Whispers of the Dead

A Zoë Delante Thriller

By: C.L. Roberts-Huth

Narrated by: Kelley Hazen

Evolved Publishing presents a suspenseful, thrilling glance inside one woman's extraordinary connection to the elements around her, in Whispers of the Dead by C.L. Roberts-Huth, the first of the Zoë Delante Thrillers. [DRM-Free]

[Paranormal, Thriller, Suspense]

Murder was never something Zoe Delante enjoyed, but solving the cases.... She does that rather well, and has the track record to prove it. Yet when she's called in on a new case with the Baltimore PD as their go-to clairvoyant, she's unprepared for the heinous nature of the crimes.

The hunt for the murderer unfolds, dropping Zoe right in the middle of a power struggle between a nightmare of a coven, and a serial killer leaving bodies in ceremonial circles in the rural parts of Baltimore's city limits.

Will she discover the identity of the maniac behind the gruesome beheadings, or will she lose someone close to her first? A race against celestial bodies and the trail of earthbound body parts keeps our intrepid clairvoyant running right until the very end.

©2014 Evolved Publishing LLC (P)2015 Evolved Publishing LLC

GREAT NEW AUTHOR, GREAT NEW STORY

Zoe Delante is a heroine you can really root for. She's dark and sad and proud and fearless. I was fascinated by the insight into Wicca. I couldn't stop listening once I started.

Good Listen

This book was written by an author whom was new to me. I enjoyed listening to this book, but it was a little outside my preferred genre. I typically do not listen to many shifter books featuring witchcraft. I thought the narrator did great with the emotions and various characters. My review is not a synopsis of the book but my opinion of it. I was provided with this review copy Audiobook at my request and voluntarily written this review.

Wiccan Thriller

You have to like listening to demonic/magic/shift changer books with thrilling twist and turns and romance. This book’s main character is Zoe Delante who works with the police as a psychic to solve murder cases through sight and touch at the crime scene. She is also Wiccan as several others in the book are. I did enjoy very descriptive scenes in this horrific thriller and the great narration held my interest. I was given this book at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Thank you

Diverting,if occasionally disturbing.

I'll begin by saying I got this book as a 'freebie' - but that hasn't influenced my review (I hope!)

This is a supernatural thriller, and is quite graphic in its blood and gore - so if that sort of thing upsets you, be warned. It also has a couple of near-rape scenes, which could be offensive to some.

The protagonist, Zoe, is a clairvoyant who becomes entangled in the sort of case that only ever comes up in police procedural novels - and while she is generally a likeable, strong, intelligent woman, occasionally the author slips into 'bodice-ripper' mode

When that happens, Zoe becomes a little too 'flighty' for my taste - and the carefully constructed world-view of the novel is sacrificed for drama and pathos.

Let me give you an example (and this is a minor spoiler)

At one stage, Zoe appears to be falling for one character but then spurns him because she believes he has betrayed her. She then shares a passionate kiss with another character - and through the magic of ... well, magic .. they know everything about each other and appear to be falling in love.

But then, in a deus ex machina, the second character says "Oh, I know you are in love with your ex, so go be with him" - without making any reference to that at the time of their tryst.

Both boyfriends play an important role in the final 'battle' scene .. and it felt to me like the author had changed her mind about who was going to be the love interest / hostage, and who was going to be the friend who supports Zoe in her time of need.

It just felt ... jarring.

I mentioned the carefully constructed worldview of the novel. This novel (and, I assume, the subsequent Zoe Delante thrillers) is set in a Baltimore that is a near-analog to our own world - but where Wiccans make up a significant part of the population, and where werewolves and shape-changers are not unusual.

A large part of the novel is based on the interactions of Wiccans with Christians (portrayed mostly as closed-minded bigots and zealots until they are aided by Wiccans)

I don't know much about their religion but I do have some Wiccan friends, and I kept thinking "maybe I should ask them if this portrayal is right"

But then I realized, if this is a slightly different world to ours, then the author can portray Wicca however she likes, and I should just 'suspend disbelief' :-)

I listened to this audiobook over a week, while taking my daily walks, and I enjoyed the narration by Kelley Hazen - who kept the pace going, and brought characters to life, although she does have a tendency to be a little sing-song when not presenting dialogue.

Overall, I've given this novel 4 stars and have already loaded the second volume in this series onto my Audible account.

Whispers of the Dead

I liked the overall concept of Whispers of the Dead. Zoe’s an interesting character and her abilities are quite extraordinary. A few of the scenes were a bit gorier than I typically listen to, but they did fit in with the plot.

C.L. Roberts-Huth is a new author to me. I did get a little confused a couple of times, but ended up getting back on track fairly quickly. I’m looking forward to seeing how this series progresses.

I think having an experienced narrator helped this story. Kelley Hazen always does a fantastic job distinguishing between the characters and changing her inflections to bring out the emotions.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.