ALISTAIR
- 12
- reviews
- 4
- helpful votes
- 19
- ratings
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The Husbands
- A Novel
- By: Holly Gramazio
- Narrated by: Miranda Raison
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem—she’s not married. She’s never seen this man before in her life. But according to her friends, her much-improved decor, and the photos on her phone, they’ve been together for years.
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Ho hum pretty repetitive story
- By Lucy on 05-08-24
- The Husbands
- A Novel
- By: Holly Gramazio
- Narrated by: Miranda Raison
Surprisingly Good
Reviewed: 11-11-24
At first I couldn’t understand how a story about magically appearing husbands could go on for more than 30 minutes. But this book was so engrossing and enjoyable that I ended up finishing it in 2 days. I don’t want to spoil any of what happens, but I loved it.
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Big Time
- A Novel
- By: Ben H. Winters
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Grace Berney is a mid-level bureaucrat in the Food and Drug Administration, a woman who once brimmed with purpose but somehow turned into a middle-aged single mom with a dull government job and a melancholy sense that life has passed her by. Until the night a strange photo comes across her desk, of a young woman in a hospital bed who has been subjected to a mysterious procedure.
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Enjoyable
- By ALISTAIR on 04-24-24
- Big Time
- A Novel
- By: Ben H. Winters
- Narrated by: Eva Kaminsky
Enjoyable
Reviewed: 04-24-24
A thriller with an unlikely hero in a mom of a teen & who also works as a bureaucrat. The characters feel very true despite being kind of cliche. I still really liked them.
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2 people found this helpful
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The Split
- By: Kit Frick
- Narrated by: Kelsey Navarro Foster
- Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Jane Connor is resigned to being the “plain Jane” of her family—pragmatic and dependable—so unlike her beautiful and impetuous younger sister Esme. When Esme calls Jane during a flash summer storm, announcing she’s left her high society husband, Jane is shocked to learn that her sister wishes to stay with her. Could this be an opportunity for them to become close again? The only catch: Esme needs a ride from the city to their small Connecticut hometown, and Jane is terrified of getting on the highway…because of what she did when they were teens.
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How well the two alternate timelines worked
- By Jenn on 02-18-24
- The Split
- By: Kit Frick
- Narrated by: Kelsey Navarro Foster
A little confusing but enjoyable
Reviewed: 04-23-24
Sometimes the switching of plot lines got confusing, trying to remember what happened in each. But overall it was engaging.
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1 person found this helpful
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A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons
- By: Kate Khavari
- Narrated by: Jodie Harris
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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London, 1923. Newly minted research assistant Saffron Everleigh is the first woman to hold the position at University College of London. When she attends a dinner party for the school, she expects to engage in conversations about the university's large expedition to the Amazon. What she doesn’t expect is for Mrs. Henry, one of the professors’ wives, to drop to the floor, poisoned by an unknown toxin. Dr. Maxwell, Saffron’s mentor, is the main suspect, and evidence quickly mounts.
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Clean cozy mystery
- By dubois940 on 08-21-22
- A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons
- By: Kate Khavari
- Narrated by: Jodie Harris
More a romance than a mystery
Reviewed: 02-05-24
If the main character spent as much time thinking about all the clues as she spends thinking about how dreamy Alexander Ashton is, this would be a much better book.
I’m not saying a mystery book can’t have romance, but here the mystery was more just a plot device to get these 2 characters together. And if the romance is going to be so prominent, at least make it a better one! Chaste yet headstrong young lady (who just so happens to be slender and beautiful and have stunning blue eyes) meets gallant yet progressive young man (who just so happens to look fine in his fancy suits). It was so cliche.
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Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone
- A Novel
- By: Benjamin Stevenson
- Narrated by: Barton Welch
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate. I’m Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I’d killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it’s a little more complicated than that.
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Good book
- By Wowhite on 09-05-23
- Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone
- A Novel
- By: Benjamin Stevenson
- Narrated by: Barton Welch
So fun
Reviewed: 01-30-24
Clever and action packed. Even with all the clues laid out in front of you, there’s still tons of twists and turns. And I thought I wouldn’t like the meta element where the narrator breaks the 4th wall, but it’s done really well. Overall one of the best books I’ve listened to in ages.
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Unnatural Ends
- By: Christopher Huang
- Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Sir Lawrence Linwood is dead. More accurately, he was murdered—savagely beaten to death in his own study with a mediaeval mace. The murder calls home his three adopted children: Alan, an archeologist; Roger, an engineer; and Caroline, a journalist. But his heirs soon find that his last testament contains a strange proviso—that his estate shall go to the heir who solves his murder.
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Interesting Mystery; nice performance
- By Guthron on 10-13-23
- Unnatural Ends
- By: Christopher Huang
- Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill
Heavy handed
Reviewed: 01-28-24
All the characters are so dull (except for maybe the fiancé, if only the book was just about her). They lack richness in personality, and the mystery itself isn’t particularly complicated.
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The Hollow Man
- By: John Dickson Carr
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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The murderer of Dr Grimauld walked through a locked door, shot his victim and vanished. He killed his second victim in the middle of an empty street, with watchers at each end, yet nobody saw him, and he left no footprints in the snow. And so it is up to the irrepressible, larger-than-life Dr Gideon Fell to solve this most famous and taxing of locked-room mysteries.
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PERFECT READER for "The Hollow Man"
- By Arnfinn Rong on 05-06-19
- The Hollow Man
- By: John Dickson Carr
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
Ending doesn’t make up for the rest
Reviewed: 01-24-24
It’s very different in style to modern writing. There’s a lot of unnecessary babbling about topics in an abstract way (an opinion on ghost stories, the famous locked room mystery lecture, etc.) that don’t really relate to the plot. They slow everything down to the point you want to give up. And the characters themselves are just shadows of people. You don’t feel anything for any of them. Also the American accent done by this person is TERRIBLE. But all that said, the resolution is incredibly clever.
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My Murder
- A Novel
- By: Katie Williams
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Lou is a happily married mother of an adorable toddler. She’s also the victim of a local serial killer. Recently brought back to life and returned to her grieving family by a government project, she is grateful for this second chance. But as the new Lou re-adapts to her old routines, and as she bonds with other female victims, she realizes that disturbing questions remain about what exactly preceded her death and how much she can really trust those around her.
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Interesting premise
- By Barbara S on 08-09-23
- My Murder
- A Novel
- By: Katie Williams
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lowman
Slow beginning w/ a twisty end
Reviewed: 07-08-23
It took awhile for the story to get going & I’m not sure the end really felt worth the slow burn. But the 2 things I did like about the story were (1) that you realize later there were a few clues left along the way and they’re done pretty well which feels gratifying & well thought out & (2) the author did a good job of not falling into cliches. But definitely be prepared for a very slow first half.
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The Black Jersey
- A Novel
- By: Jorge Zepeda Patterson, Achy Obejas
- Narrated by: Henry Levya
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Marc Moreau, a professional cyclist with a military past, is part of a top Tour de France team led by his best friend, an American star favored to win this year’s Tour. But the competition takes a dark turn when racers begin to drop out in a series of violent accidents. Marc begins to have the sickening realization that his own team has been most favored by the murderer’s actions, and in the final stages of the race Mark himself emerges as the only cyclist left who could possibly beat his best friend and win the Tour. Whom can Marc trust? Whom should he protect?
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Great thriller/sports epic even for cycling novices
- By ALISTAIR on 03-25-22
- The Black Jersey
- A Novel
- By: Jorge Zepeda Patterson, Achy Obejas
- Narrated by: Henry Levya
Great thriller/sports epic even for cycling novices
Reviewed: 03-25-22
The main character/narrator makes this work. Mostly orphaned by his own parents, his resulting devotion to the friends who become his de facto family as an adult make him believably naive. He wants to stay loyal to the people he loves and think the best in everyone. But without this backstory, it would have been hard to swallow how un-critical he is.
Something I was not expecting is that the sports epic side of the story is just as fun, maybe even better, than the whodunnit side of the story. The whodunnit aspect is still there a little bit. But alone it would have felt a little bare bones. But when I wasn’t trying to solve the mystery, I was consumed with who would win the Tour de France. The personalities and contributions are heartwarming and heartbreaking. I was invested in them like my 10 year old self watching the Mighty Ducks. I’ve never followed cycling in my life. So this was a real triumph on the author’s part to both make the sport understandable and make the competition thrilling.
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1 person found this helpful
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A Gentleman's Murder
- By: Christopher Huang
- Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill
- Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The year is 1924. Only a few years removed from the trenches of Flanders, Lieutenant Eric Peterkin has just been granted membership in the most prestigious soldiers-only club in London: the Britannia. But when a gentleman's wager ends with a member stabbed to death, the victim's last words echo in the lieutenant's head: that he would "Soon right a great wrong from the past". Eric is certain one of his fellow members is the murderer. But who?
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Ignore the indiscriminate ire. It’s great!
- By Denise Dalrymple on 05-15-20
- A Gentleman's Murder
- By: Christopher Huang
- Narrated by: Raphael Corkhill
Too long, characters felt flat
Reviewed: 03-23-22
This mystery was ok but it felt a bit too long. Clues & red herrings weren’t put in casually throughout. It would be a lot of other stuff and then a clue update. But by the time we got the new clues, I was kinda bored and missed them.
Plus the main character doesn’t really grab me, so that didn’t keep my attention. And then all the interchangeable rich-white-dude-with-a-private-club membership were too interchangeable. It took me unto the end of the book to keep them straight because they’re all kinda the same person. So attaching clues to suspects was too hard.
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