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Title: Falling

Author: Emma Kavanagh

Narrator: Julie Teal

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-27-14

Publisher: Whole Story Audiobooks

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Suspense

Publisher's Summary:

A plane falls out of the sky. A woman is murdered. Four people all have something to hide. Jim is a retired police officer. His beloved daughter has disappeared and he knows something is wrong. Tom has woken up to discover that his wife was on the plane and he must break the news to their son. Freya is struggling to cope with the loss of her father. But as she delves into his past, she may not like what she finds.

Members Reviews:

Better than "The Husband's Secret"

Part suspense, part Whodunnit, part sensitive examination of the frailties that exist in families, this is a poetic and absorbing story that is written with skill and sensitivity. Where truth and secrets are buried and their sudden revelation throws family members reeling in all directions like debris from a plane crash.

Similar in scope, but very different in plot, to "The Husband's Secret", "Falling" is the better written novel, with more sympathetic characters and a less predictable climax.

An underated audio book that will keep you guessing...

Excellent!

I loved this book. The characters were believable and I almost listened in one session.

Poor pronunciation of Welsh place names

Gripping read - which is let down by reader's poor pronunciation of Cymru and Welsh place names. This failing got in the way of the early part of the story.

good story excellent narrator

couldn't stop listening. a book that has 3D characters who hold the reader's sympathy.

sometimes confused as to which character is speaking - only fault with narrator's performance.

crisp, short sentences full of description, sometimes feeling a bit overdone. ending rather unsatisfactory - but then that's life.

overall, good listen.

Narrator - do your research!!

Only a short review as I am only half way through this book. The thing that is driving me mad is the incredibly poor research carried out by the narrator. This book is set around South Wales, but the pronunciation of the River Tawe, Jet Cymru and other Welsh names are completely wrong. Why not choose a Welsh narrator!?!? Makes me cringe every time an example comes up. Lazy.

Grrrrrr.

Good story though - shame about the above.

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Title: A Hundred Thousand Dragons

Subtitle: Jack Haldean Murder Mystery, Book 4

Author: Dolores Gordon-Smith

Narrator: John Sackville

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins

Language: English

Release date: 03-18-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Suspense

Publisher's Summary:

The latest Jack Haldean mystery, set in the Roaring Twenties

A hundred thousand dragons lie, underneath an Arabian sky. How do a few lines of poetry, a chance encounter in a London hotel, and a death in Sussex lead to a lost city of Arabia, and to the tombs of the Whispering Dead? Jack Haldean has evaded the truth for years, but now, enmeshed in the web of murder, theft and deception, he must find the answer and face up to the truth a truth as deadly as any dragon...

Members Reviews:

I skipped to the end

Jack Haldean # 4

Figures from an unsavory episode in Jack's past reappear, forcing him to confront old demons to solve a new murder.

This is the first Jack Haldean book that I skipped to the end on. The solution was fairly obvious, which wouldn't have been a major drawback if the characters hadn't been so unlikable. Maybe I should stick to the books in this series with foreign settings, as Gordon-Smith did them so beautifully. Spelling, grammar, and Kindle formatting were fine. The title was marginally relevant but Gordon-Smith has done better.

Great period detail and complex plots

Very well researched for period details (so far as I can tell) and very well written with clever plots (sometimes a bit TOO clever) and complex interesting characters, the books featuring Jack Haldean are really good stories. My only caveat is that sometimes the plots get a bit too convoluted. there is some writing and narrative (perhaps this is my failing, senior mind) where the sentences are so complicated that I have to deconstruct them for the basic meaning. Even after tying to simplify, sometimes I can't "translate" them into linear expository writing. It is almost as if the writer purposefully gives a slight twist to her words and sentences to make them a bit confusing.

A Ripping Good Yarn

Dolores Gordon-Smith knows how to tell a ripping good yarn and A HUNDRED THOUSAND DRAGONS is Jack Haldean's best adventure yet. The explosion of a burning Rolls Royce with a body in it brings on an investigation that forces Jack to relive the youthful failure that has haunted him for years.

Following the clues of a fiendishly clever cypher, Jack returns to the scene of his former torment. His desperate attempt to right old wrongs and prevent new ones leads to an explosive ending that will have Indiana Jones fans-- and Jack Haldean fans-- cheering.

Great book!

I am loving the Jack Haldean series. There is not a bad book so far, and I've read 4 of them. Good mysteries, great period pieces of English Manor House mysteries. Can't wait for the next one.

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Title: Where Evil Lies

Author: Jrgen Brekke

Narrator: David Menkin

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 41 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-27-14

Publisher: Pan Macmillan Publishers Ltd

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Suspense

Publisher's Summary:

A story of obsession and murder that transcends time - and place. Medieval fascination with anatomy and modern-day obsession with rare books spark a series of gruesome murders in Norway and the US, and bring detectives from both countries together to hunt down a serial killer.

1528: A young Franciscan monk travels to Norway to collect a set of scalpels from a barber surgeon with whom he shares a dark and mysterious obsession with the dissection of human corpses. He travels north and settles in a remote village. His deadly legacy is a mysterious manuscript, the Book of John, bound in human skin. Nearly 500 years later, it seems that the ancient practice is experiencing a revival.

2010, Trondheim, Norway: Inspector Odd Singsaker leads the investigation into the flaying of the university librarian, Gunn Brita Dahle, and the theft of the priceless Book of John. The prime suspect is a security guard at the library who was once an academic high-flier, and now lives an isolated, almost twilight, existence following the unexplained disappearance of his wife and son some years back.

Members Reviews:

New definition to coincidence and improbability

Is it laziness? Lack of understanding the natural ebb and flow of the human personality? There's no doubt there are many passages that are well written in terms of description. But the coincidence the extreme behaviour and coincidence mar this.

Examples without spoilers hopefully getting a new job and deciding to go in unannounced on a Saturday and go into office without knocking and happened to find them working on something. Quickest way not to have a job.

Sloppy detail that takes the reader out of the bubble of this other world iof the story and left going, huh!

The reader reads well and absolutely no complaint there.

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Title: Death in Pacific Heights

Subtitle: Paladino and Lang Series, Book 1

Author: Ronald Tierney

Narrator: Katherine Fenton

Format: Unabridged

Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-27-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Suspense

Publisher's Summary:

From the creator of Deets Shanahan - Carly Paladino, a newly established PI, has a case: The death of the daughter of an old and moneyed Pacific Heights family. A mysterious young man is arrested for the murder, but Carly suspects the real murderer is inside the Hanover mansion. Meanwhile, streetwise private eye Noah Lang gets involved, but he struggles with the consequences of his last assignment. Can he put this behind him and come up with a solution to murder?

Members Reviews:

Nice local feel

This is my second Ronald Tierney and it didn't disappoint. He made me feel San Fransisco as locals experience it off season. Loved his characters and the androginous ending (on several planes). No fadeout kiss...although he left you confident that there would be one eventually. By the end, I didn't care who had done in the poor girl...getting there was so much fun.

Anticipation Rewarded

As a confirmed fan of Ron Tierney and his Deets Shanahan novels I approached Death in Pacific Heights, Tierney's first in what is labeled "a new San Francisco mystery series", with both anticipation and trepidation. Why shouldn't there be trepidation? After nine books I've come to regard Deets, his lady friend Maureen, his occasional partner Howie and his bartender cum old friend Harry as friends of mine. Intriguing people can be complex and take some time to know so why shouldn't that be the case when meeting Tierney's new private investigators Carly Paladino and Noah Lang.

But somewhere just before the midpoint of Death in Pacific Heights I realized that different though they are from Deets et al Lang and Paladino make for good reading and they are as up to conveying Tierney's complex plotting, principles and wit as the Shanahan crew has been doing. On top of that this long-time San Francisco resident is willing to bet that Tierney will surprise most readers--Bay Area residents, visitors whether frequent or occasional and those who have been there only via written and filmed images--with the places he takes them, even the ones they thought they knew.

There should be enough Intrigue, Violence, Police Procedure, Humor (both subtle and a couple of instances approaching belly laugh level), Travelogue and Social Class Cage Rattling to attract just about any reader of mysteries aside from the Publishers Weekly reviewer who commentary had a sense of "skim the pages, get the characters' names and the basic plot, then write the alloted number of words".

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Title: The Contract

Subtitle: The Zambezi Chronicles, Volume 1

Author: Dwight Kopp

Narrator: Dwight Kopp

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 18 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-18-14

Publisher: Dwight Kopp

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Suspense

Publisher's Summary:

Zimbabwe's dictator exploits critical faults in the decaying infrastructure of his own country. Evil reigns unchecked and greed has no limit. But the blood-soaked grass, empty shelves, and unmarked graves birth a new era of African resistance. When political extortion forces white African Stuart Hall from his land, he embraces a patriotism that knows no color. What will he do when forced to choose between his family and his country?

Members Reviews:

I loved the books and was doubly pleased with the audio ...

I loved the books and was doubly pleased with the audio version. Dwight does an amazing job with the accents. If you've spent any time in Africa then this will put you right there. The author is the reader and he has been and lived in the places this story takes place so that just adds to the authenticity. This has my highest recommendation!

I would like to see his gift in other genres

This is book with a lot of action and pace. I lived in Zimbabwe and Zambia - the setting for the novel - for many years, and the descriptions are authentic, so much so that they brought back many memories. What impressed me most was the economy of the writing. The author can capture a scene or a character in a few well-chosen phrases. I would like to see his gift in other genres, and intend to read his other series. Meanwhile, I look forward to the sequel of The Contract.

Cliffhanger!

The outstanding first book of the Zambezi Chronicles takes the reader through layers of southern Africa's seedy politics twisted with questions of family loyalty, conspiracy and the possibility of a natural disaster (or so it seems!). Kopp's first book speaks from first hand accounts blended with a flair for telling an incredible story.

The Contract

I grew up in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and my work as a charter pilot took me all over Kariba (all the way down to Victoria Falls) and into much of Zambia and various other countries. So reading this book brought back many wonderful memories.

Fantastic! True reality combined with highly possible reality

Fantastic! True reality combined with highly possible reality. Hooked from the first paragraph. Nostalgic and capturing if you've lived there!

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Title: The Toy Taker

Subtitle: DI Sean Corrigan, Book 3 (Unabridged)

Author: Luke Delaney

Narrator: Robin Bowerman

Format: Unabridged

Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-13-14

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Suspense

Publisher's Summary:

The third novel in the DI Sean Corrigan series - authentic and terrifying crime fiction with a psychological edge, by an ex-Met detective. Perfect for fans of Mark Billingham, Peter James and Stuart MacBride.

Your child has been takenSnatched in the dead of night from the safety of the family home. There's no sign of forced entry, no one heard or saw a thing. DI Sean Corrigan investigates. He needs to find four-year-old George Bridgeman before abduction becomes murder. But his ability to see into dark minds, to think like those he hunts, has deserted him - just when he needs it most. Another child vanishes. What kind of monster is Corrigan hunting? And will he work it out in time to save the children?

Critic Reviews:

"A striking debut from a former Murder Squad Detective, Delaney is not his real name, but there is no doubt about his inside knowledge and ability to convey it." (Daily Mail)

"A confident, aggressive ,and very promising debut by a former Met detective." (The Times)

Members Reviews:

Stunning

I've read the first two books and this was the first as an audio book and it was just brilliant. The narrator was excellent capturing the mood of the book brilliantly. When are these books going to me made in to a TV series? I just hope it's soon. Thanks Luke.

Overall not bad

Overall this is a decent story and I would read more of Luke Delaney's books. I do find though that it's a pity his editor didn't pick up on the numerous repeated words which jar when reading or listening.

Interesting

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

It took me a while to get into this book due to the narrators voice but it was a very good story even though I figured it out early

Any additional comments?

All three books are well written and told and each one gets better just love DCI Corrigan character

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Title: The Eighth Square

Author: Herbert Lieberman

Narrator: Stephen Hoye

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-03-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Suspense

Publisher's Summary:

For an unsuspecting group of friends, a hike through the forest turns into a desperate fight for survival. Mr. Rogers is the ideal guide for a few neighbors looking to survey a large, wooded piece of property: He remembers every tree, stream, and bush; when theres a fork in the road, he knows which way to go. But the surveying trip goes horribly wrong when Rogers suffers a debilitating heart attack and the group is left wandering lost through the woods, with Rogers a murmuring shadow of his former self. Almost immediately, tensions that have existed among the friends since childhood begin to flare up. The forest grows darker and more threatening. Leadership claims are staked and rescinded. Fears start to overwhelm rational decision-making. Then Rogers starts spouting instructions in what sounds like a mystic cipher. The Eighth Square is a rollicking psychological thriller that deftly demonstrates how thin the barrier between man and animal truly is.

Members Reviews:

I don't get it.

I gave it three stars because it is well-written. But I totally did NOT get it! Did the story finish? Whatever did the epilogue have to do with the price of eggs? I could go on. I didn't understand this book at all.

wonderful journey for one's mind

Read this book as a teenager; wonderful journey for one's mind.

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Title: A Question of Guilt

Author: Janet Tanner

Narrator: Patience Tomlinson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins

Language: English

Release date: 02-01-14

Publisher: Soundings

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Suspense

Publisher's Summary:

Following a skiing accident, journalist Sally Proctor is recuperating at her parents' rural Somerset home when she hears about a local man, Brian Jennings, who's been jailed for arson. His sister, convinced of his innocence, is campaigning for his release - and Sally decides to help her by conducting her own enquiries.

As she starts to uncover serious discrepancies in the original investigation, Sally and her family are threatened by a series of increasingly menacing incidents. It soon becomes clear that someone will go to any lengths to stop her finding out the truth.

Members Reviews:

Well-written and enjoyable...

I enjoyed this quick read. It was a bit predictable here and there but it is well-written and enjoyable.

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Title: Ripper

Author: Isabel Allende

Narrator: Edoardo Ballerini

Format: Unabridged

Length: 14 hrs and 27 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-28-14

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Suspense

Publisher's Summary:

Indiana Jackson is thirty-three years old and works in San Francisco at an alternative medicine clinic that attracts all sorts of characters, some of them skeptics, who fall for her candour and humility. Her teenage daughter, Amanda, likes noir literature and hopes to attend MIT, where she will be with Bradley, an old friend that she plans to marry, with or without his consent. In her free time, she plays Ripper, an online role playing game that involves solving real-life mysteries and crimes using information collected by Amandas father, the Chief Inspector of the San Francisco police. Amanda plays the game via Skype with adolescents from all over the world and with her best friend, her grandfather Blake.

Each player in the game has a virtual personality: Amanda is the game master, and Blake is her henchman; the others are Sherlock Holmes, Colonel Paddington, Esmeralda and the psychic Abatha.

When Rippers latest murder mysterythe case of the misplaced batbegins to touch their real-world lives, Amanda and her friends know they must find the murderer before he can strike again.

Ripper is a true thriller, with twists, surprises, well-placed clues and revelations leading to a climactic finale.

Members Reviews:

Something very different from a brilliant author

I love, love Isabel Allende. I've been reading her for many, many years. Ripper is a huge departure from her other books. I had to fight the temptation to make comparisons between this and my old favorites of hers. Even when I tried to consider this one on its own merits, I had trouble finishing it. It got very bogged down in itself. There's no element of the story that could really be eliminated, it all turns out to be vital, but there were moments when the chat group went a away for so long that I was sorry to see it come back. The accounts of the serial murders seemed vaguely connected to Indiana's story for a long time, even though we knew from the beginning that they would definitely be important later. Basically, I'm not sure why, but I just found myself getting tired of it.

A Little Mystery Inside A Large Character Study

Over the past few years, Isabel Allende has been trying to stretch her literary abilities by writing in genres outside of those that made her famous. She's dabbled in fantasy (Zorro), historical fiction (Ines of My Soul, Island Beneath The Sea), children's literature (City of Beasts), and even Young Adult (Maya's Notebook). It's admirable that Allende is tackling these styles at a point in her career when many authors at similar junctures would be coasting on their reputations. But, attempting doesn't guarantee succeeding. As is the case with several of her other forays into new territory, Allende proves with Ripper that the skill set which makes one a good novelist doesn't always work when applied to other genres.

Ripper is theoretically the story of a girl and her cohorts who, in the course of playing the game "Ripper", attempt to solve real murders: murders that eventually impact her immediate family. However, Allende establishes early in the book that she's not overly interested in the mystery (in fact, she has one of her characters disparage mysteries by commenting on how easy it is to write one).

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Title: The Witch of Maple Park

Subtitle: A Harry Grouch Mystery, Book 1

Author: Robert Tell

Narrator: Robert Keiper

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins

Language: English

Release date: 01-06-14

Publisher: Robert Tell

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Suspense

Publisher's Summary:

The Witch of Maple Park is compelling fiction inspired by a true story.

The True Story: On Christmas Eve, 1843, on Staten Island, N.Y., Emeline Houseman and her baby are gruesomely axe murdered and dismembered. Her sister-in-law, Polly Bodine is accused of the crime and branded "The Witch of Staten Island."

The New Story: On Christmas Eve, 1993, in a Detroit suburb, Kathy Black Marlowe, a blind jazz singer and her dog, are similarly axe murdered and dismembered. Her sister-in-law, Polly Marlowe, is accused of the killing and branded "The Witch of Maple Park." The cantankerous private eye, Harry Grouch, and his attractive lover/sidekick, Judy Pacas, are one gut-wrenching step ahead of a ruthless Prosecuting Attorney and Police Chief, both of whom are conspiring to pin the grisly slaying on Polly Marlowe. And how to explain the astonishing parallels between the tales of the two Polly's? Coincidence? Reincarnation? Prevarication? Harry Grouch must decide.

Members Reviews:

Wrong Narrator

There is a strong possibility the story line is good, but I was oddly distracted by how wrong the narrator was for this book. The narrator made every character in this book sound as if they were 70yrs old and older. I purchased this book thinking it would be a good suspense listen while at work, but this was just awful. I couldn't even finish listening to it :(