I love reading books, but when you’re on the move it’s a difficult task. So I enjoy nothing better than listening to the stories performed by some incredible actors. It’s great to be able to walk the dog or commute to the office while an audiobook is playing in the background. It certainly makes the journey a lot more interesting.
For me, the medium I use is Audible. It’s got thousands of books and there’s something for everyone. There are always offers available for members including 2 for 1 or books for £3. They’ve recently added the Audible plus catalogue which gives members a load of free material.
I’ve decided to add a new monthly series to the website rounding up the previous month’s books. I begin with three from August which include White Silence by Jodi Taylor, High Force by LJ Ross and The Curator by M.W. Craven. I hope you enjoy…
High Force by LJ Ross is the fifth in the highly enjoyable DCI Ryan series. It sees an old adversary back again and follows straight on from the fourth novel Angel. Kier Edwards aka ‘The Hacker’ has escaped from prison and kidnapped DI Denise MacKenzie from her home. Her partner DS Frank Phillips is beside himself with worry and has taken to the local boxing gym to release some aggression. DCI Ryan needs to get Phillips back on track if they are to be successful in finding MacKenzie alive.
High Force brings back the high tension of LJ Ross’ first three books with a cracking cat and mouse thriller. As ever the characters in this series are excellent with Ryan and Phillips providing much of the excellent dialogue. The rest of the team are also back as is Ryan’s fiancée Dr Anna Taylor who has been in the series throughout. There are not so many sub plot’s going on this time, but it’s a wonderful read/listen finishing with some serious drama.
As for the audiobook, it is read brilliantly by Jonathan Keeble who gives a great performance, including some cracking Geordie accents.
Length: 8hrs and 47mins.
I’ve only just discovered the Washington Poe series by M.W. Craven, but after reading/listening to the first two books, I’m a huge fan. The third book, The Curator sees Poe get called out to help in the search for a serial killer who has left body parts in various establishments in Cumbria along with a message #BSC6. One has appeared at a busy butchers shop, another was wrapped in a secret Santa gift. The difficulty is that they don’t have the actual bodies yet…
Back again is the brilliant Tilly Bradshaw, a socially awkward data analyst for the National Crime Agency. She’s Poe’s best friend and the dialogue between the two is just perfect, they’re great characters. Poe’s boss DI Stephanie Flynn is also back, but she’s heavily pregnant and is often left managing the team from a distance. It’s another seemingly impossible case, but Poe has a knack of looking at these murders from a different angle. With the help of Tilly, and a disgraced FBI agent, he is soon on the trail of the killer.
Once again the action takes place against a Cumbrian backdrop, with desolate locations, including the moorland surrounding Poe’s home. It’s another cracking book from M.W. Craven which I highly recommend listening to.
For the audiobook, John Banks gives an excellent performance, slipping effortlessly into a Cumbrian accent for the irascible Poe. Length: 9hrs and 23mins.
White Silence sees a bit of a departure from The Chronicles of St. Mary’s for Jodi Taylor with the introduction of Elizabeth Cage. Cage has special abilities, she sees things that others cannot. She sees colours radiating from everyone, which gives her an insight into people. With this, she instinctively knows how a person is feeling and whether they’re lying or not.
She keeps her talents hidden, and while her husband is alive, all is well. But when he dies suddenly, everything changes and she is ‘imprisoned’ by his employer, a psychologist who knows there is something special about Elizabeth.
The concept is great, and the story begins well. But it never really felt like the book got out of second gear. It seemed as if the book was made up of a few dramatic episodes cobbled together to form a novel. We do see that Elizabeth awakens other powers as the story progresses which adds to the interest. But overall there’s not as much drama or adventure as some of the St. Mary’s books.
For the audiobook, Kate Scarfe gives a great performance as Elizabeth Cage. Length: 10hrs and 31mins.
