Sleep Tight

De: Anne Frasier

Narrado por: Hollis McCarthy

An FBI profiler recovering from a gunshot wound finds herself pitted against a serial killer whose violent history has ties to her own tragic past.

FBI agent Mary Cantrell has been called to Minneapolis to hunt down a killer. It's shaking her to the core, and reviving dreadful memories. Years ago, her best friend was murdered. Now the man convicted of the crime, Gavin Hitchcock, is free, and Mary's own sister Gillian, a local cop, has befriended him. As each clue leads them closer to Hitchcock, Mary and Gillian set themselves up as the perfect target - and the perfect trap. Unless Mary's own past is blinding her to an unimaginable truth...and plunging her into a waking nightmare.

©2002, 2013 Theresa Weir (P)2016 Theresa Weir

Creepy.

When Mary is called back to her home town of Minneapolis, she knows it's not just the serial killer case she has to work on, but also her rocky relationship with her sister! Add to the fact that Gillian, her sister, is also a cop and is assigned the case with her. Mary knows that she will have to let bygones be bygones and bury the past. That's fine till she hears that her best friends killer is still living in the town. The whole reason she left to become an FBI profiler was because her best friend was murdered by Gavin Hitchcock, who Gillian stood beside and believes to be innocent, even though the evidence was overwhelming. Mary say it as a betrayal, hence the tension between both. Now though, with bodies fitting her dead best friend piling up, Mary has her sights on Gavin, but is he truly capable of the heinous way the girls are found?

This was quite long yet I ended up listening to it over 2 days (despite certain issues with the narration, which I'll get to in a bit). I found the character development to be amazing and loved both Mary and Gillian. Every family has their spats and I'm glad to see the girl working out their issues properly. Also the killer was super creepy and being inside hi head was even worse. This author sure knows how to write a disturbingly warped villain!

The plot was relatively fast paced and kept my attention the whole time. I thought that there were certain parts that were kind of disjointed and unnecessary, and the whole sub plot with Marys best friends bit was rushed and seemed to be added as an after thought. Saying that though, I still thoroughly enjoyed this and will definitely try something else by this author.

Now, onto the narration! Hollis McCarthy took a while to grab me. She had such an annoying sing song tone at the start, that totally isn't suitable for such a serious book, that it nearly made me not finish! Also the background noises were so distracting at times. If this had a proper production edit then maybe the tone wouldn't have annoyed me as much. Also, her voices were very similar and it became hard to distinguish who was taking at any given time.

*I received a copy of this for review. This in no way affected my thoughts.*

Good Book @ $7.34

Sleep tight was an good listen. Quite a few twists and turns in the plot along with
a surprising revelation at the end. I had already figured out the final twist but reading it
brought it full circle. A few parts are a bit graphic, the kind that make you go, ewwwwww..
Loved the characters and I hope there is another book or two
that include many of the main players. I would like to see what could develop
among them. I am already looking for another book written by Anne Frasier,
hoping it will be as good as this one.

Hollis McCarthy was the wrong choice of narrator for this book. I have listened to other books delivered by Hollis McCarthy and she usually narrates romance, which she is good at. The delivery of this book was just OK.

Clever Ideas, but Disappointing Execution

After completing "Sleep Tight" by Ann Frasier, it is clear the author had a good idea for a story, with some clever twists. She had in mind some interesting juxtapositions and ways of playing with various themes as well (I'm trying to remain a bit cryptic, as I do not want to spoil too much).

Unfortunately, these ideas are largely dumped on the reader in the final quarter of the book. The preceding 3/4 of the book is a needlessly long introduction to the characters, their backstories, and the flogging of a family drama. It is not until the final 1/4 of the book where the reader actually experiences significant amounts of the mystery / thriller many will have come for. It is also at this point when the themes start to be more clearly connected.

I believe it would have caused the novel to be much more engaging, memorable, and not to mention more in line with my expectations of a mystery / thriller type novel, had Frasier elected to better blend the two parts of the book more evenly. It does not help that, besides being the most interesting part of the book, the last 1/4 felt the most well written as well.

Additionally, the book is limited by an uneven amount of characterization. Some characters are incredibly interesting and well-rounded, showing Frasier's talent. Likewise, some scenes and character interactions feel very realistic and deep, with a lot of chemistry. At the same time though, there are many characters that are as flat as a sheet of paper, and scenes where the interactions seem ridiculous.

Two of the best characters, Gillian and Gavin, are kept to the back, while two of the least interesting characters, Mary and Anthony, get much more time in the spotlight. The latter pair feel flat (especially Anthony), and while they develop in the novel, we never really see their souls born open as much as with the former pair.

However, what dragged down this audiobook experience the most for me was the narration. I can't help but wonder if I might not have given the story 4 stars, had it not been for Hollis McCarthy's subpar narration. She has absolutely no ability to do a male voice (all of them sound the same, like a 12 year old fat kid in a cartoon), and even fails to really differentiate the female characters. She gives them slight variations, but it is not enough, and often I caught inconsistencies in how she handled a certain character's voice across the book. When there was back and forth dialogue going on I often could not figure out who was speaking, and sometimes even whether it was a male or female character.

McCarthy also infects the entire performance with a kind of sing-song cadence that one might expect in a children's book. It was distracting and made it hard to take the book seriously.

"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com."

Very Good

Really enjoyed the story line and the twist in the plot that made it more interesting. There could have been some follow-up on some of the characters. Almost begs for a couple more Chapters OR a follow-up novel. Some of the characters could continue with an additional story. Recommend this book.

Awful narration!

I think I was warned about the narrator by other reviews, so listened to a preview. Thinking it wasn't so bad, i gave it a chance. I won't ever listen to another book read by her.