Mavis Lee

Wanted to Like

Reviewed: 05-19-25

The characters are soooo unlikeable. I’ve listened to the books that preceded this one- also filled with thoroughly unlikeable characters and I’m a bit perplexed by the overwhelming positive reviews. There is so much sympathy for a drug addict that beats up his pregnant wife, that I found it revolting. Susan’s interior monologue felt odd and for such an intelligent (?) woman she was always making poor decisions. Of course you’d stay a mile away from anything to do with Cloverleaf Books and when she questions her decision to turn in the owner and later testify against him after he tried to kill her, that just seemed stupid. The formula on this book felt a little too forced or rote. I fast forwarded to the end, cause yes, I needed closure.

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2 people found this helpful

Finally listening to the 1st book

Reviewed: 03-14-25

The narration is bizarre! Erik Davies’ voices are comical and the narrator himself sounds like he voices over UFO conspiracy shows on some cable channel. I’ve listened to all of the
Dept Q audiobooks except for this one because I knew the narration was sub par. Why the foot dragging? I love Dept Q and the rag tag band of police and staff- the humanity, humor and tragedy wrapped up in complex storylines, however, it was all I could do to stay with Erik Davies’ narration, the mish mash of accents is absolutely appalling!Finish this book and get on to the next, the narrators get better.

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Roller Coaster Ride

Reviewed: 01-22-25

This latest and hopefully not last Department Q book was twisty-turny, scary, and incredible. The author pulled out all the stops… maybe it’s the finale? Who knows…but it is a well crafted, complex story and satisfying. As others have commented, the narrator has a limited repertoire of accents, especially some of the minor characters. What’s going on with Eddie the cop from Rotterdam? He and his wife sounded like lispy Peter Lorre characters. Luckily for me I was able to get past the wonky narration and get immersed in the story. Someday soon I’ll go back and listen to the series again in order.

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Fecund Hinterland

Reviewed: 10-01-24

When I saw this book was coming out I rushed to see who would narrate the novel- it makes such a difference doesn’t it? With glee I saw it was Jason Isaacs- he is a brilliant narrator and of course starred in the Jackson Brodie television adaptation (please film new episodes, whoever is in charge of that).
Kate Atkinson writes beautifully and no one does contemporary stream of consciousness like her-I love the way she gets inside a character’s head. I’ve listened to the book twice now and enjoyed even more the second time. Jason Isaacs conveys the inner and outer dialogue seamlessly shifting from character to character and keeping the voices so clear and distinctive, really unparalleled. Isaacs is also excellent at keeping up a pace, but in order not to miss a thing I listen at 90 or 95% speed. I like doing this too because the book lasts longer. While I felt some of the story was uneven and the ending kind of plopped in there ( like so many Golden Era mysteries). I had a great time with this romp through the golden era of murder mysteries—and Jackson Brodie with his melange of female characters inhabiting his consciousness are hilarity itself. On another note, it seems to me that Richard Osman and Kate Atkinson are friends, admirers?( I’m in the U.S.- maybe this is a well known fact in the UK) because there are subtle references to each others’ books in their own novels (Easter eggs if you will). Read or listen closely and you’ll pick up on it too. This makes me very glad because I find their characters engaging and worth investing time in-the stories so very entertaining and smart. Who refers to the internet as ‘fecund hinterland’ Kate Atkinson in the guise of Jackson Brodie that’s who. I love reading every word she writes.

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1 person found this helpful

Unlikeable Characters

Reviewed: 10-01-24

The storyline okay, the narrator okay-though his depiction of female voices all tend to be breathy sounding and not very convincing. The characters were unlikeable in varying degrees and I had a hard time investing in the plot overall. There were a few interesting twists and turns, probably not enough for me to return to the series.
I have been to Iceland and did enjoy the reference to the 2 main cities there, I wouldn’t have minded more reference to the long days or short days, the geography and weather.

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Not a Favorite

Reviewed: 09-19-24

What did I like? The narration by Nicola Walker was consistent and engaging. Similar to The Thursday Murder Club series, the characters are unique and original, though not as well developed and maybe too many? I started forgetting which hit guy was which and who was doing the hiring. Tedious.
What didn’t work for me was the feeling that the storyline was dependent on so many plane rides-changes of venue… it didn’t seem to move the plot. I kept wondering about Adam and was more interested in him-a character who was rarely mentioned. TMC series is hard to top and this didn’t do it. I’ll still listen to the next one in this series.

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3 people found this helpful

Lacking Substance

Reviewed: 09-04-24

Like some other reviewers, I did not enjoy this book as I have with previous audiobooks in the Vera series. I felt like I was on a long car journey, in the back seat on narrow country roads unable to see where I was going or even care. The story seems disjointed focusing on Chloe getting the reader to invest in her disappearance after the death of Josh then drops her and moves on to Brad. Plot lines get picked up and dropped and I stopped caring about the victims or potential suspects. The internal monologues from Rose, Vera and Joe were repetitive and unnecessary. The narrator sounds like a children’s book reader and her sing songy voice makes me go half mad every time. This is probably the last time. I know you’ve been waiting for the book- maybe the book is better than the audio book? The book ended, I didn’t care that it ended and I hardly remember what happened, it did feel like story that kept doubling back on itself and the ending wrapped up by blaming Vera for not sharing info with her team, so the last chapter or two is spent explaining to the reader and an indignant Rosie how Vera came to solve the case.

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1 person found this helpful

Trying to Like the Series

Reviewed: 05-13-24

What did I like? I liked the atmosphere, the claustrophobic quality of the aptly named close and the details of the lives of the people who lived there. I had some sympathy for them but did not feel an affinity with any of the characters, with the exception of the author. I especially enjoyed the beginning of the novel before the introduction of Hawthorne. Perhaps my perception would change if I read Close to Death, instead of listening to the book. This is the 4th Hawthorne/Horowitz novel I’ve attempted a listen to- and I was heartened by the start of this one. I am in the minority and most other readers find the delivery and character of Hawthorne engaging. Once I had set the narration speed to 85% I found I was able to listen more easily to Kinear’s delivery, however after Hawthorn took over the majority of the telling, I lost interest and really just wanted to get on with the ending.

I prefer the protagonist, Susan in the Moonflower Murders and hope Anthony Horowitz will pick up that series again.

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I Tried

Reviewed: 03-14-24

Unnecessarily slow-plodding if you will! I was curious about the resolution-how the story would come together, but lost interest because I was not invested in any of the characters. Oh well.

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Entertaining Story Full of Twists

Reviewed: 10-25-23

Narration a bit better than the 3rd book, however still falls short of Lesley Manville. The accents get muddled (Welsh accent?) By the end of the book the main characters are also losing their defining accents. There is a bit of breathiness to the dialog delivery, but I was able to hang on and see the story through to the end. Richard Osman has the right combination of humor, poignancy and mystery caper beautifully written - with care… that is an applaudable difference everyone can discern as they read, or listen. The interviews at the end are especially good and inspiring.

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