Fantastic series!

It's cliche to say that you "can't put a story down, but in the case of this series, it's absolutely true. I had never tried any McCammon before I bought "The Nightbird" but I will most likely read everything available by him from now on. I love historical mystery from all settings, but this series is special. We get to see the fallible hero grow and change, make mistakes and do amazing things. Somehow McCammon has filled the tale with non-stop action but not made it seem unbelievable. I highly recommend this series to anyone, historical fans or not!

25 people found this helpful

Exciting Historical Fiction

I like Robert McCammon to begin with, but I am especially fond of his Matthew Corbet books. He transports us back to a time in U.S. history that we don't learn about in school books. The daily lives of the citizens in the early 1700's was much different than our own. And, in addition, these books suck you into the story and their adventure. I would recommend any of them.

6 people found this helpful

Less Talk, More Action & Some Tasty Morsels

I didn't enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed the stories in "Speaks the Nightbird" and "The Queen of Bedlam." In this installment, our protagonist and his mentor bite off more than they can chew with a seemingly mundane job gone badly awry and events turn macabre and unpalatable in a hurry. There is more action and less dialogue in this installment than the previous two. I enjoy Matthew's interrogations, so I missed the dialogue.

The narration by Edoardo Ballerini continues to be spot on.

6 people found this helpful

I liked this story,

Any additional comments?

Mr Corbett is human and has flaws. His decisions have consequences. This is nicely presented in this story. Too many heroes do not display failings, and their consequences. In previous books, Mr Corbett's choices were always correct, heroic, and had good outcomes. It really endears him to me to watch him go through his acts of redemption. Slaughter, is indeed a villain. The historicity of the family on the frontier is so vividly portrayed along with their character strengths and the hazards they faced. Surprising twists and betrayals toward the end. I like this series.

5 people found this helpful

Took A Drastic Turn for the Worse

What would have made Mister Slaughter better?

I was really surprised by the choices McCammon made with his characters in this third book in the Matthew Corbett series. The entire premise is not consistent with the characters he has crafted in this first two books, especially Matthew! (Spoilers ahead) I had a seriously difficult time believing that Matthew, a firm believer in justice and the law, would go on a crazy quest to recover stolen money from a prisoner. From that point on the book took a pretty drastic turn for the worse. Low point of the book was the murder of a Pioneer family (with apparently helpless Pioneering women....) and the rape of a young girl. Ugh. I will not be reading the rest of these books. Terribly disappointed!

4 people found this helpful

More Gory and Violent than the other books so far.

Any additional comments?

I have enjoyed the entire Matthew Corbett series, and I thoroughly enjoyed this story as well. I especially enjoyed the character of Walker in Two Worlds. I would have enjoyed hearing more about him, and seeing him in other books. There was more violence in this book, which does not bother me, and it really brought the character of Slaughter to life in all his vileness. McCammon has written a great novel, and, as always, Eduardo Ballerini has brought the characters to life with his spot-on narration.

4 people found this helpful

Darn! Why Must The Series Be So Expensive!

I used all my credits for the month and now I'm chomping at the bit to read the 4th book in this series. I was not familiar with this author before starting the series, and I consider his books almost the best find of this year. If he is a new author, I can't help but wonder what he has been doing! The characterization in each of the books is outstanding. The reader forms a relationship with each character, no matter what the length of time said character is in the story. There is violence, bad violence, and parts that can turn a weak stomach, but the violence is appropriate for the time period. Mr. McCammon gives us an in-depth look at New York city as it is growing in the 1700's, still under England's rule.
One quality I most like about this and all the other books in the series is all the little mysteries in the big mystery, all interwoven in a way that kept me rivoted.

I found myself comparing the author to two very different authors: Ariana Franklin and Nelson DeMille! He appears to have Ms. Franklin's ability to weave a tale set in a long gone time period and make the reader see that time period. He definitely has Mr. DeMilles ability to keep the reader on the edge of his/her seat, sometimes feeling empathy for the "bad" guys, but eargerly awaiting the triumph of Matthew Corbett (the main protagonist)!

The narration was top notch. I was not familiar with this narrator before, but I will be looking out for other books narrated by him. His ability to give voice to the many characters is outstanding and ensures the reader "sees" the characters.

I cannot say enough about this author, well, except I do wish Audible would lower the price of his books!

14 people found this helpful

ZOMG Mind-blowingly good

Where does Mister Slaughter rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The top. Seriously. This was that good.

What other book might you compare Mister Slaughter to and why?

The only thing that even remotely compares is "The Alienist," by Caleb Carr, which similarly places a "modern" kind of criminal investigation in a vividly detailed past.

What about Edoardo Ballerini’s performance did you like?

Edoardo Ballerini is a gosh-danged genius of audiobook narration.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

YES. The WHOLE THING. This book was so exciting, so fast-paced, thrilling, scary, frustrating, baffling, disgusting, horrifying, tragic, hilarious, clever, and flat-out fun, I hated to stop listening. This is my favorite of this series and I was pretty much ready to start it over as soon as I finished it.

8 people found this helpful

Too Twisted & Unnecessarily Disturbing

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. The over the top description of horrible murders were too much. There was no need to go that 'deep' into depravity.

Would you ever listen to anything by Robert McCammon again?

Probably. I have a hard time not finishing out a series.

Do you think Mister Slaughter needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

He can leave that character in the past.

Any additional comments?

Spoiler Alert - The scene where he kills the family is over the top for the misery level. I don't know of any mother who would willing want to put images like that in her mind. I wish I could have skipped this book in the series.

3 people found this helpful

I struggle to even give this two stars

I loved the first two books of the series. Like many other reviewers have written, I had never heard of this author before "Speaks the Nightbird." Leave it up to audible to ensnare people with their first-of-a-series sales aka 'gateway drug.' I almost went ahead and bought all four available Corbett novels. Glad I didn't. I literally burned through the first two books. The writing, pacing and characterization was top-notch. You felt like you were in the passenger seat and the author was sprawling a great journey before you. This third book, however, is completely the opposite. It is well-written, but lacks heart. It starts off intriguing enough, but then goes into this deal with Mr. Slaughter which is neither thrilling or interesting. Mr. Slaughter reminds me a lot of Heath Ledger in the second batman film, where he tries sooo hard to be soooo crazy and wicked that its just kind of ridiculous. I kept pressing myself to listen to this book, but it shouldn't be that much work. I gave up a few hours shy of the end because, well, I could not force myself to care anymore. I am debating whether or not to even read the fourth book in the series. And the strangest thing off all is that Mr. Corbett has made some decisions in this book that make him really unappealing as a main character as a series. The pacing in this book also suffers, whereas it was almost perfect in the other books. I don't know what threw me off with this one, but it didn't 'feel' like the other books. It bored me.

3 people found this helpful