Robyn

Very short

Revisado: 03-16-25

I bought this for one credit based on an emailed promo which failed to point out that this was only a couple of hours long. But Audible did not refund the credit or respond to my query.
It felt like the author had the makings of a novel but lost interest or something. Extremely poor value for a credit.

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Terrible narration, patchy research marrs this spy novel

Revisado: 02-15-25

The narrator horribly mangled the Afrikaans accent and sometimes had the Russian female character speaking in the same badly rendered Afrikaans accent before switching back to a mangled Russian accent. The narrator used a rather neutral expressionless tone, failing to convey the characters or their emotions. The author was good on Russia but terrible on South Africa and horsemanship, two main themes of the book. Sections where he described characters controlling horses or describing lives in South Africa were painfully ignorant and error-ridden. In all, this was a disappointing effort after the promising first novel Damascus Station.

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Folksy tale about a woman who learns to be compliant

Revisado: 01-25-25

A colorless pathetic man has to learn to be manly. His courageous, adventurous, competent wife has to learn to be “compliant.” Full of unlikely stereotypical “characters.”

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Tom Hanks makes this beautiful novel sing

Revisado: 05-25-24

This wonderful book about family, loss, emotional wounds and recovery is rendered luminous by Tom Hanks' mastery. A treat not to be missed.

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Narrator sounded like AI robot, ruined a whimsical book

Revisado: 11-10-23

The book is less a crime novel than a whimsical study of people in a small neighbourhood and their hopes and foibles. It needed a subtle narrator. This one was mechanical, wooden but particularly tortured doing women’s characters.

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Evocative and atmospheric, with eccentric heroes

Revisado: 10-28-23

This novel contemplates the nature of good and evil, and the tendency of enemies to come to resemble each other in their pragmatic use of violence for state ends. What makes it outstanding is the evocative writing, descriptions of place and time and the brilliantly drawn characters. At times, it felt like a Wes Anderson movie. There are plenty of fascinating rabbit holes, a Littell trademark. And the prerequisite tension and twists. However it surpasses the run-of-the-mill all twists all plot novels that move fast but have nothing to say and leave you empty and queasy, like fast food.

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Earnest thoughtful period spy novel

Revisado: 08-29-23

The novel beautifully evokes the war years with its finely drawn main character, although some other characters are less complex, even flat.
Its slow burn tension builds steadily against the backdrop of American resistance to entering World War II.
If there’s a fault for me, it’s that the characters, indeed the book itself, are a little too earnest, a little too serious, too cool and calculating without the salt and pepper of humor, mischief or human flaws. Only the daughter and her friends have faults. It’s the author’s choice to choose this solemn mood, and it’s a fair choice. Still an excellent read.

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Good workmanlike thriller, but writing doesn’t thrill

Revisado: 08-11-23

The author has a flat, workmanlike, straightforward style, with limited complexity in her characters and absolutely no sense of humour, whimsy, yearning, nostalgia - something, anything human to lift the writing. It’s all plot, and it’s a good plot with one major implausible element. But it lacks the brilliance and complexity that makes a book like this sing.

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Narrator not right for this book

Revisado: 08-11-23

The narration is wooden and singsong and doesn’t bring the rather unlikable Harry Hole character to life. It might work better with a different narrator. I listened to the end but despite the evocative setting and complex characters, narration was too flat to make it much of a treat. Perhaps later books and narrators are better.

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Evocative and atmospheric, beautifully written and plotted.

Revisado: 08-11-23

McKinty is known for his fast moving thrillers like The Chain and The Island, but his Sean Duffy novels are so much better. The bitter Irish sea, drifting grey mists, peaty comforting whisky, the grudges and eruptions of violence in Northern Ireland’s troubles, the hard men who make war form the evocative setting for a tautly plotted mystery about a missing traveler girl whom neither cops nor journalists think is worth their effort because “she ran before.” There are many trademark McKinty plot twists and a gift at the end, in what he calls Duffy’s last case. It will be a pity if it is, because the complexity and psychology of the main protagonist makes Duffy an unforgettable character. I discovered McKinty when I was searching for narrations by Gerard Doyle, one of the best narrators around. He is absolutely pitch perfect, and brings all the characters to life, as well as the sometimes moody rural landscapes and urban hellscapes. Reading this made me want to go back to read the whole series from scratch. I hope there’s another Duffy book but if not, I hope McKinty creates another protagonist as complex and nuanced as Duffy.

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