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WaterPea

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Good intro to series

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

Reviewed: 07-12-25

Good characters. Good narration. Interesting storyline. Some parts of the story stretch belief. But overall good intro to series. Looking forward to more.

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It's only ok - not best in series

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

Reviewed: 07-12-25

I like this series, & narrator is good. Narration and familiar characters are the redeeming aspects of this book. Storyline is pretty contrived. Not best in series.

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Great story, characters, narrator

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

Reviewed: 07-08-25

This is the first book by this author to which I have listened. I look forward to more. Very good police procedural, but with more emphasis on the storyline than on the procedures themselves. I hope the author keeps the same characters going in future books, with further character development. But she did an excellent job of introducing them and developing them in this first book. Story was twisted and fascinating, and I think you will be as surprised as I was listening to the last hour. Excellent narration, and I am very picky about narrators! Definitely recommend.

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More than cozy; less than procedural

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

Reviewed: 07-06-25

Per my title, this book is really more than a cozy mystery, but not all the way to a procedural. The storyline is more complex than a cozy, but in order to wind it up, it does get a little far-fetched. Also, although I am no prude, the language of this book seems to be raunchy just for the effect of being raunchy. Not a lot of actual profanity though. I appreciated that. Generally the narration is good, but there is a long stretch toward the end that involves conversation between two less featured characters. This was so irritating to listen to. The narrator did not get accents even close for either one of them. I often listen to audible books when I'm falling asleep, and these accents were bad enough that they kept me from falling asleep. As far as continuing with the series, I would not spend a credit on the next book. But I would purchase it if the price was low enough on a special sale.

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Good, moving, disconcerting

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

Reviewed: 07-05-25

The title is perfect. This book may be emotionally difficult for some to listen to - it was for me for the first 2/3. I'm glad I continued to the end. It's a story of pain, loss, rebirth, growth. I appreciated the messages so much. I grew from listening to it. Very good narrator.

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Worth the listen, in spite of ups/downs

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

Reviewed: 07-01-25

I'm glad I listened. Mostly very, very good. Good narration. I have an urge to listen to the previous (400 pages shorter) version in a few months. From what King says about the differences (in prologue to this one), the things that were left out or abbreviated were things that rather dragged for me in this version. Although, honestly, I'm glad to have all the backstory & the complete story to refer to, stashed away in my head. I also plan to watch the 1994 & 2020 mini-series (never have watched them). Back to this version - I was disappointed in the main characters' decisions at the end. Seemed immature and stupid. And the very end ... well, I suppose it made sense. But I didn't necessarily like it. Ultimately overall I recommend this audiobook.

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Quirky light entertainment

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

Reviewed: 06-26-25

Quirky premise and storyline. Narrator's voice is a bit grating; don't try to fall asleep to it. Okay for daytime listening. Extremely disappointing ending in my opinion. I won't comment further - don't want to provide spoiler. If this is part of a series (I still have to check), will probably pursue. As a standalone, I don't recommend spending a credit on it.

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Saved worst for last

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

Reviewed: 06-26-25

This is like a teen graphic novel - and yes, please do infer "comic book" from that. Plot holes, ridiculous actions by characters, and the consistently poor narration. (SO many mispronounced words, just like all prior books by this author). I was able to get all of his books to date as free, bonus books. I continued to listen to them because his storylines were interesting and his characters were likable or at least engaging. Because of the storylines and the characters, I plowed through the books in spite of many examples of lazy writing (does this author have an editor?) and many, many narration gaffes ranging from little "oops" to myriad groan-inducing mispronunciations. (Does this author utilize an editor for narration? If so, whatever that person is being paid is too much!) it really bothers me that I'm not going to be listening to any more of the author's work, because he is gifted in creating stories that hooked me. And I am going to miss the characters, particularly in the SWORD series. But the writing errors and narration errors has become insulting to the reader/listener. So disappointing. So much potential, but the author is clearly grinding these out at a pace that increasingly precludes attention to excellence.

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Overall decline from previous books & narrators still bad

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

Reviewed: 06-24-25

I have listened to every DD Black book available on Audible up to this one, in order. I've consistently said the same things: his storylines are good, his writing gets lazy and becomes rife with obvious mistakes, and the narration suffers from a multitude of mispronunciations. Book after book, those same things were consistently true. I can only presume that he and/or his publishers are paying for low end editing, both of writing and of narration.
But I have continued to listen, because the storylines have captured my attention, as have the characters. Unfortunately, in this book the quality of both of those declined, while narration remained very faulty. The depth of the storyline was only somewhat better than that of a cranked out romance novel. And I could cite dozens of examples of mispronounced words.
If I had not gotten the next book in the series for free, I would not be listening to any more of this author's work. And that's a shame, because he really does have good story ideas and interesting characters. But it seems that the reason he is able to crank out so many books so quickly may be that corners are being cut, both in the writing process and in all aspects of the editing processes.

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Good story & characters; bad editing

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

Reviewed: 06-22-25

This is one of author's best, IMO. Story line & characters solid. Better & more intelligent than the Thomas Austin series. Unfortunately author's books still suffer from poor editing (wrong word usages), and particularly from poor audio editing. So many mispronounced words. It's really getting old.

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