-
The Witch Elm
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Paul Nugent
- Length: 22 hrs and 7 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $38.50
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Searcher
- A Novel
- By: Tana French
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cal Hooper thought a fixer-upper in a bucolic Irish village would be the perfect escape. After 25 years in the Chicago police force and a bruising divorce, he just wants to build a new life in a pretty spot with a good pub where nothing much happens. But when a local kid whose brother has gone missing arm-twists him into investigating, Cal uncovers layers of darkness beneath his picturesque retreat, and starts to realize that even small towns shelter dangerous secrets.
-
-
WONDERFULLY DREARY IRISH ATMOSPHERE & STORY
- By McSusie on 10-06-20
By: Tana French
-
The Trespasser
- A Novel
- By: Tana French
- Narrated by: Hilda Fay
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Being on the murder squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she's there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she's getting close to the breaking point. Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers' quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed to a shine, and dead in her catalogue-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner.
-
-
My favorite to date
- By Mark Hancock on 02-23-17
By: Tana French
-
The Murder Rule
- A Novel
- By: Dervla McTiernan
- Narrated by: Kate Orsini, Sophie Amoss, Michael Crouch
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For fans of the compulsive psychological suspense of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a mother-daughter story—one running from a horrible truth, and the other fighting to reveal it—that twists and turns in shocking ways, from the internationally best-selling author of The Scholar and The Ruin.
-
-
Disappointed
- By Lynn on 05-17-22
By: Dervla McTiernan
-
The Guest List
- A Novel
- By: Lucy Foley
- Narrated by: Jot Davies, Chloe Massey, Olivia Dowd, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.
-
-
I stand corrected
- By Bitten and Seven Are The Best Kitties In Heaven on 06-03-20
By: Lucy Foley
-
The It Girl
- By: Ruth Ware
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead. Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison.
-
-
Way too long and way too whiney - needed editing
- By Lynn on 07-14-22
By: Ruth Ware
-
In a Dark, Dark Wood
- By: Ruth Ware
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leonora, known to some as Lee and others as Nora, is a reclusive crime writer, unwilling to leave her nest of an apartment unless it is absolutely necessary. When a friend she hasn't seen or spoken to in years unexpectedly invites Nora ( Lee) to a weekend away in an eerie glass house deep in the English countryside, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. Forty-eight hours later, she wakes up in a hospital bed injured but alive, with the knowledge that someone is dead.
-
-
Both entertaining and annoying
- By Meg on 09-17-15
By: Ruth Ware
-
The Searcher
- A Novel
- By: Tana French
- Narrated by: Roger Clark
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cal Hooper thought a fixer-upper in a bucolic Irish village would be the perfect escape. After 25 years in the Chicago police force and a bruising divorce, he just wants to build a new life in a pretty spot with a good pub where nothing much happens. But when a local kid whose brother has gone missing arm-twists him into investigating, Cal uncovers layers of darkness beneath his picturesque retreat, and starts to realize that even small towns shelter dangerous secrets.
-
-
WONDERFULLY DREARY IRISH ATMOSPHERE & STORY
- By McSusie on 10-06-20
By: Tana French
-
The Trespasser
- A Novel
- By: Tana French
- Narrated by: Hilda Fay
- Length: 20 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Being on the murder squad is nothing like Detective Antoinette Conway dreamed it would be. Her partner, Stephen Moran, is the only person who seems glad she's there. The rest of her working life is a stream of thankless cases, vicious pranks, and harassment. Antoinette is savagely tough, but she's getting close to the breaking point. Their new case looks like yet another by-the-numbers lovers' quarrel gone bad. Aislinn Murray is blond, pretty, groomed to a shine, and dead in her catalogue-perfect living room, next to a table set for a romantic dinner.
-
-
My favorite to date
- By Mark Hancock on 02-23-17
By: Tana French
-
The Murder Rule
- A Novel
- By: Dervla McTiernan
- Narrated by: Kate Orsini, Sophie Amoss, Michael Crouch
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For fans of the compulsive psychological suspense of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a mother-daughter story—one running from a horrible truth, and the other fighting to reveal it—that twists and turns in shocking ways, from the internationally best-selling author of The Scholar and The Ruin.
-
-
Disappointed
- By Lynn on 05-17-22
By: Dervla McTiernan
-
The Guest List
- A Novel
- By: Lucy Foley
- Narrated by: Jot Davies, Chloe Massey, Olivia Dowd, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.
-
-
I stand corrected
- By Bitten and Seven Are The Best Kitties In Heaven on 06-03-20
By: Lucy Foley
-
The It Girl
- By: Ruth Ware
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 17 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead. Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison.
-
-
Way too long and way too whiney - needed editing
- By Lynn on 07-14-22
By: Ruth Ware
-
In a Dark, Dark Wood
- By: Ruth Ware
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Leonora, known to some as Lee and others as Nora, is a reclusive crime writer, unwilling to leave her nest of an apartment unless it is absolutely necessary. When a friend she hasn't seen or spoken to in years unexpectedly invites Nora ( Lee) to a weekend away in an eerie glass house deep in the English countryside, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. Forty-eight hours later, she wakes up in a hospital bed injured but alive, with the knowledge that someone is dead.
-
-
Both entertaining and annoying
- By Meg on 09-17-15
By: Ruth Ware
-
The Paris Apartment
- A Novel
- By: Lucy Foley
- Narrated by: Clare Corbett, Daphne Kouma, Julia Winwood, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half brother, Ben, didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up—to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this?—he’s not there. The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has.
-
-
A cash-grab, plain and simple
- By bugsmeany on 02-28-22
By: Lucy Foley
-
The Good Turn
- By: Dervla McTiernan
- Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Some lines should never be crossed. Police corruption, an investigation that ends in tragedy and the mystery of a little girl’s silence – three unconnected events that will prove to be linked by one small town. While detective Cormac Reilly faces enemies at work and trouble in his personal life, garda Peter Fisher is relocated out of Galway with the threat of prosecution hanging over his head. But even that is not as terrible as having to work for his overbearing father, the local copper for the pretty seaside town of Roundstone.
-
-
Prefer books without constant f word
- By Elizabeth on 07-27-20
By: Dervla McTiernan
-
The Turn of the Key
- By: Ruth Ware
- Narrated by: Imogen Church
- Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss - a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten - by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family. What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare - one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.
-
-
Unnecessarily long, leading no where
- By Jan on 08-17-19
By: Ruth Ware
-
The Hiding Place
- A Novel
- By: C. J. Tudor
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Joe never wanted to come back to Arnhill. After the way things ended with his old gang - the betrayal, the suicide - and what happened when his sister went missing, the last thing he wanted to do was return to his hometown. But Joe doesn’t have a choice, not after a chilling email surfaces in his inbox: I know what happened to your sister. It’s happening again....
-
-
Horror with a touch of wisdom
- By Betsy Fowler on 02-09-19
By: C. J. Tudor
-
The Dry
- A Novel
- By: Jane Harper
- Narrated by: Stephen Shanahan
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke’s steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now, more than one person knows they didn’t tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead.
-
-
Can I rate this as two different books?
- By B.J. on 08-06-18
By: Jane Harper
-
Still Life
- Chief Inspector Gamache, Book 1
- By: Louise Penny
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surêté du Québec and his team of investigators are called in to the scene of a suspicious death in a rural village south of Montreal. Jane Neal, a local fixture in the tiny hamlet of Three Pines, just north of the U.S. border, has been found dead in the woods. The locals are certain it’s a tragic hunting accident and nothing more, but Gamache smells something foul in these remote woods, and is soon certain that Jane Neal died at the hands of someone much more sinister than a careless bowhunter.
-
-
A rare find
- By Alex on 01-16-15
By: Louise Penny
-
Raven Black
- Book One of the Shetland Island Quartet
- By: Ann Cleeves
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is a cold January morning, and Shetland lies beneath a deep layer of snow. Trudging home, Fran Hunter's eye is drawn to a splash of color on the frozen ground, ravens circling above. It is the strangled body of her teenage neighbor, Catherine Ross. The locals on the quiet island stubbornly focus their gaze on one man - loner and simpleton Magnus Tait.
-
-
Great start to series, no audio problems anymore
- By Mark on 03-28-17
By: Ann Cleeves
-
We Are All the Same in the Dark
- A Novel
- By: Julia Heaberlin
- Narrated by: Jenna Lamia, Catherine Taber, MacLeod Andrews, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It’s been a decade since Trumanell Branson disappeared, leaving only a bloody handprint behind. Her pretty face still hangs like a watchful queen on the posters on the walls of the town’s Baptist church, the police station, and in the high school. They all promise the same thing: We will find you. Meanwhile, Tru's brother, Wyatt, lives as a pariah in the desolation of the old family house, cleared of wrongdoing by the police but tried and sentenced in the court of public opinion and in a new documentary about the crime.
-
-
On the edge of my ladder
- By Deirdre Hoinoski on 08-27-20
By: Julia Heaberlin
-
The Keeper of Lost Causes
- Department Q, Book 1
- By: Jussi Adler-Olsen
- Narrated by: Erik Davies
- Length: 15 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Carl Mørck used to be one of Denmark’s best homicide detectives. Then a hail of bullets destroyed the lives of two fellow cops, and Carl - who didn’t draw his weapon - blames himself. So a promotion is the last thing he expects. But Department Q is a department of one, and Carl’s got only a stack of cold cases for company. His colleagues snicker, but Carl may have the last laugh, because one file keeps nagging at him: A liberal politician vanished five years earlier and is presumed dead. But she isn’t dead...yet.
-
-
Do it for Denmark!
- By Aaron on 04-02-14
-
Local Woman Missing
- By: Mary Kubica
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Jennifer Jill Araya, Gary Tiedemann, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold. Now, 11 years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they'll find....
-
-
Best Kubica yet!!!
- By LA book lover on 05-18-21
By: Mary Kubica
-
The Chalk Man
- A Novel
- By: C. J. Tudor
- Narrated by: Euan Morton
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1986, Eddie and his friends are on the verge of adolescence, spending their days biking in search of adventure. The chalk men are their secret code, stick figures they draw for one another as hidden messages. But one morning, the friends find a chalk man leading them to the woods. They follow the message, only to find the dead body of a teenage girl. In 2016, Eddie is nursing a drinking problem and trying to forget his past, until one day he gets a letter containing a chalk man — the same one he and his friends saw when they found the body.
-
-
Losing One’s Head
- By DobieChuck on 01-15-18
By: C. J. Tudor
-
Northwind
- Robert Hoon Thrillers, Book 1
- By: JD Kirk
- Narrated by: Angus King
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Former soldier. Ex-copper. Current man on the edge. Shunned by his old colleagues, and dividing his time between a dead-end job and the bottom of a whisky bottle, former Police Scotland detective superintendent Bob Hoon’s life is a mess. Then an old face from Hoon’s Special Forces days turns up asking for help: His teenage daughter has been missing for months, the police have drawn a blank, and he needs the kind of help that only Hoon can provide. And besides, Hoon owes him one.
-
-
Absolutely the BEST - Hoon is a literary gift!!
- By M Mapel on 10-27-21
By: JD Kirk
Publisher's Summary
Named a New York Times notable book of 2018 and a best book of 2018 by NPR, The New York Times Book Review, Amazon, The Boston Globe, LitHub, Vulture, Slate, Elle, Vox, and Electric Literature.
“Tana French’s best and most intricately nuanced novel yet.” (The New York Times)
An “extraordinary” (Stephen King) and “mesmerizing” (LA Times) new stand-alone novel from the master of crime and suspense and author of the forthcoming novel The Searcher.
From the writer who "inspires cultic devotion in readers" (The New Yorker) and has been called "incandescent" by Stephen King, "absolutely mesmerizing" by Gillian Flynn, and "unputdownable" (People), comes a gripping new novel that turns a crime story inside out.
Toby is a happy-go-lucky charmer who's dodged a scrape at work and is celebrating with friends when the night takes a turn that will change his life - he surprises two burglars who beat him and leave him for dead. Struggling to recover from his injuries, beginning to understand that he might never be the same man again, he takes refuge at his family's ancestral home to care for his dying uncle Hugo. Then a skull is found in the trunk of an elm tree in the garden - and as detectives close in, Toby is forced to face the possibility that his past may not be what he has always believed.
A spellbinding standalone from one of the best suspense writers working today, The Witch Elm asks what we become, and what we're capable of, when we no longer know who we are.
Featured Article: Standout Contemporary Irish Authors You Should Give a Listen
Ireland may be a small country, but it's brimming with talent. Just listen to some of these popular contemporary Irish authors and see if you're not impressed with what this North Atlantic island has to offer to the literary community. Winning prestigious awards and topping best seller lists, today’s Ireland-born-and-bred authors are making a big impression on the literary world. Here are 10 contemporary Irish authors you should listen to now.
More from the same
Narrator
What listeners say about The Witch Elm
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Shopbop
- 10-21-18
Anti climactic
I love the writing, however the storyline was drawn out till I lost interest at points.
The interconnected relationships were interesting, but took too long to develop.
The feeling of suspense was lost in the feeling of slogging through the never ending conversations amongst the siblings that were supposed to reveal something.
Found myself walking out of the room and not hitting the pause button and finding that I hadn’t really missed anything because they were still going on about Leon’s this or Suzanna’s whatever hang up ... enough! I got it! I wanted to move on!
92 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- VERIFIED CUSTOMER
- 10-28-18
plot hole theater
The real-life story of the body found in that Witch Elm with a severed hand nearby that Tana French borrowed from is riveting. Google "Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?" to read about it. This book, however, is a head-scratcher. There isn't one believable character in it--no one acts or reacts like anyone would in real life. The plot (is there a plot?) is slow and disjointed, featuring bizarre unrealistic event heaped upon bizarre unrealistic event duct-taped together with shoddy continuity. Characters drop out and/or show up with little or no explanation or reason. The scenes intended to be most dramatic made me laugh because of the giant plot conveniences driven by the author; the characters' motivations for doing most of what they do are unimaginable. Toby, Melissa, Susannah, Leon, Shawn, Hugo, and just about every character in this book are chess pieces being moved around artlessly to bring their fragmented, preposterous, mean-spirited, lazy plotlines to a close. I have read her other books and enjoyed them. They're not exactly high-brow literary fiction, but they're not pretending to be--and they're fun and entertaining and clever on several fronts. But The Witch Elm just leaves me wondering, why? What's the point?
39 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- mluna
- 12-14-18
I gave it my best try
I painfully listened to 12 hours of this story and then I thought my ears where going to bleed. I never quite understood where the story was leading to, I suffered with Toby after his attack and rehab which took like 8 hours of him just talking about his anxieties, and then the story moved on to his Uncle Hugo and then the cousins and then it just went on and on without actually going anywhere... So I'll never find out what actually happened in tree, but I am over it.
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Marina
- 10-19-18
Yes, the Main Character Comes Off Poorly, But...
I still really enjoyed this book. I think the best part was it didn't end when I expected it too. Typical thrillers end when the "case" is solved and the story explained, I loved that this kept going to the true end. The detective characters were pretty hokey, which is pretty much Tana French's usual style, but it was a nice departure that they weren't the main focus of the story. I thought the narrator did a great job of pulling the listener into the story and the mood. I definitely found my emotions being affected by parts of the story, whether it be a sense of nervousness or my heart beating faster, which I always think is the mark of a good narrator. Tana was able to keep things fairly believable (I didn't find myself rolling my eyes too much) and created a great story line with interesting characters with the right amount of back story to create depth without drowning us in useless detail. Overall I thought it was a worthwhile listen with a compelling story. No regrets here!
92 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Jill A. Cataldo
- 11-01-18
is it just me?
is it just me or were the chapters out of order? my book ended on chapter 9 and started on chapter 10. WTF. I kept thinking that the book was wrapping up but there were an awful lot of chapters left, now I know why!
check to make sure your chapters are in order before you start listening!
if your copy starts with police talking to Toby, stop and go to chapter 10!!!
60 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Beth
- 10-11-18
Wow!
Wow, Tana French couldn’t have timed this book any better. I don’t want to give anything up...but what happens when a privileged frat boy type starts to lose some of the privilege he has enjoyed?
I have hundreds of books in my audible library— I probably listen to 3-4 a week. This is in the top 5. Fabulous narration too.
156 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Keith G
- 10-27-18
Liked But Not Loved
I have really liked but have not fallen in love with this book because it is a bit of a strange bird.
Some folks who started in on this tome expecting the normal fare provided by Tana French were a bit shocked. Obviously by the reviews I’ve seen, a number have been disappointed. In my view, Tana French writes mysteries, but the mysteries are only the come-on, the hook. What French actually writes are to superbly crafted character studies using wonderful language and carefully constructed scenes.
Like her other books which I have read, this story contains a profound character study. I’ll even go so far as to say this book is a meditation on the intersection of character and the eroding anchor points that hold society together. Although, at the end of this meditation there are no answers or comforting final insight. The author just leaves us with the reality of the world she observes.
As always, this book contains French’s masterful creation of dialogue and superb sense of place. Her characters are complex and vivid. Their interplay is what I liked most about this story and that is consistent with my reading of French’s other novels.
I should add that the narrator was excellent and I am mystified that others feel differently.
Just be warned: This is not a story in service of a mystery. It is a story that uses a multitude of mysteries toward other ends.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MCE
- 10-21-18
Atmospheric
What I love most about Tana French's style is the immersion into the mind of the person telling the story. No matter how flawed their thinking, how irrational their fears, the interpretations of their observations, whether you like them or not, agree with them or not - you are along for their ride. This book is no exception. In addition, the layering of intrigue and the expertly woven tendrils of the story created a very lush, moody and original story.
I will add, as much as the immersion into French's written character, I felt that Paul Nugent did an exceptional job. He has a mesmerizing and clear tone. He simply sounded the part of a young, privileged, slightly arrogant yet affable, "guy" - with a tremendous amount on his mind (and that seems rather unfamiliar and uncomfortable for him). Rather than acting the other characters, it felt as though his character, Toby, was doing his personal interpretation of them. It always felt skewed to how his own character perceived the others. I appreciated his pace - which was often slow and lilting - but so was the stream of consciousness, so it really accentuated that for me. It helped to stretch the real time of events and breathed life into the scenes.
It is not your standard whodunit and those looking for a tidy ending may be wanting. I enjoyed the departure from French's professional detective to one who seldom questioned anything and is now seeking ultimate answers.
28 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Brian D Hommertzheim
- 10-12-18
Skip this one by French
Not sure what else to say except the main character in this book is unbearable. It took every fiber of my being to finish this listen. Honestly, I have loved all of her previous books but this is a very big disappointment. I wanted the main character to die or get arrested within the first hour just to make it end. If you're looking for 20 hours of audible torture, I recommend buying this title.
113 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Liz
- 10-13-18
Eagerly awaited this book coming out. But...
...it really wasn't that good. It's punishingly long. Could easily have had been a third shorter (if not cut in half).
The narrator is ok, no more and the way he voices the girlfriend makes her sound like a complete idiot, which she patently isn't, simply a pleasant human in a book with few of them.
The overall arch of the story is not one of French's best. Having recently read The Secret Place and been disappointed with that as well, I think I'm done with French for a long time. A shame as I loved her early crime novels. Perhaps she's switched editors, as her books now seem to ramble on interminably. A sense of place is good, chapters and chapters were nothing much happens, not so much.
Avoid unless you're an superfan is my suggestions.
61 people found this helpful