kate in dc
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With No One as Witness
- By: Elizabeth George
- Narrated by: Charles Keating
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Abridged
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In With No One as Witness, her 13th novel, Elizabeth George has crafted an intricate and absorbing story sure to enthrall her listeners. Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, along with his longtime partner, the fiery Barbara Havers, and newly promoted Detective Sergeant Winston Nkata, is back and on the hunt for a sinister killer.
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BEWARE - IT IS ABRIDGED!
- By M in Arizona on 04-10-05
- With No One as Witness
- By: Elizabeth George
- Narrated by: Charles Keating
Suspenseful story but be prepared for awful music
Reviewed: 02-21-24
This book has the pros and cons typical of early books in this series -- long and long-winded, interesting characters in somewhat contrived situations, etc. There is also a fair amount of gory detail in this book about the bodies of murder victims that is not present in the rest of the books I've read, so be forewarned. The narration was not bad, but I gave it a low score in performance due to the production decision to have interludes of dreadful melodramatic music interspersed between different chapters. The music was so bad (and loud) it was like a send up of an old-time radio drama. I don't know what they were thinking, but this detracted a lot from my enjoyment of the novel. Perhaps it won't be so irritating to a reader who goes into the experience knowing what to expect.
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The Hemingses of Monticello
- An American Family
- By: Annette Gordon-Reed
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 30 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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This epic work tells the story of the Hemingses, whose close blood ties to our third president had been systematically expunged from American history until very recently. Now, historian and legal scholar Annette Gordon-Reed traces the Hemings family from its origins in Virginia in the 1700s to the family's dispersal after Jefferson's death in 1826. It brings to life not only Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson but also their children and Hemings's siblings, who shared a father with Jefferson's wife, Martha.
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Worried at first
- By Phillip Goodson on 12-13-08
- The Hemingses of Monticello
- An American Family
- By: Annette Gordon-Reed
- Narrated by: Karen White
Great book, glad I was not dissuaded by the negative reviews
Reviewed: 05-13-23
The narrator is not my favorite, and I found certain of the chapters -- including one near the beginning regarding John Wales -- to be long and tedious. HOWEVER, the story as a whole is riveting, and Annette Gordon-Reed does a great job of both pulling together factual details and re-orienting the reader's focus from the well-known great man at Monticello to the vast network of people supporting him, most of them enslaved, some of them related to him by blood and marriage. While the story of Sally Hemmings is a key part of this book, Gordon-Reed cautions at the outset that it is not the focus of this study, which looks more broadly at all of the descendants of Elizabeth Hemmings, Sally's mother. I purchased this book after touring Monticello, where I learned so much, but in retrospect, the informative tours of Monticello only scratched the surface compared to this book. While a number of the facts uncovered in this book are not flattering to Jefferson, Gordon-Reed also does a good job of humanizing him as she does all of the people who figure in the book. Both histories and families are more complicated than they appear on the surface, and this book delves into all the complications. It's long but it's divided in a way that makes it easy to listen to a chapter or two at a time, as if you were listening to a podcast. Highly recommended (and I'm sorry I didn't read it when it originally came out)!
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The World We Make
- A Novel
- By: N. K. Jemisin
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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All is not well in the city that never sleeps. Even though the avatars of New York City have temporarily managed to stop the Woman in White from invading—and destroying the entire universe in the process—the mysterious capital "E" Enemy has more subtle powers at her disposal. A new candidate for mayor wielding the populist rhetoric of gentrification, xenophobia, and "law and order" may have what it takes to change the very nature of New York itself and take it down from the inside.
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Fantastic conclusion.
- By David Little on 11-16-22
- The World We Make
- A Novel
- By: N. K. Jemisin
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
Another great story, great character development
Reviewed: 01-14-23
As with the first book in this series, it took me a while to get into this story, but once I did I was hooked by the characters (again). The narrator, Robin Miles, has to be one of the most talented in the business -- really magnificent. However, I found the use of audio sound effects throughout the story distracting from her performance. I don't remember those being so prevalent in the first book, and I hope it's not a trend.
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The Honourable Schoolboy
- A George Smiley Novel
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
- Length: 20 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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The mole has been eliminated, but the damage wrought has brought the British Secret Service to its knees. Given charge of the gravely compromised Circus, George Smiley embarks on a campaign to uncover what Moscow Centre most wants to hide. When the trail goes cold at a Hong Kong gold seam, Smiley dispatches Gerald Westerby to shake the money tree. A part-time operative with cover as a philandering journalist, Westerby insinuates himself into a war-torn world.
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Conrad's Ghost Floats & Haunts this Sad Spy Novel
- By Darwin8u on 07-27-12
- The Honourable Schoolboy
- A George Smiley Novel
- By: John le Carré
- Narrated by: Michael Jayston
Least favorite of the George Smiley books to date
Reviewed: 09-16-22
I've been reading the George Smile books in chronological order, and this is the first disappointment for me, perhaps because it seems to be more of a traditional spy thriller than the others. Also, while the narrator is a talented voice actor, there were several minor characters who he portrayed with very grating accents, including one who speaks for pages at a time. The book would be good for someone with an interest in Hong Kong in the 1970s, post-Vietnam era.
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1 person found this helpful
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Animal Farm
- By: George Orwell
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
- Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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George Orwell's classic satire of the Russian Revolution is an intimate part of our contemporary culture, quoted so often that we tend to forget who wrote the original words! This must-read is also a must-listen!
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If you hate spoilers, save the intro for last.
- By Dusty on 02-18-11
- Animal Farm
- By: George Orwell
- Narrated by: Ralph Cosham
A short and riveting listen
Reviewed: 08-29-22
I never read this in school, and am glad I listened now. A parable with many lessons for today's world, including the power of disinformation.
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Who Is Vera Kelly?
- By: Rosalie Knecht
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
- Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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New York City, 1962. Vera Kelly is struggling to make rent and blend into the underground gay scene in Greenwich Village. She's working night shifts at a radio station when her quick wits, sharp tongue, and technical skills get her noticed by a recruiter for the CIA. Next thing she knows she's in Argentina, tasked with wiretapping a congressman and infiltrating a group of student activists in Buenos Aires. When a betrayal leaves her stranded in the wake of a coup, Vera learns the Cold War makes for strange and unexpected bedfellows.
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not a whole lot of spycraft just a good story
- By Kirra Krussman on 01-19-19
- Who Is Vera Kelly?
- By: Rosalie Knecht
- Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
Try it, you'll like it!
Reviewed: 07-11-22
An intriguing story that made me want to keep listening. to the very end. I would describe this as more of an adventure story than an espionage tale, even though there are some good passages about spy tradecraft. Vera's character is very compelling, and it feels like one is getting a realistic sneak peek into two very different worlds, one in 1960s America and the other in 1960s Argentina. More light-hearted than profound, but I definitely recommend!
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1 person found this helpful