Sylvia

Main narrator drove me away

Revisado: 04-12-25

I usually love things like this. In my mind I call these (Vera Wang, Richard Osmond, My Sister the Serial Killer, et al) the new noir. But here the faux sultry overacting of the main narrator became unbearable. Listeners don’t need this vocal sledgehammer to get it. Worse, it blows away the entertaining dichotomy of a crisp telling of outrageous acts. Surprised other reviewers so avidly support this audio. Apologies to writer and kudos for cover artwork.

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Chirpy narrator is awful

Revisado: 02-12-25

Every word from this narrator is a cheerful little singsong that negates an intelligent detective going about her work.There is nothing particularly happy about the murder so why should it sound like a second grade teacher reading an oh-such-fun story: Drove me crazy and I just gave up at chapter nine. I generally enjoy Faith Martin (with other narrators) but this silly voice ruined the story.

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More than a plot

Revisado: 12-29-24

The mother/daughter plot point is the most uninteresting thing about this book but it is the kick in the ass that keeps things moving. I hate clogged up relationship dissecting and this book has zero. It does have a great deal of beautiful writing that is so understated I am sure I missed a lot of it. But one short sentence I will always remember - briefly describes a rural landscape then adds “like it was waiting for a canvas.” The characters glide gracefully into their developing places and the realities and attitudes of the 1950’s are so seamlessly interwoven that it would be sacrilegious to pound on the inequities or to ignore them. Each character has an intrinsic integrity and understandable sensibility and binds them throughout the story. The explosive ending shows the limits of quiet coping in midcentury-America. The narration is one of the best I’ve come across - absolutely perfect. I hope author Nathan Gower is suitably recognized for this superb work.

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No rosy look back

Revisado: 11-29-24

I get so pissed when a public person I love uses two-thirds of autobiography space waxing nostalgic about bucolic hometown, what grammar school friendslooked like - and I am screaming get on with it! I don’t care about your granny’s fried chicken or your dad’s pet name for you. I don’t want a bs origin story — I want the grit, guts, and your side of the story as an adult. Cher must have heard me.

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esto le resultó útil a 5 personas

Not dated as of June 2024

Revisado: 06-21-24

Usually audiobooks this old feel creaky and outdated. This one could have been released yesterday. Well, except no cell phones is a dead giveaway. Amazing how much hasn’t changed in our society. The production values have held up perfectly. The narrator sounded like 90% of the New York lawyers I’ve heard speak, so his hometown voiced delivery didn’t bother me at all. Great story. Hope he has found a wife in the meantime.

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Excellent

Revisado: 06-18-24

This fraudster was not on the level of Bernie Madoff but not for lack of trying. The production team did an excellent job of explaining Manor’s financial crimes and the effect on victims he fleeced and just about everyone else around him. Not all sociopaths are murderers - some just take all your retirement savings, college funds, financial security, and peace of mind. The people who tried to stop him are portrayed with honest determination to hold Manor responsible for his actions, despite the leniency of the Canadian boys- club regulators. No happy ending here but Manor is still young enough to spend many years in prison when he is finally caught.

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Don’t start with this one

Revisado: 06-12-24

Usually a continuation in a series will have sufficient background info that you can follow the story even if you haven’t read all the preceding. Not this one. Characters just leapt into the principal story as though their presence had some bearing on what was going on and continued their part another story I had no way of understanding. I found this very jarring after I realized I hadn’t skipped some chapters, these jolts were just a discombobulated string of events with no context. The core story was interesting, full of unlikeable characters (which I like), even if the ending was needlessly wordy and drawn out. Might have given more stars if I had known the absent backstories.

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Good story, cheap ending

Revisado: 06-06-24

I am a big fan of Cumming, one of the few writers left attempting espionage. The end of the Cold War pretty much decimated the genre and left us with action-adventure in place of the cerebral spy. My gripe with this book is that Cumming ended the story with a clumsy cliffhanger rather than trust that his audience will continue with Box 88 because it good. Instead, the last minute became a cheesy come on.

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Breathy bedroom-type voice not suitable

Revisado: 12-30-23

Not Dugoni’s best but ok story dumbed down by the narration. I don’t know when the low breathy narration thing began but it seems everywhere and I would like it to stop. This delivery may work for romance or the oh Lordy poor me novels but this is a particularly bad choice for a story with a lot of legal/courtroom segments and when the main character is an intelligent lawyer. The bedroom voice undermines the story and all the women in it. Please stop.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

One of worse narrations ever

Revisado: 12-09-23

Brilliance Audio should reimburse anyone who paid for this book. No one at Brilliance did their job - editor, producer, and especially the awful narrator. I kept getting to the story then was abruptly jerked out by the horrible way a sentence was read. This reader simply cannot read a line with a distracting pause, word jumbling phrase, or strange emphasis on a particular word when the words should simply follow each other. Narrator would get a F in any elocution course but is a paid reader? Go figure.

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