StL Reader

Great Story, great characters

Reviewed: 03-14-25

Once again another terrific story. I really enjoy the characters in this series- they’re entertaining and engaging. Was afraid I’d be missing Hector, but he was back for this case. Now, I figure I’ll miss him in the next one!

Thorpe once again, did a wonderful job with the narration.

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Perfectly OK

Reviewed: 02-28-25

This was an OK story. The plot was decent, but I thought the pace was slow. I also found the ending a bit disappointing. The characters were interesting and I did want to know more about them. That would be the main driver of continuing the series (haven’t decided yet).

Jan Cramer is objectively a pretty good narrator- she doesn’t make pronunciation errors and it’s easy to tell who’s who. But there is something about her as narrator I’m just not fond of. I’ve listened to a lot of books with her as narrator, but still can’t quite put my finger on why I’m not fond of her narration.

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Not as engaging as the 1st in this series

Reviewed: 02-27-25

This was a decent story, just a bit disappointing after the first in this series. The protagonist was interesting, but not overly appealing. I felt that parts of his character weren’t as fleshed out as they might have been. The plot was pretty good, but again, not as good as “Suspect” (the first book).

Ray Lonnen did an excellent job with narration.

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Another Great Story

Reviewed: 09-11-24

I love the characters in this series, the protagonist, members of his team and even the peripheral characters. They’re interesting and drive the engaging plots.

One head-scratcher (spoiler alert): during the first book in the series I worked out Evan was HIV positive. What I don’t really get is why it was kept a secret until this book. Obviously Evan is over-wiggy about it, so it makes some kind of sense in terms of him not telling colleagues and etc. But, why keep it from the reader until the very end of the third book? Found that frustrating, if you were paying attention, it wasn’t a surprise.

Narrator is excellent. Not only is he good at differentiating the characters and making women sound normal, he also has appropriate tone for the scene. Also, he seems to have ease with Welsh Celtic (which I assume is correct). It’s a baffling language to me!

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One of the silliest things I ever listened to

Reviewed: 04-28-24

This was not a well written book. Perhaps it was the many authors, not sure. There was a decent story in there, somewhere, but this book didn’t deliver. Most important, the heroine in this story (Lara) wasn’t clever or tough; she was a navel-gazing twit. I found Lara completely unappealing as a character. And Nick, HER PARTNER, seemed to be just a delicious “good guy” for her to have sex with. If the FBI actually functioned as presented here, we as a country would be overrun with bad guys. Also, the story had too many trite plot-drivers (spoiler alert): a mole, identical twin bad guys, baby needing to be saved and an out of sync kidnapping.

I almost stopped listening several times it was so silly. But I pushed through on super speed. This book has to appeal to some folks because it has some good reviews. I don’t get it. I wouldn’t spend a credit on this and would have stopped & returned it if I hadn’t got it on super-discount.

On the upside, the narrator was pretty good. I could easily tell the characters apart and she didn’t over-emote. She was also easy to understand on super-speed!

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A Lovely Romance

Reviewed: 04-27-24

I got this one at a big discount to try a new “Romantic Suspense “ author. I don’t think this title really falls into what I consider that category. Nonetheless, it’s a really heart wrenching and heart warming story. If that’s your jam, this is a terrific book. There is a decent amount of sex in it, but pretty tame and loving.

Narrators were very good. Voiced the different characters well with an appropriate amount of emotion.

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Another good one

Reviewed: 03-25-24

Liked this story a lot! Engaging characters, the protagonists as well as the supporting cast. The plot was complex, but moved at a good clip. I was drawn in and had a hard time taking a break when in the thick of it.

Was one aspect that was a head-scratcher, to me anyway. Once they knew they had bad cops and/or prosecutors, why wasn’t the Justice Department or FBI brought in? I think that’s a pretty common type of investigation for the FBI. And you had an FBI guy on hand! Don’t get it.

The Narrator, Marguerite Gavin was once again very good. Does men better than many female narrators.

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Good, not Karen Rose’s best

Reviewed: 03-24-24

I’ve really enjoyed Karen Rose’s books until this one. It’s fine, and the actual plot is good, but it is just slow to get moving. Also, I found the female protagonist rather annoying until she stopped keeping all her secrets - especially since one secret just seemed silly.

Narrator was excellent. She made it easy for the listener to tell characters apart, great tone and feeling (not overdone).

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1 person found this helpful

Better than the first

Reviewed: 02-19-24

A fast moving, complex and interesting story. After finding Max a bit annoying in the first installment, we learn more about her background and it seems she may be starting to grow up. Yay! We also learn more about the supporting cast. I’ll definitely go for the next book in the series.

Eliza Foss is excellent, again, as narrator.

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Good story, Max annoying.

Reviewed: 02-19-24

Brennan writes an interesting plot with a fast pace. I figured out “whodunnit” pretty early, although with a couple of twists I did doubt my conclusion, a bit, so that was great. Good story.

I didn’t find Max overly appealing. She’s a driven woman, which is appealing, but has such tunnel vision on her goals that she doesn’t recognize others as valid. And she’s reckless, even if she doesn’t think she is. Max also doesn’t fully recognize the opportunities her wealth has provided her. I’ll give this series another shot, because she’s interesting, anyway, and may grow.

One thing I find a bit trite, Brennan gives Max major wealth, which allows for a lot of potential obstacles to be ignored or overcome without thought. A lot of authors do this, so the story doesn’t need to account for the expenses involved in the practicalities of moving the plot forward.

The narrator was excellent. Women narrators often do not do men well, but Eliza Foss does.

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