Thorn Lane

Another good Moriarty story

Reviewed: 03-24-25

This was another great story from this author. I agree with one of the other reviewers that the title was never really explained. All three of the sisters had a lot of wishes, so maybe that's the reference. Three sisters full of wishes. I preferred the narrators of other Moriarty books with Australian accents whereas this one sounded more British. I did love her "Gemma" voice and I grew to like all of her narration. The characters were great -- loved the grandma. And loved Charlie. Looking forward to another Moriarty read/listen.

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Good story

Reviewed: 03-15-25

Moriarty can write a good story and this was one. A few, in my opinion, are not so hot. This was a good story and was an unusual plot. I felt a lot of empathy for both female protagonists. They both had pretty serious issues and these were fleshed out by means of backstories and insights from friends and families. I found myself very interested in the outcome, wishing well for both. The male protagonist wasn't much, but it really wasn't a story about him. The narration was very good. The accent wasn't quite as strong as the other narrator's who does a lot of her books. I give it 5 stars.

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Fascinating

Reviewed: 01-20-25

Although the book is subtitled "A Personal History of the 1960's" I expected it to be more of a personal story of their life together. For that reason, I didn't purchase it when it first came out. What a wonderful surprise. It's a tremendous book -- an inside view of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and of RFK and McCarthy and MLK and Chicago in 1968. It's unbelievable how they walked the same paths a decade apart. If this were fiction, I wouldn't believe the coincidence of it all. As with all her books, it's brilliantly written. Highest recommendation.

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Boring

Reviewed: 12-17-24

This was boring, boring trivia told in a most monotonous way. Sing-songy "he said, she said......" format. I noticed that the writer seems never to use contractions which became a distraction for me. Not that there was much to be distracted from. Boring story that went nowhere. I hung in there just to see if it would get interesting. It never did.

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Well-woven plot

Reviewed: 11-15-24

Her books run hot and cold with me, but I decided to give this one a try. It was very intriguing and compelling. She certainly does her background work. The characters' stories were tied together so well and the ending was very thought-provoking. This was more like "Apples Never Fall" (which I loved) as opposed to "Big Little Lies" and others that I did not like. Glad I gave this one a try. Highly recommended.

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Great story

Reviewed: 08-16-24

Unlike many of the reviewers, I much preferred this book over Gentleman in Moscow because the plot, although fantastic, was somewhat plausible. This author is such an excellent author that I simply enjoyed the prose. The plot surprises were an added bonus. This book made me want to continue listening for enjoyment rather than just to get through it. Sure the coincidences were many and the cliches were there, but it's a novel. He spins a good yarn with lovely prose.

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Implausible

Reviewed: 07-26-24

This book was barely OK, The murder mystery itself was OK, but the search for the elusive suspect just strained credulity way too much. The story made it sound like England is truly a tiny, tiny country. If you know someone is "in England" (or, "may be in England"), then you'll find him! Our hero spotted the suspect from a taxi in a crowd on a busy London street - and someone who hadn't been seen in ten years. I think the book lost me at that point. He also just happened to be in a village when and where a principal party just happened to be there too, walking down the street that our hero's hotel faced onto. Way too much coincidence throughout this book and it turned me off. He saw a painting of a tree house and he found it by asking his uncle the architect if he was familiar with it??? Come on. The narrator was fine -- that's probably what kept me listening. This was my first reading of this author and I don't think I'll try his other efforts.

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Don't wait for a big reveal

Reviewed: 07-12-24

I kept expecting that there would some great reveal or plot twist. Not to be. Just tediousness upon tediousness. No big secrets. Just lots about married life and parenthood -- none of which were revelatory in the least. I kept reading because I thought surely this is going somewhere. The epilog was so confusing --probably because I just wanted it to be over. (And I don't know why they call things "epilogs" when they are really just final chapters.) I didn't care what happened to any of the characters. None of them. The narrator was fine, but she couldn't redeem this mess. Don't bother.

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Fair, but cheesy

Reviewed: 06-09-24

There were some interesting twists -- but maybe too many. After a while, you didn't care any more. The most annoying aspects were excessive detail (e.g., did we always need to know what Ryan ordered for take out? Seemed he was always ordering take out!) and the male voice read by the female narrator. That fake voice was terrible. I did listen to the end, but didn't really care. Also, an awful lot of switching from present to past and back. It became confusing.

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Not up to his usual standard

Reviewed: 06-03-24

I love Erik Larson and was happy to see that this new book was out. What a disappointment. Of course it's an interesting chapter in our history, but Larson did little with it in my opinion. He often has two plot lines going on simultaneously which I find fascinating (Dead Wake, The Splendid and the Vile, Thunderstruck). This one was just tedious detail in an episode in which we already knew the outcome. The narrator was terrible. A strange, husky voice. He was worst when trying to do an English accent (Dickens, Russell). I did enjoy the early chapters about Southern Chivalry. I did not previously know about Hammond. However, once he got into the story of the Fort, it became extremely boring. I did listen to the entire book, but just did not find it to be up to Erik Larson's standard. Very disappointing.

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2 people found this helpful