The Dark Winter

De: David Mark

Narrado por: John Curless

What Ian Rankin is to Edinburgh David Mark is to the seaport of Hull in Northern England. This is the beginning of a dynamic, thrilling series featuring detective Sgt. Aector McAvoy, a psychologically-probing investigator who finds patterns and motives in seemingly unrelated deaths in his hardscrabble town.

©2012 David Mark (P)2012 Recorded Books

A Master of Language

As much as I enjoyed the plot, it’s his unique and masterful use of language, painting vivid portraits of fascinating, multi-dimensional characters, that stand out in David Mark’s books and this is true for The Dark Winter. Disturbing in content and luxurious in eloquence. A delight for anyone who enjoys the twists and turns of a psychological thriller.

If by “exciting “ you mean slow, dry and lacking focus ..

I agree. Yet using a more widely accepted definition of the word, this writing falls considerably short of the standard. I concede the performance may have been possible to pull the heavy, disjointed story together, but that is a heavy lift for any actor being challenged by a character termed “ a small man in a big body “. I didn’t immediately piece together the implications of this way of being for the feature protagonist, but it was revealed clearly and repeatedly once I began looking for the small minded simpleton characteristics after that first tip off.
Frankly I love a police procedural firing on all cylinders to solve crime. This version features the romance aspect at the forefront which may appeal to other listeners but it’s not for me.

An intriguing tale

First question - why can't we see all the reviewer ratings like we used to? According to the page this recording is on there are between 5 and 8 reviews, yet I cannot see all of them. Why not an option on the drop down menu for "all" versus the options there now which I could care less about. I am writing this review because of the 1 negative and 1 positive we are allowed to see and feel that this book is well worth a listen. I really enjoyed the story and the narrator. The main character is described as a shy, uncommunicative type of guy and I think the reader really captured that. This protagonist is more of a real person versus the tough guy cops often depicted. The only character I felt was underdeveloped was his wife, who, although described as wonderful, is portrayed only as a sex object. She herself, in late term pregnancy, is also quite the minx. I doubt that a female writer would have created this character, but since she is not key to the story line, this weakness (clearly my view only) did not effect my overall appreciation of the book.

"The quality of mercy...."

There's a new cop in the English city of Hull. No sooner does he start his job than he views a 15 year old Somalian adopted girl being slash down in their central church. He has even seen the hooded slasher. But is he a serial killer? Seems that survivors of fatal incidents are being murdered. Thus starts this gruesome murder mystery with a unique plot for a murderer.

Perhaps some of the best parts are the development of the characters. Aector McAvoy is definitely an experienced cop, and rumors abound about his past with a dirty cop and a paid killer. Now he's supposed to be relegated to computer work because of his unique talents in finding information from a desk. His female supervisor tries to untangle his skills through his quiet personality. Aector is profoundly in love with his beautiful wife and young son. Through all this is the description of a dank and wet city of Hull.

This was a great start for a continuing mystery series. Aector is not reminiscent of any policeman that I've previously read about. I also appreciated the twisted motive that was also unique to this story. Definitely will read more from this author. Listened to this on Audible and really appreciated the dramatic affect, especially Aector's Scottish accent amongst the English.

A very good twisty plot with great reading.

Mysteries have been my choice for reading (now listening) matter with biographies a runner up for 40 years. I enjoy that British and European stories have more twists and turns than many I have read by American authors which are either too cute by half or thrillers and shockers better suited to television and movies to make you jump out of your seat. It doesn’t matter that the author gave enough clues for me to figure out the killer a few chapters before the reveal. I portioned out Ian Rankin’s to make them last so am very happy to find a new series with attributes I like. Also pleased there are accents by good actors which helps to individualize the characters.