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A Season for the Dead

The Rome Series: Book 1

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A Season for the Dead

By: David Hewson
Narrated by: Sean Baker
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About this listen

In a hushed Vatican reading room, the scene was shocking: a crazed professor shot dead after brandishing evidence of a grisly crime. Moments later, two bodies are found in a nearby church, each with a gruesome calling card from the killer.

As the August heat takes Rome in its fiery grip, the news of the two brutal murders holds the city in thrall. And as the media gathers and Vatican officials close ranks, a young detective is sent to the forefront of the case. Nic Costa is the son of an infamous Italian Communist, a connoisseur of Caravaggio, and a cop who barely looks his twenty-seven years of age. Thrust into the heart of a killing spree that will rattle his city down to its ancient bones, Nic meets a woman who will soon dominate both his consciousness and his investigation.

A cool, beautiful professor of early Christianity, Sara Farnese was in the Vatican library on that fateful day, a witness to her colleague's strange outburst and death. But her role will become even more puzzling as more bodies are found: Each victim killed in a gory tableau of Christian martyrdom. And each victim had intimately known Sara, whose silence Costa cannot quite crack and whose carnal history becomes more lurid and unfathomable with every revelation.

Soon, a nightmarish chase is implicating politicians and priests - while at the heart of the matter remains the woman Costa is both investigating and guarding. Wanting to believe in Sara's innocence, Nic still cannot turn his eyes from the truths he is uncovering. Even as the secrets of a woman, a killer and a city begin to unravel...with devastating consequences.

©2003 David Hewson (P)2003 W F Howes Ltd
Crime Thrillers International Mystery & Crime Police Procedural Suspense Fiction Mystery Rome Exciting Thriller Scary Italy City Pope
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What listeners say about A Season for the Dead

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliantly written

When I read Gwen's review, I was initally put off, but decided to go ahead and listen to this book anyway. I was glad I did. David Hewson brilliantly reveals chapter by chapter a complex and intriguing crime story. His knowledge of Rome, the Vatican and art is amazing and woven very skillfully into the plot. I actually think that the narrator has lovely rich voice ala 'Mr Kippling makes exceedly good cakes' and in my opinion is quiet ingenious making use of regional English accents - the book is afterall in English not Italian.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A good different police story

Overall a well written and read story mana he es to keep some surprises. Look forward to more from this author
I have left well over a year and listened again by mistake at first went all way through probably enjoyed the second time more not because of remembrance but time to take it in.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

A Season for the Dead: The Rome Series: Book 1

Average thriller, few surprising twists, but will probably not revisit this author. Also thought narrator was poor, which may have distracted from the story line.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not a bad story,, but the narration spoiled it.

This was our first experience of this author, and we found the going a little slow at first, but as the story went on, we found it a passable, though not so difficult to work out, detective novel, with a few twists and turns. However, I'm sad to say the narrator was excruciating in his attempts at portraying the various protagonists, with accents from Cornish to Welsh, but nowhere near Italian!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

The regional accents do get in the way......

Not a bad book overall, but I agree with other reviewers that as the reader uses accents to distinguish between the characters, it would have been an improvement if appropriate national accents had been used (or none at all). I had to keep reminding myself which voice belonged to which lead character as the choice of 'voice' did not make that obvious! On the whole this is a book which pleasantly whiled away the time. Without giving anything away, I must confess that the denouement was not a surprise though. Unsure as to whether I would take the next one in the series, as I would hope for a bit more intrigue.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good crime novel

Having listened to the author's books about an Amsterdam detective- there were a lot of similarities with this detective from Roman. The accents put on by the narrator were a bit irritating and made all the characters sound as if they came from the North of England - they also changed mid-sentence which was a bit odd.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

A season for the dead

I thought the book was intriguing to say the least. Despite what a number of readers said of the narration with the english dialects in place of an attempted Itialian accent; I thought it added to the story and the characters. I was disapointed the other books in the Rome series did not have Sean Baker reading them.

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5 people found this helpful

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

Pity about the narrator.

A good story, well paced and written by someone who appears to know Rome , but spoiled for me by the distracting performance of the narrator. Someone who is employed to read a book full of Italian words and names should be able, at least, to pronounce them correctly. He managed to mangle pretty much everything.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb thriller, great characters.

Enjoyed it so much I listened twice so far. excellent. great reader wonderful voice an array of characters portrayed

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Well I enjoyed the narration...

A quick word of balance. I enjoyed both the book and the reading. Certainly it was a little unusual to have a northern English accent reading an book set in Italy but I soon become accustomed to it. I think that it worked well, better perhaps than a mock Italian one. In fact I found it harded to get used to the 'Italian' accent of the later established reader in the series. Initailly I found tis far more distracting and 'amusing'. Perhaps this is due to my own northern heritage?

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