LISTENER

Amber M

  • 21
  • reviews
  • 4
  • helpful votes
  • 63
  • ratings

Same plot as Closer Than Blood...

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
3 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-28-24

I have a lot to say about the narrator. But first, the plot.... it's this not darn near the exact same plot as the previous book, Closer Than Blood? You couldn't at least come up with a different murder plot? Really? I don't want to say too much so I'll just say this: women don't only kill their husbands for insurance money... women kill other women, they kill children, they kill men who aren't their husbands... there's LOADS of different directions he could've taken this plot. But he chose to have the same plot as his previous book which tells me he's lazy and he doesn't think his female audience is bright enough to notice or care. Well guess what dude? You're dead wrong. And now I'm annoyed that I have to find a new series because I don't want to continue wasting my time with this one if it's going to be the same plot but with different characters every time.

Now let's discuss the narrator - he's not a bad narrator, just... why a male for this series????
I continued this series because the first book, Bone Box (book 0.5) was really great and it was narrated by a woman - which Jessi makes more sense because the majority of the characters are women and this male narrator... it's like he's never spent more than an hour at a time with a woman. It's hard to explain, but it's just not great and I don't understand why the original narrator didn't continue with the whole series or why the author didn't insist on a female narrator for his female led book series. That's just common sense of you ask me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Male narrator is not great

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 02-22-24

Good book, interesting enough anyways. The male narrator though, I can't stand the way he narrates. He makes women sound like they're spacy weepy morons about everything all the time. And when there's a slightly intense scenario with a male character he over-acts majorly. it's a little ridiculous. There's one chapter where a wife is asking her husband some normal questions and he makes her sound like an idiot and makes the male way too intense unnecessarily. It's dumb and something that bothered me for the entire book. I think if you're going to have Brittany Pressly, an award winning narrator and amazing voice actress, narrating half the book then you really need to have a male narrator who's on the same level.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Boring and narrator sounds like she's losing her breath constantly

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
3 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-23-24

This book is very slow and boring. I could not get into it at all. And this narrator, I don't understand why she does this, but she inhales very loudly between every other word. It sounds like she's constantly running out of breath or something. It's really difficult to get past. At least it is for me. And this particular story is not exciting enough at all for me to be able to continue putting up with the air bag. Too bad too because the first in this series was so good that I was able to ignore the heavy breathing for the most part.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Best suspense/thriller I've ever read

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 01-11-24

Seriously, best thriller series I've ever read, and I've read a LOT. I only hope someone turns these into movies!
You will not be disappointed!
But - these are also not for people who can't handle very detailed and graphic torture scenes. You will see the images in your head as if you're right there and some of them are pretty gruesome. So if you can't stomach that sort of thing then don't read these.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Fantastic story and narrators

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 12-26-23

Loved this book. Couldn't put it down! Very well written and narrated. Very highly recommend!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Great book!

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 10-10-23

I've never listened to anything by this author or with this narrator before but I was able to listen for free so I have it a shot. I wasn't expecting much, I guess I'm not easily impressed and I almost always can figure out what the ending is going to be within one chapter of "suspense" books. But this one was different and I kept thinking I'd had it figured out and then I'd be wrong.
it really keeps you on your toes, keeps you wondering what's going on and why and how. I listened to this within a few days time because I just couldn't put it down.
It's just a great story and I would watch the crap outta this movie or series! Yes - that is a request to the author! Make it a movie or series on TV!

The narrator did a great job too! I mean let's face it, if the narrator sucks then it doesn't matter how great the book is you're listing to, chances are, if the narrator is awful you won't continue to listen. But this one, she really did an awesome job. Her timing and cadence with her sentences is great. She understands the little nuances of certain scenarios, and she attempts to do voices for different characters. She's not super great at the accents I think, but maybe that's kudu me. Most importantly, for me anyways, it's that she doesn't make that gross sounding mouth smacking noise when she talks. I would say she's on par with Brittany Pressley - who is, by far, one of the best, if not thee best, narrator on Audible... if you ask me anyways.

I'm definitely going to check out more titles by this author and more books read by this narrator.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Will you get to the darn story already!

Overall
1 out of 5 stars
Performance
1 out of 5 stars
Story
1 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 07-18-23

DO NOT RECOMMEND AT ALL

These guys spend more time cracking very stupid jokes and talking about the town's history than they do telling the actual story that you're expecting to hear about! It is SOOOOI annoying! I have had to skip through the first 30-45 minutes of every episode to finally get to the real story and these episodes are an hour long. That leaves only 15 minutes for what is actually the real story. And then they still spend so much time making ridiculous jokes that are not funny that you get MAYBE five minutes of what you started listening for. Save yourself the irritation and don't waste your time with this one. I really don't understand how anyone likes this at all.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Wonderful!

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-19-23

I absolutely loved this book! To be fair, I also absolutely love Amy so that might make me biased but I don't care. It was a great book. Well with the listen. And I do mean LISTEN. I'm sure I'd have loved it if I read it instead of listened to it, but because it was read by her it just made it feel so much more real and me laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time.
I'm sad it's over already.

Buy this book. Listen to it a billion times.

And "breath in the hate... breath out the love"

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Too disturbing? Really? It's a serial killer novel

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-29-22

This is a great book. All the reviews giving it 1-2 stars saying it's too graphic or disturbing... that doesn't mean it's not a good book and deserves your bad rating. You don't like the details then maybe don't read crime books about serial killers.

Great book. As are all of her others!

The ONLY thing I don't like is the male narrator. He needs to drink some water and blow his nose or something. You can hear that nasty clicking sound in his mouth every time he speaks and that really grosses me out - like it makes me physically angry when I hear it. And he sounds like he's got a cold or he doesn't know how to pronounce certain letters. Either way, it's annoying.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Different narrator on 3rd book - WHY???

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
3 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 09-12-22

I just don't understand the choice to use a different narrator all of a sudden. Especially changing from a female to a male. I liked the other narrator a lot - she did a great job with using different voices and she really performed the whole thing. I didn't feel like I was being read to at bedtime (unlike with this male narrator) but instead I felt like I was being immersed into the whole story, making it impossible to put down.
So having to listen to this guy all of a sudden when I expected to hear the same voice from the first 2 books was jarring and disappointing.
The story is only ok, and I have to wonder if that has more to do with the narrator than the actual story.
I don't have time to read so I have to use Audible while I'm working - otherwise I would have stopped and read this myself to see if made any difference.
I'm just disappointed and bummed because I LOVE the first two books and all those characters so much. I had no idea that I was getting something completely different with book 3. The story lines aren't related in any way. I just don't get it - why ruin a great thing like that? SMH

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!