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Michelle

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Interesting content, horrible narrator

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

Reviewed: 06-09-25

The book itself was well written and full of interesting information. However, the narrator ia TERRIBLE. I almost stopped listening to the book multiple times because the narration is so bad. Sidney Gottlieb in real life stuttered. The narrator seems to think he should use odd, stilted pauses to portray this even when he is reading from documents Gottlieb wrote. Gottlieb wouldn't stutter on paper. The narrator also tried to use different voices for different people and it doesn't go well. His attempt at a Boston accent for Ted Kennedy is particularly jarring if you know anyone from Boston.

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Series is going way downhill

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

Reviewed: 03-11-25

I thought the story went way off track during the absurdities of the Helen trilogy. This is way worse. It's like the characters are not even the same characters. Constance was always annoying. Now I actively wish she would be written out. Pendergast--where has Pendergast gone? He is missing from a large portion of the book and even when he is in evidence, it;s loke some alien has taken over the black suit. He is wishy-washy, indecisive, idiotic.

I thought I was listening to a thriller, but too often in turn into a bad teen romance/love triangle. There were too many unbelievable unbelievable coincidences and things that took up lots of time only to be abandoned then resolved without showing the resolution. Someone is left in a dangerous situation about halfway through then suddenly turns up fine at the end.

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The Prague Cemetery Audiobook By Umberto Eco cover art

Confusing and disjointed

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

Reviewed: 10-25-24

I found the story, such as it was, very difficult to follow. The book started very slowly and remained disjointed and rambling. At times, it sounded like a cookbook. It's hard to keep the characters straight at times. Large parts of the book are dueling diary entries from either two different people, someone with a split personality, or a super unreliable narrator. The book also jumps around in time, which makes it hard to follow as well. I wish I had listened to it closer to when I bought it so I could return it.

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The Queen, Her Lover and the Most Notorious Spy in History Audiobook By Roland Perry cover art

Not really a history

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

Reviewed: 09-30-24

This book was categorized as History, but it's not 100% history. Parts of it seem factual, but at other times it seems like a bad romance novel. Lots of invented conversations and a few other questionable assertions in the book really make me doubt how much if any of it is true.

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Narrator makes the book impossible to finish

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

Reviewed: 08-01-24

I was really looking forward to this book because I am interested in the Vikings and have read/listened to several recent books about them. However, I had to stop about halfway through the book because the narrator is HORRIBLE. He repeatedly mispronounces names, city names, and even common words. I just couldn't deal with him. His poor narration made the book impossible to finish.

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Too many things going on

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

Reviewed: 07-26-24

The book would have been much better without so many unrelated subplots. It may the book overly complicated and made it difficult to figure out what was really important to the main story.

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Not for me

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

Reviewed: 06-05-24

I thought the concept was kind of interesting, but found the execution to be annoying and frustrating. The constant switching from first to third person narrator was confusing at times. The history sprinkled in was also an annoyance. I am sure some people loved the bits of information, but it wasn't always clear when something was actual historical fact and when it was invented for the book. I spent a lot of time researching information to find out if it was real or a plot device.

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Intertesting content, poor speaker

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

Reviewed: 05-14-24

The content of the course is interesting and divided well. However, the way the professor keeps pronouncing Jerusalem like it has a Z instead of an S is really annoying. It might not be as bad if you only listen to one lesson at a sitting, but when you listen to several in a row, it really takes away from the overall presentation.

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Lack of resolution

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

Reviewed: 04-14-24

This was my first and last Grisham novel. It was slow and boring with a lot of unnecessary elements. At times he seemed to be teaching a law class. There are two cases in the book that he spends a lot of time talking about and neither one is really resolved at the end of the book. It's like he got tired of writing it and just stopped. I was also very put off by the author's note at the end. He talked about writing many books set in the same area, but didn't care if he was consistent with what happened in the previous books because he was "too lazy" (his words) to go back and look at his previous work. I almost wish he hadn't said anything. But if he cares so little about continuity, I don't care to read the rest of the books. The narrator also wasn't great, which didn't help. Overall super disappointed by the experience but at least I know not to bother with more of his work.

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Horrible mishmash

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

Reviewed: 10-31-23

I think the author pulled every overdone idea from crime fiction and tossed them all into one book. It was very disjointed and completely unbelievable. A murder opens the book, but gets pretty much shunted aside for most of the novel. in favor of a serial killer. The serial killer is discovered by pure chance, no real detective work, a bunch of corrupt cops are uncovered, then the original murder comes back at the very end. None of the resolutions are in any way foreshadowed. Usually, you can put the pieces together or at least look back and go, oh right, I see. Not in this book. The lead character was not very likable or believable. Plus there is a completely pointless subplot about his father thrown in I suppose to give him unnecessary family drama. I would love to be able to get my money back for this book, but I waited too long to listen to it. I

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