The Promised Land

By: David Hewson

Narrated by: William Hope

Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's Summary

Ex-cop Bierce has been in prison for over 20 years, following his conviction for the murders of his wife and son. He has no memory of the tragedy and has never been able to say with certainty that he didn't do it - except he cannot imagine why on earth he would have killed his beloved family.

Unexpectedly released moments before his execution, he teams up with the beautiful, feisty, half-Chinese Alice Loong, who is seeking answers to her own troubled past and the death of her mother on that same day in 1983.

Pursued by mysterious enemies who are convinced that Bierce knows more than he is telling about his wife's death, the pair embark on a dangerous race against time to uncover the real truth about the events of that fateful day...

©2007 David Hewson (P)2007 WF Howes Ltd

The Promised Land

The premise of the book was good; however I was disappointed in the development of the plot. Reader was fair.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

A thriller that makes you want to listen

I've enjoyed David Hewson's Rome series of detective novels and so was expecting to enjoy this audio book, which I did from the first riveting chapter. It's a different style of book to the Rome series, which comprise intricately constructed webs of clues often linked to some historical artifact or painting. The 'Promised Land' reminded me more of a Robert Goddard thriller with twists and turns and double-crosses. It has a touch of The Fugitive (the TV series starring David Janssen in the 1960s for those of us of a certain age!) in that a man has been imprisoned for apparently killing his wife but the twist in this book is that he can't be sure and neither is the listener until the end of the book.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

compulsive listening

I enjoyed this book immensely. It took a little time to get into as I had to get used to the narrator's accent but then I was hooked.There is a lot of very droll humour as well as twists and turns galore.The huge leaps forward in technology we take foregranted over the past twenty years are very obvious when we see them through the eyes of a 'dinosaur' who has been in prison as the rest of the world moved ahead without him. Thanks to this technology I was listening into the early hours as I HAD to know 'who dunnit'.Loved it.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Slow but gets there

As my title suggests, it is a VERY slow beginning, but persist and you'll find a nice, wee thriller. A cop is on death row, convicted of murdering his wife and child. He still proclaims his innocence, having been knocked unconscious at the scene. Days before the death date, he is released after a felon apparently confessed to the crime, but now various shady characters are after him and he doesn't know why or who to trust.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Brilliant

This is such a good buy. The narrator,sorry forgot hs name, but I'm going to check back and look for books read by him. He did a great job to a great who dunnit. Buy this book and you won't be disappointed.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

good story and good narration

I really enjoyed this book and will listen to more from this author. It makes such a difference to have a good narrator.

Terrific "fluff."

Imagine Harrison Ford at 50, emerging from prison, in a fictional movie role of course, and some well plotted scripting- and you have this novel.
You can see why the author was selected to write the novels based on the fine TV scripts that became "The Killing" series. His characterizations are just fine and none of the dialogue is less than convincing..if a bit too familiar. Doesn't matter. It's a jolly ride. Having been a long time fan of his earlier work too, I was interested to see how much of the violence and obscene language is absent. New editors? New audience?

utterly brilliant!

Promised Land has a really interesting structure - beginning with an execution situation (death row) that drew me in, and then following the protagonist closely every hour of the day. But what was so brilliant, was Hewson's writing, which made the personalities of the main character and his companion so convincing,and their experiences over the few days of the unfolding plot, Utterly compelling. The calm,passive life world of Biers, and his sardonic wit and weary cynicism, were brought out by details - opening a new style of beer can - and I was on his side from the start! I listened to it, ....and listened to it again straight away, it was so good!

The Promised Land

This is a book I probably wouldn't have 'got into' very quickly had I been reading it, but listening to the narrator telling the story it was compelling. I thoroughly enjoyed every word and listened to it - to and from work every day in my car. Brilliant - and quite different to the Italian novels.

Not for me

Did not enjoy this book at all. Didn't enjoy the story or the narrator, won't be downloading any more by this author.

0 of 3 people found this review helpful