The Dying Light

Detective Matt Ballard Series, Book 3

By: Joy Ellis

Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies

Length: 9 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

Whisper Fen Holds Dark Secrets 

As the mists roll over the fens and enigmatic lights twinkle in the distance, only the locals know their way along the hidden paths through the mysterious watery terrain of one of England's most beautiful and sometimes dangerous places. 

Detective Matt Ballard may have retired but there's still plenty going on in the fens to keep him busy. 

Someone trashes an old lady's garden and daubs her isolated cottage with hateful graffiti. Emilia Swain seems to be totally harmless, so why is she being targeted? 

Matt's best friend Will and his wife Kate moved to Holland House to put their past behind them. But Kate's mental state is deteriorating and she's obsessed with the tragic history of the house and an old doll she finds in the garden.

And why is Kate suddenly friends with a loner who haunts the fens? Has the dreadful past come back to haunt the present owners?

Former detectives Matt and Liz want to help their friends and neighbors. But how can you help people who don't want to be helped?

©2020 Joy Ellis (P)2020 Tantor

I love Joy Ellis but this was disappointing

This is nothing like her other books. There is no mystery here, no drama, just some neighbors who need help and two retired detectives. Listening to the tale of the mentally ill woman declining is just very sad. The story really goes nowhere.

Not Like Joy Ellis

The books of Joy Ellis are usually well developed and very interesting. This one was just flat out strange and hard to believe. It’s like it was written by someone else. The narrator is excellent, but the story is very odd. It’s a stretch.

Not one of Joy Ellis’ best stories.

I normally enjoy all of Joy’s different series but this storyline was too drawn out and not her usual style of course detective mystery . I persisted cause I wanted to see how it ended but it was not as interesting as her previous books.

it's as bad as reviews show

Sometimes I wonder, "how bad can it be? when one of my favorite authors release a book and the reviews are not so great. Turns out, it can be pretty bad. This particular book was an all around waste of time. It's agonizingly slow and the ending doesn't make up for the lack of plot. I can get my credit back but I certainly can't get those hours of listening back

Don't waste your time on this garbage!

There are more than 20 Joy Ellis novels in my Audible library. Almost all are excellent. This series is horrid.

Dark

I love her books but this was a dark thriller
Just surprised a little
One of my favorite authors

dull story

severe patronizing tones in all relatioships within the novel. i think the story itself made me dislike the narrator. snooze

Good, but a few annoying details

I like Joy Ellis overall, but I had a hard time accepting that all of these folks went along for so long with NOT getting a very sick woman professional help — especially two mental health professionals. The other thing was when help was sought all of this FREE private mental health services - like right, that happens.

Very distressing. Poor quality for this author.

I feel like every storyline in this book left you feeling hopeless. Every professional let all of the characters they were supposed to help down. All I could say at the end was, "are you kidding me!" Joy Ellis has let me down with this one.

Awful.

So disappointing. Have read most of the other Matt Ballard stories but this was all atmosphere not a mystery. Repetitive and boring. Reader also worked hard at different accents that didn’t work and often sped up so fast I thought I had changed speeds. Overall a waste of money and time.

Disappointing from one of my favourite authors

Talk about slow to get going........... I was so disappointed.
I was expecting a murder mystery - but there was no murder. All a bit touchy-feely and not what I was expecting from such a brilliant writer.

It was like getting the new Nikki Galena book and finding out that she just does yoga for a week!

Brilliant

That was SO good. I was gripped from start to finish. Can't wait for more Ballard!

Disappointed

More like a Miss Marple than Joy Ellis. I have loved all her other books but this one was very disappointing. Narrator’s hung ho style didn’t help. I kept waiting for it to improve but it never did.

Disappointing.

The first Joy Ellis novel I haven’t enjoyed. I found this repetitive and overly drawn out and with a poor ending.

Captivating

A book not quite like any other crime novel I have heard - so novel in the true sense too. Ms. Ellis is able to paint pictures with words and was able with a few strokes, to capture the sinister nature of parts of the narrative which were integral to the story. It was compulsive listening.

Excellent

Very well written. A really excellent unexpected ending. I really enjoyed it and did not see the end coming

Much better than the previous two books

I really liked this book. Some of it was still a little far fetched, with timings al very convenient, but well written, made me want to keep listening, and I liked the ending much more than that of the first two books in the series.

Another great book

Brilliant as ever & really enjoyed it. The characters new private detective work was a nice change too, with old faces popping in & out of the storyline. Now for the next one which is waiting patiently to be listened to.

Sad ending and frustration with characters.

I loved the book and how it all came together, but don't listen expecting a happy or satisfying ending. I was so frustrated and felt so sorry for Will, but only because it was so well written that I felt strongly about it.

Moral of the story is that people who need psychiatric help, should have psychiatric help, even if they say that they don't want it.

Oh Dear.

I presume that the author was in a hurry to meet a deadline. I've loved her other books, even though they had little relation to reality...this novel seemed to have no idea where it was going and ended with the bizarre abruptness of a year 11 answering a creative writing exam question. Truly disappointing.