River of Darkness

By: Rennie Airth

Narrated by: Christopher Kay

Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1921, the bloodied bodies of Colonel Fletcher, his wife and two staff are found in a manor house in Surrey. The police have put the murders down to a violent robbery, but Detective Inspector Madden from Scotland Yard has his own suspicions. In the meantime the killer is plotting his second strike.

©1999 Rennie Airth (P)2002 Recorded Books, LLC

A Delightful New Series!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely yes! I would recommend it for anyone who loves mysteries, complex characters, and a powerful story.

What other book might you compare River of Darkness to and why?

I love mysteries and suspenseful books like Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Charles Todd, and Louise Penny, but have read all of those. This was an amazing find and I wish there were more in Airth's series!

What about Christopher Kay’s performance did you like?

I thought it was varied and that he captured a great range of emotion throughout the book, especially for some of the darker moments.

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

No, I broke it up since I'm in grad school but it became harder and harder to turn it off!!

Any additional comments?

This is a wonderful mystery and anyone who likes Agatha Christie, Charles Todd, or Louise Penny will love this new series and the depth of these captivating characters. I also hope that Audible makes the 2nd and 3rd books in the series quickly, since only the 1st and 4th have been recorded so far!

I like a little romance with my mystery!

I like a little romance with my mystery! Seriously, And there is even a bit of sex! I really have enjoyed the Ian Rutledge books, but he could use a bit of romance in his damaged life, too. Look at the good it has done John Madden. As Americans, we don't appreciate the horror the British suffered in WWI. I learned a lot from the Ian Rutledge and Bess Crawford series. Anyway, this was a good procedural historical novel. The narration was great. I highly recommend this book in it's audio version.

I wanted to like it

I did want to like this book. I like the Ian Rutledge series and honestly, this is very close in premise to them. Both main characters are Scotland Yard Inspectors damaged by the First World War.

Alas, I am afraid I didn't. First of all, the whole romance part was just annoying. The book is overly long as it is and every time it dipped into romance novel territory I rolled my eyes and sped up the reader. I don't mind a little romance in a mystery series (I LOVE Lord Peter and Harriet), but I really only find it less than annoying when the relationship develops in any realistic way. But when characters develop "undying love" for each other with in minutes of meeting and have sex (especially in period pieces where the social mores were so very different) in the middle of the investigation, I just check out. Perhaps if the sex scenes were more realistic and less breathless romance novel-y..but no I wish it was not there at all.

It was also overly long. Long is not bad if it is riveting. This wasn't. This was lots of extra scenes thrown in that really didn't need to be there (or didn't need to be so long). I kept speeding up the reader just to get through much of it.

The plot was also predictable. I saw the "twist" at the end coming. The idea that you know who the murderer is is from nearly the beginning of the book was moderately interesting at first, but as it dragged on I just wanted them to catch him and be done.

The one redeeming value of the book was the characters. I did like Madden and the other characters for the most part. The narrator also did a good job.

I didn't hate this book with a blue and fiery passion, I just wanted to like it couldn't.

Complex tale, convincing period detail

Would you consider the audio edition of River of Darkness to be better than the print version?

Don't know, didn't read the print version.

What did you like best about this story?

See headline!

Have you listened to any of Christopher Kay’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not, but I liked his voice and think he did an excellent and consistent job of narrating the different characters and their accents.

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

It was gripping, and had some difficult (ie gory) detail, but not gratuitously so.

Any additional comments?

I wish the others of the series were available on Audible.

Super

Can't wait to hear more from the author and the narrator. Listened to the whole book in two days. Nothing else accomplished. Can't wait to hear more from both.

one of the best books you'll listen to

I started listening to the John Madden series out of sequence. Listening to this book added the backgrounds of characters in the later books. Wish I'd read it first. The books can be read in any order, but I think listening to them in order makes more sense now.

This Mystery Does Not Sacrifice Story

River of Darkness exceeded my expectations. I thought I was buying a detective yarn, where a brilliant detective would be paired against a wily and diabolical killer, chasing clue after clue until finally piecing together the mystery. And make no mistake, those elements are strong throughout the book, but at the same time, RoD offers quite a bit more.

Like all the best stories, this is really about living people, not murders. This is somewhat ironic, given that when we first meet him, the protagonist is a man in many respects already dead. Set just a few years after WWI, the echoes of that terrible conflict are still very much present in the world of "River." It seems to stain combatants and non-combatants alike, men and women both.

Despite the grisly subject matter and the sense of ennui that seems to surround so many of the characters when we first meet them, this is ultimately a positive, redemptive book.

Had me on the edge of my seat, by the end.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, good integration on some of the early forensic advancements made by the Scotland Yard.

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

Yes, once it got going. It was a bit of a slow start but there was enough to keep me wanting to turn it on. Once it got going, about 1/4 way through, I was loving the story.

Which scene was your favorite?

I really enjoyed where the narration came from the killer. I would have really enjoyed hearing more of his story and was disappointed how we didn't hear much about his family and upbringing in detail until the very end.

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

Not really, it's not that kind of story but I was very invested in the main characters.

Exceptional Story

This book kept me up all night listening. While seemingly a story of gratuitous murder, River of Darkness also explores the theme of how a person's psyche long after a war is over. War, in fact, is never over for some. Airth skillfully weaves together a police investigation, a love story, and a killer's narrative. I highly recommend this book. The narrator was excellent and his regional accents sounded authentic, at least to my untrained ear.

Pleasant and Familiar

A nice if formulaic historical serial killer mystery. Unlike many mysteries, the question isn't whodunnit, but rather when will he be caught and why does he do it? It's an interesting enough premise that suffers a bit with the length of the novel. The perspective shifts between characters occasionally at chapter breaks which was a bit disorienting to listen to. However, the narrator has a pleasantly dry British reading that made it easy to let the story ramble on. Perhaps one of the more unnecessary plot aspects is a tacked on romance between one of the main characters and the village doctor. Not enough time is given to the relationship to let it develop enough that I felt invested. The doctor, while an important character early in the novel, fades out of the plot in the second and third parts, which further derails the attempt at a romantic subplot.

That being said, I did enjoy the book and am interested in reading more of the authors work.