Almost flawless reading of an almost flawless book

Traditionally female narrators have been disliked by audio book fans. Maggie Mash should put an end to that. She is almost flawless. The one tiny niggle is that she reads a little slowly for my liking. Her cast of voices however is wide and consistent with every character firmly rooted in place and time. Men sound like men and women like women. Which is not true of all narrators.

Americans sound realistically American not just American-ish same for Israelis etc etc . Regional British accents are pulled off well as are Scottish accents. None of which fall in to parody. Although again some people might find it a little slow especially in the last act where things start warming up.

All this is important because the plot of Dead Line is complex and international. A bad reader could have spoiled what is an intricate and engaging book. I found the world of office politics and the blending of professional spy life and personal life very convincing. Although I would have been happy with an (even more) low key ending.
If you like Len Deightons Berlin game you will like this.

5 people found this helpful

Not The Best Written Thriller

In 2004 Stella Rimington published her first novel, "At Risk". I vaguely remembered enjoying it and hadn't heard much from her until I saw "Dead Line" on Audible. Both books are part of the "Liz Caryle" series - the first and fourth respectively. Unfortunately "Dead Line" was sadly lacking the qualities of a classic thriller. The first part of the two part download kept my interest. However, with over 3 hours left of the second part I found myself getting a bit restless and just wanting things to speed up and end. By this stage the plot ceased to be gripping and any twists were simple and minor. I also sometimes have problems with thrillers written by women and this author falls into the trap of others by describing the emotions and love-life of the main (female character) in such a way that may appeal to some woman but not to some men such as myself. Overall an fairly enjoyable enough thriller that ultimately fails to deliver the punches that so many other authors can do. After "Dead Line" I'm reluctant to continue reading any more of the "Liz Caryle" series.

4 people found this helpful

A bit naive

Disappointing. As Dame Stella Rimington was DG of MI6 I expected something better. This story is na?ve and cumbersome.

If you like thrillers don't bother, if you like Mills and Boon this might just do it for you.

4 people found this helpful

Awful voices!

This is the first book I have heard read by Maggie Mash. Her narration of the story is effective - but the voices are AWFUL! Every character sounds as though they have had a minor stroke and I found it very distracting, as it really disturbs the flow. And is also very weird.

This is a good book - Liz Carlyle is a believable character, and the scenarios are engaging.

2 people found this helpful

Annoying narrator

In future I'll make sure I don't choose a book with this narrator, for me the 'voices' of the characters ruined the story.

1 person found this helpful

Good story, awful narration

I’m not given to writing reviews normally, but the narration on this otherwise fairly enjoyable story by Stella Rimmington was to put it mildly appalling. The male voices without exception were ponderous, slow, tedious and frankly excruciating. I put up with the narration because I was otherwise enjoying the story, but I won’t be listening to any more, certainly not by this narrator. I’m really sorry Maggie Mash, but for my money you need to listen more to the way that men really speak and inject more reality into your interpretations.

1 person found this helpful

if the author of this was the head of Mi5!!!!!!

what a waste of time, writing, reading and listening to this inane juvenile nonsense. OMG

1 person found this helpful

Slow Start but worth it.

This was one of those books you struggle to settle with initially I think the reason for this could lie in the fact you are introduced to large number of characters very quickly and establishing who is the central one is frustrating.
I did listen to the first 30mins and gave up until much later, when i have to say it was well worth going back to. Its well written well narrated and reveals itself as a very high quality piece of work which you would expect from such a renowned author.

1 person found this helpful

My first Stella Rimmington book and not disappointed

Leaves you wondering how much of this is actually fiction? A good straightforward novel with a good plot.

Much prefer Emma Fielding as the series narrator.

That aside, the storyline was good, is a little slow to build at the begining. There are twists throughout the novel. So much so that it can be easy to miss an important clue if you are not concerntrating.

Stella Remington has done an outstanding job (So far) with the Liz Carlyle series. w
Whilst it is best to progress through the entire series, each book is written so 8t can be read as a standalone or part of a series. That makes both the series and the story very enjoyable.

My comments as to the narrator are less important for those listening individual episodes from the series, than those listening from the start. Various characters had very identifiable personality traits and nuanced characteristics which were, in some cases, significantly different in this book, with a different narrator.An example here was Jeffrey Thame. In places he appeared to be totally unrelated to the same character in earlier editions of the book. It was as if he had totally changed his persona. This was not as a result of the author, but more to do with the narrator and their inflections, nuances and characteristocs. These differences would be less noticeable in subsequent editions unless the series narrator changes again. Personally, I believe that Audible would be better placed to have one narrator read every book on that series. I also acknowledge it is not always.possible, so where that isn't re-record the series so that the same narrator, if not the original, reads the entire series.

Of course paperback/hardcover readers would also not be affected by this change.

The regular characters continue to develop in this book

The imagery and detail really bring the book to life and the reader does feel like they are actually part of the story.

As in real life there are some tearful moments. But those moments also help to develop the story moving forward.

I like forward to listening to the next edition in this series.