The Burial Hour: Booktrack Edition

By: Jeffery Deaver

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

The Burial Hour: Booktrack Edition adds an immersive musical soundtrack to your audiobook listening experience!*

Dangerously good. Distinctively Deaver.

Forensic Detective Lincoln Rhyme is back with his most harrowing case yet in this newest installment of Jeffrey Deaver's New York Times best-selling series.

A businessman snatched from an Upper East Side street in broad daylight. A miniature hangman's noose left at the scene. A nine-year-old girl, the only witness to the crime. With a crime scene this puzzling, forensic expertise of the highest order is absolutely essential. Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are called in to investigate.

Soon, the case takes a stranger turn: A recording surfaces of the victim being slowly hanged, his desperate gasps the backdrop to an eerie piece of music. The video is marked as the work of "The Composer"....

Despite their best efforts, the suspect gets away. So when a similar kidnapping occurs on a dusty road outside Naples, Italy, Rhyme and Sachs don't hesitate to rejoin the hunt.

But the search is now a complex case of international cooperation—and not all those involved may be who they seem. Sachs and Rhyme find themselves playing a dangerous game, with lives all across the globe hanging in the balance.

*Booktrack is an immersive format that pairs traditional audiobook narration to complementary music. The tempo and rhythm of the score are in perfect harmony with the action and characters throughout the audiobook. Gently playing in the background, the music never overpowers or distracts from the narration, so listeners can enjoy every minute. When you purchase this Booktrack edition, you receive the exact narration as the traditional audiobook available, with the addition of music throughout.

©2017 Gunner Publications, LLC (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Loved the book

Narrator was very good, and a Lincoln Rhyme book has never, ever let me down.

Music

The music is annoying and unnecessary it destroys the storyline I hope in the future you will discontinue

Booktrack is a bit distracting from great story

This is the first Booktrack audiobook that I've purchased. While I really like the story and the narrator, I felt that the background music was a bit too loud and distracting.

The story starts with Lincoln Rhyme trying to plan a honeymoon trip outside of New York for him to take with his new bride. Greenland is apparently his #1 choice, though Thom tries to convince him that Amelia would have more fun taking a spin on the Top Gear race track in England. While they're debating the romantic possibilities of both locales, Lon comes by with a new case...that of a kidnapping on the Upper East Side where the killer leaves a little noose.

The case unfolds with all the usual twists and turns that you would expect from Jeffery Deaver. Unlike most of the previous novels from this series, though, there is a pretty big change of scenery as the action moves to Italy. While there are references to previous stories, anyone starting with this novel will soon be able to follow the characters and action with ease. The bad guy in this novel (Stefan) is a bit creepier than some of Lincoln's former foes as he likes to compose music inspired by those he is killing.

Overall, I thought The Burial Hour was a pretty good mystery, infused with humor and character development that was worth my Audible credit and my time.

Music was distracting

Loved the story and the narrator but I found the music very distracting. I wished all through the book that there was no music.

Good story…

The story was captivating. Although I understand the intention of the background music it distracted from the story.

Love Deaver's Novels, but...

I have enjoyed all the many Jeffery Deaver novels that I've read/listened to, but I'm having trouble with this one because of the music. It is sometimes too loud, but is very much a distraction throughout. The story is good, the narrator is good, but it is dreadfully hard to listen to because even when the volume is down, it is intrusive. I have noticed it being a problem in other of his books, and I sincerely hope it isn't an ongoing issue.

Had it not been for the music, be assured I would have rated this at least four stars... maybe five.

Distracting music in background - YUCK

Hated the background “music”; annoying; story was fine — background noise distracted from hearing some portions; what idiot thinks listeners need that?

Good book but did not need music playing in the background

I have never written a review of a book before because I am not in the habit of criticizing nor praising... Books are often subjective. Who am I to judge? This book was however, very well written. I enjoyed the content. I strongly disliked the music playing beneath the person reading it. If it had been a sound effect that’s ok. But music constantly playing in the background just takes away from the audiobook. Imagine if you were watching the movie Halloween and throughout the entire movie they play the suspense music without pause... that is what they did to this otherwise wonderful book.

Background music compromised a good story

Background music should complement the story being presented. In this case, the music was not appropriate. I found the music to be intrusive and unrelated to story. In a good movie, the music complements and reinforces the mood and feeling for the current scene. The movie viewer often is unaware of the background music. With this book presentation, I often felt that the music was just wrong, it didn’t relate to the narrative and was often irritating. It was a good story with good narration with the wrong music.

Intense!

Great story and well narrated. The soundtrack added a new dimension that I liked. Look forward to more audiobooks from Jeffery Deaver