some fairly basic words which are likely the result of typos within the book but I cannot be sure, never having read the physical book myself.

Aubrey Parsons does a great job with the narration as usual, and was a pleasure to listen to.

I was lucky enough to receive a free review copy and I'm delighted to leave this review.

A great book and a fantastic narrator!

I rarely leave reviews but this book had me hooked! The story and the narrator made it hard to stop listening! Fantastic!!!

Brilliant book

(Writing on behalf of my husband) I thoroughly enjoyed this book, in fact I enjoyed the first three of the set. They are really well written, the storyline flows and keeps going the whole way through. Gritty police procedurals that don’t always have a happy ending. Great narration as a bad narrator can totally ruin a book for me but the narrator read this very well.

Quite a good story

This is potentially quite a good story, but unfortunately spoilt by frequent inconsistencies & poor writing.

looking forward to the next book 2

brilliant so far. thank you for this free book
enjoyed listening to this book x

Enjoyable book but maybe Not for the squeamish

I found this book to be a most enjoyable read and read the whole lot in a day. It's the kind of book that you just cannot put down, fast moving with a great storyline. The characters are well presented and although not believable in some cases it makes you wonder..... Aubrey Parsons is a brilliant reader, full of enthusiasm and he sounds to be really enjoying the story he is telling and certainly adds to the overall enjoyment of the book. This is the first Wes Markin book i have read but it certainly won't be the last. Highly recommended.

Ok, not amazing

An entertaining enough listen for the commute to and from work and for some of the hours in-between. That said I think the book just reinforces my belief that I'm not the world's biggest fan of books featuring deranged scheming protagonists harbouring murderous intent.

Decent enough writing, well-rounded characters, especially Michael Yorke and some of the close members of his team. All of them have a bit of personal baggage accompanying them, either in the form of back-story history or current day relationship issues.

Here we have a schoolboy vanishing in the middle of the day and a mess of blood left behind. The boy is a Ray and around Salisbury way everyone knows who the infamous Ray family are. Their potted family history includes...... death, murder, cannibalism, pig farming with possibly some defective hereditary gene running through their blood giving vent to some serious issues through the generations.

Yorke and his team are in a race against time to save the boy, a situation complicated by the reappearance of another equally deranged Ray family member, one with some unresolved personal business with one of Jake's officers.

It's a busy book with lots going on and the investigation struggles to keep pace with spiralling events. Eventually all the loose strands get tied up and resolved with some unfinished business with one protagonist offering scope for further mischief in a future book.

An okay book, not especially my cup of tea, but it wasn't one where I was tempted not to finish. I was invested enough to want to know the outcome. Others reviewers on Amazon obviously feel stronger about than I do....... on the UK site there's over 600 ratings with nearly 90% giving this 4 or 5 stars.

Decent enough narration, with Aubrey Parson injecting plenty of passion into his story telling.

3 from 5

The series prequel A Lesson in-Crime has been enjoyed before. I have a couple more of the series also to get to on Audible.

Read - (listened to) June, 2020
Published - 2019
Page count - 326 (9 hrs 7 mins)
Source - purchased copy
Format - Audible