The Tenth Nail

By: Kwen Griffeth

Narrated by: Paul J. McSorley

Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's Summary

Nate knelt beside the dead girl. This wasn't his first homicide, it wasn't even the first dead prostitute he'd investigated. It wasn't the first strangling death he'd been assigned to. But this one bothered him.

Maybe it was her youth; she appeared to be in her early twenties. Maybe it was her looks, as death had yet to rob her of her beauty. Maybe she reminded him of his own daughter, Lizzie, who was only a few years younger. Maybe it was something else entirely.

The big detective looked over the body, careful not to touch or disturb her. He had one of the best crime scene technicians, Winston Rawls, and he did not want to make his job harder.

©2016 Kwen D Griffeth (P)2016 Kwen D Griffeth

A real nail biter

Stories like this have generally, one of two things going for them. One, they have interesting characters, ones that seem real and make you want to see what they are up to, or a great mystery, one that just compells you to read on, not knowing what will happen or who the culprit is. This book has both going on, and it is a wonderful ride.

I'll be honest, this is not my cup of tea. I love sci-fi, fantasy, horror and the like but I don't follow real life (seeming) stuff. I deal with a lot of death in my profession (funeral director) and I try to distance myself fro things that can hit close to home. I really don't even watch stuff like police procedurals or murder programs. I am a diehard Holmesian, however, and I do enjoy a good mystery. Still, sometimes a good story comes along and I give it a go regardless of my everyday tastes. I'm glad I did, as the Tenth Nail was spectacular. I also appreciate that the MC isn't a "noble" cop, he is fallible and flawed.

A large part of that success was the narration by McSorely. He slips into the main character like a well worn glove, but still manages to pull off a sexy lady lawyer believably. He continues to impress me everytime I listen, and he was the reason I got this book. Even though I did receive a promo code for this review it in no way influenced my considerations of the material, and in fact, inspired me to be more honest. In fact, getting a code generally makes me harsher as a reviewer as I am more often concerned what someone like Me will decide based on my review.

If this review helped, please press the YES below. Thank you immensely!!!

The Tenth nail

This book is a great mystery/ thriller . Love Nate and Clare ... And the characters that come into play are fantastically portrayed with written words and the narrator that brought the story to life.

Totally engaging story.

With the death of a young prostitute, Nate Burns, the officer in charge is compelled to promised the young girl that he would bring to justice the person who killed her. Along with his new partner-n-training, Manny Trujilo, they try to find the one responsible but comes up with several dead ends. Still, Nate refuses to give up, though he continues to work on several other cases. It was while in Las Vegas at a detective convention, that though a college, was convinced to seek the help of another. There are so many twists and turns in this story, along with a chuckle or two. You will be totally entrained and continue to listen until the end. The author did a great job keeping you involved and the narrator did a wonderful job portraying each of the characters.

Not as strong as I'd hoped

First I'll say the book started out with great potential. There was the murder and then the cop obsessed with solving the murder. There was quite a bit of time trying to build the relationship between Nate and Manuel, which only begins because Nate's wife pushes him to develop the relationship. Then they go away to a cop convention where we discover Nate cheats on his wife - and right there he lost my respect. He's sharing a motel suite with his partner, who he knows is a dedicated husband, and expects him to stay quiet about the affair. Somewhere along the line I got lost in characters, and solving the case lost importance, which was the entire premise of the novel. Paul McSorley gives another outstanding performance --which, in my opinion is what allowed me to listen to the end. **I was offered this free book and asked to leave an honest review.

Great!

I normally don't get into murder mysteries and cop stories, but this one drew me in. Loved it!

When will the movie premiere?

Kwen Griffith has mastered the art of setting the scene, character introduction, and dialog. A fast moving mystery with twists and turns!

A good guy wins in the end story.

I really liked the descriptions of the landscapes. It helped your imagination build on the storyline.

Good Story

A life taken to early, was this her regular profession, it seemed liked it wasn’t. The clues are’t there, and why was she killed. Nate has a new partner, Manny, first meeting had him on edge, of Nate reading his file.
When he opened the glove department, that changed, someone cared about him, and this showed him. Who is this Nate, a wife, who has a task of getting him up in the mornings for work. At work he goes by the book, and quizzes those of the correct procedure. Now asking for a few minutes with the corpse before they transport the body. As Manny had the nerve to ask, you broke the procedure, what was that all about. Seeing Nate, holding the girl’s hand and talking to her. This story was powerful, gripping, the writer wrote outside the box. Through Nate he gave this case a personal, heartfelt touch.
Given audio for my voluntary review and my honest opinion

Truck drivers gone bad

This book involves the investigation of a series of murders and the sleuth work of a computer specialist in solving them. It was a very intense book and you never new what was going to happen until it did.

The writing was great and the narration superb. A truly good book.

This book was provided free of charge in exchange for an honest review.

Wow!

What a compelling and suspenseful listen! There is so much to the story. Multiple characters but they all fit together in the end. Truly a must listen to anyone who likes mysteries!

Call me!

The first day that Mannie, newly transferred from Narcotics, is partnered with Nate, the couple catch an homicide: a young girl found strangled in 'Lover's Lane'. A prostitute, she had obviously put up a struggle to survive, her nails ripped and bleeding. Real nails, not artificial. Although Nate, " a broken down cowboy who likes to play detective", is no stranger to dead bodies, for some reason he is strangely affected by the murder and promises the dead girl that he will catch her killer. This book covers the period of several months following, the investigation, the people and Nate's life in general.

This is not a fast paced, blood and glory thriller. Instead, it builds a detailed picture of the lives of all of the protagonists and Nate, in particular. But despite the fairly gentle pace there isn't a moment of boredom in this 13± hour book. The characters might not always be likable, Nate, for example, tends to bulldoze his way through everything and everyone, but they feel like real, plausible people with their own, often selfish, agendas.

Matching the slow, emotionally paced story text, Paul J.McSorley's careful and pleasant narration is pace perfect, reflecting the character of the protagonists with excellent and differentiated voices. He reads with understanding, expression and good intonation. Book and narrator meld into one.

With intriguing side stories, internal departmental conflict and a bullheaded lead character who undoubtedly makes life difficult for others as he sticks to his own personal creed of justice, this book is far more than a simple detection mystery. It is a whole slice of life in a police department and the community.

I was very fortunate in being gifted a complimentary copy of The Tenth Nail, at my request, by the rights holder, via Audiobook Boom. Thank you so much - it was simply superb. Ths review is freely given and I can wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys their thrillers with full blooded characters rather than simple, one dimensional shoot outs and car chases. The thrills are still there, the more gentle action gripping throughout.

Monitonius

A lot of back story no detecting, was waiting for the story to sta rt meh