Katherine

Reads like a vendetta against all the coolio and

Revisado: 02-22-24

...Artsy kids who snubbed Nicci in high school. Why was every creative in the story a mean girl or pillock or degenerate or even worse? There wasn't a believable or fully drawn character in the entire book. Jude herself reads like someone who hasn't emotionally developed past 14, without a single coherent thought process that might have developed during the punishing regimen of med school and medical practice.

If this had been a group listen, we could have had a drinking game, downing a shot every time Jude said, "I don't understand," with double shots for "Are you okay?"

Even Imogen Church became grating after a while, with the unfathomable pauses and irritating upspeak.

And the ending is appalling, in which poor wee Alfie gets handed over to - of all people - Liam & Dermott's parents - poor lad, he's doomed.

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Worst. Narrator. Ever. Browsers. Beware.

Revisado: 01-05-24

"A woman. With shaggy. Grey hair. Who might have been. Anywhere between. Fifty and sixty. Opened the door." Actual quote from the narration, or should I have said, actual. Quote. From the. Narration.

Exhausting to listen to, and further exacerbated by Foss's droning monotonous tone, which might put one to sleep if the pauses. Were. Not so. Random. that arbitrary. Emphasis was placed on. Haphazard words and. Phrases. And became. Frustrating and. Absolutely infuriating. Like this paragraph.

The sample prologue available gives little warning, except for the occasional breathlessness, of the relentlessly fractured narrative to follow. I am returning this book, because life is too short to wait for this narrator to complete a sentence.

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Ridiculous

Revisado: 10-09-23

Sophomoric and simplistic, with dropped plot lines and condescending attitudes toward her characters. Not to mention a black belt who, in hand to hand combat, resorted to olive oil and hair pulling. Did she forget her training? What was the point of mentioning her black belt at all?

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The narrator made this impossible to listen to

Revisado: 08-31-23

This might be a good book, but I'll need to read it in print to find out. The narrator gives w-a-y too dramatic a reading: now whispering thoughts and asides, then shouting to a character, then speaking in normal tones. It was downright painful on earbuds, and way too distracting to keep adjusting the volume while driving. I gave up after being buffeted by a quick switch from murmur to roar. The book either needs a better sound engineer or a less histrionic narrator.

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Definitely NOT the Luminaries! SPOILER ALERT!

Revisado: 05-28-23

I just love me a character-driven novel. And I was enthralled with how carefully all the characters were delineated; each had her/his own voice and development, and even without the chapter headings it was clear where the action was focussed. The plot was a delightful caricature of the different models of "progress" that were selectively represented. As a "virtue-driven" volunteer, I had to chuckle at the impeccable recounting of the pointless laboring, the garrulous group meals, and the huis. As a shrink, I found Catton's portrayal of the psychopath alarmingly spot on the money.

But the ending! ***SPOILER ALERT*** To have introduced and lovingly rendered so many varied characters and then have them strewn around as anonymous corpses at the finale was both lazy and a disservice to her readers. Unless the book was an allegory of the end of times, where the world ends in fire (Tony) AND ice (the hitman/driver), and only the cockroach survives (again, the hitman/driver), it was an indifferent, unsatisfying and insulting finger in the faces of her readers. Definitely will not trust this author with my time again.

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tedium + irony = apathy

Revisado: 03-05-23

If you love feature length chase scenes, then this is the book for you. I'm usually a grand McKinty fan, and I bought this against the advice of many other Audible McKinty fans. The whining brats, their dominating dad, the severely underestimated ingenue, the crazed inbred clan who proudly murdered the First Nation inhabitants the century before and believe that raping children is fair dinkum, and the ironic yet predictable twist at the end, dreary dreary dreary.

But I go to McKinty for his wry and sarky humor, his deft way with the language, and his appealing, well-drawn characters, none of which was evident here. This is not a good McKinty, it's basically a 70's Duel on foot. Equivalent perhaps to watching Michael Jordan try to play baseball.

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A fraud, a dud, and an atrocious narrator

Revisado: 11-29-22

First of all, this fictitious setting bears zero resemblance to any Hawaiian island. Hand has studied her bird book, but mixes species from different islands and different altitudes. The geography is impossible; i.e., there is nowhere you'd have to drive that long from the airport unless you were driving 10 mph, which they weren't. It's a shame: The actual Hawaiian islands offer real and evocative settings that could have been used, instead of a Muzak cover of a nebulous and imprecise delusion.

The narrative arc was deadly slow. The plot couldn't decide between mystery or fantasy or great white savior, so it included some of everything and excelled at none. Detail after tedious detail was piled on to no purpose. The female characters were so sketchy they could have been written by a man. Where the plot did succeed was pointing out the devastation of our islands by billionaires and millions of tourists, all of whom see Hawaii only as a private playground, and not as a genuine richly historical and deeply cultural treasure. Instead of using powerful existing Hawaiian legends, the author invented her own, which were lackluster, almost laughable, and not terribly engaging - in fact, she herself forgot several of them in the middle of the book.

The narrator should never go near another audible book. Kaleo sounded local and got the pronunciation correct. But. His voice ranged between a whisper and assertively loud, back and forth in mere seconds, making it impossible to find a comfortable volume level. The choice was between losing half the whispered narration or getting eardrums busted randomly.

I was excited to find a new book about my home state. I was wrong: this book is not about Hawaii, anymore than Oliver Twist is about a 60's dance craze.

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TOO LOUD! too quiet. TOO LOUD!! too quiet

Revisado: 11-28-22

A good enough tale, but not up to her usual standards. What totally ruined the book for me, though, was the reader. He read way too quickly. His volume varied from assertively loud to a whisper within the course of a minute, making it almost impossible to use earbuds, or while driving, or before going to sleep: Typically the times when I’m most likely to prefer an audible book.

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Tedious, uneven, and unbelievable

Revisado: 11-05-22

It is ridiculous to posit a love match between a vet who lives with a four-pack and a detective who has life-threatening allergies to warm-blooded animals and their skin, dander, and hair. Even worse is the author's fanatical obsession with every possible background element; i.e. her insistence on cataloging every physical feature of every room she walks into, from the lighting fixtures to the wallpaper to the fragile knickknacks on the gleaming glass étagère in the corner of the room near the old stone fireplace - and then describing the stones. Meanwhile the plot meanders into blind alleys and implausible behaviours and motivations, while making it clear from the early chapters who the villain is. Signed, Clearly Not a Fan

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I really really really wanted to love this book!

Revisado: 05-20-22

I liked the point of view of the author, and her hammering on the racist and misogynist elements of the plot. These aspects are often omitted or glossed over, and in this narrative they were crucial. But the endless details of how she dressed or what she ate or how expensive her sushi dinner was or why she walked up the stairs were crushingly tedious. Early in the book it took her thirty minutes to get from her parking spot to her bed, and NONE of it was engaging or even germane to the story.

The narration seemed flat, and often did not distinguish at all between private thoughts and dialogue, and it was occasionally difficult to distinguish who was speaking. Characters were introduced and then forgotten. The whole book sounded as if it were written to get picked up as a network series, and that pretty much dulled what could have been a more intimate and enlightening journey. I think Hall needed a more honest and candid editor.

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