Enjoyable

Yet another page turner from F Barton. Such a pleasure to follow her characters and to untangle the story.
Thank you very much Ms Barton!

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Excellent

Fiona Barton can do no wrong with me - her stories are always so well written I couldn't stop listening

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Enjoyable plot

The story was good, it kept me listening, the cleaners voice was very Annoying like she needed winding up. Overall easy listening

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Enjoyable tale with some nice complexities

I've enjoyed this authors previous work and, while I perhaps didn't quite like this one as much, I found this a good story that had enough complexity and depth to keep you guessing and learning about the characters histories throughout. Perhaps a little stretch of the imagination that they all arrived in the same town, but I'll let that go. Good engaging performances bringing the text to life.

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Missing the team from the previous 3

This was good, however, the previous 3 have been so brilliant that I was a bit disappointed with this one. I was looking forward to hearing more about the main characters in the previous books, but they didn’t feature this time. The plot in this one wasn’t as strong as the previous three either, though it’s still full of suspense.

The narration in this was as consistently good as in previous Fiona Barton books, so no criticisms there.

All in all, I can’t help feeling that if I hadn’t already listened to 3 previous Fiona Barton books all of which had me on the edge of my seat, I’d probably be raving about how good this is, but the others were better. I think I might re-listen to the first 3 now.

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Good story, shame about one of narrators

Another good Fiona Barton story but a word3 choice for one of the narrators who is supposed to be 27 but sounds much older.
Worth a listen though.

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Massive let down

I have been eagerly awaiting Fiona Barton’s next book, but this was no where near as gripping as her first three.

The narrators did her no favours, monotone performances that made it easy to zone out.

The story jumps in time and between characters, but because there seems to be very light character development through the years, it’s hard to remember if we are in the past or not.

Too many quirky surface characters, whilst the main ones are dull.

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A solid 3 stars

A good enough plot to not make me give up on it and characters that could be developed in future books should Fiona choose to make this into a series. I liked the fact that the lead detective was returning to the job after months away for cancer treatment. This is so much more relatable and real than the typical cop suspended for being a maverick Trope you usually get in crime thrillers! If a second book came out I'd definitely give it a go.

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Spoiled by one of the three narrators

It’s a good story if far fetched at times. You have to suspend disbelief quite a lot, but it kept me listening and I will read or listen to more of her work. However, I found the narration of Dee really irritating! It sounded like it had suddenly switched to half speed! 

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Not a patch on her previous thrillers imo

I was spellbound by Fiona Barton's previous three books - I did not like the Child or The Widow at times as they do not pull any punches and although not gory or gruesome they can cover some unsettling and dark topics. However I adored The Suspect and thought it was just brilliant.
It has been some time since I read the previous books but I think honestly I would never have guessed they were by the same author. Not that "Local Gone Missing" is bad but I just did not find myself immersed and gripped as the previous three.
I found I could not really get a good picture of the policewomen involved and I did find Charlie and Pauline a rather unlikely couple.
First off - great for once the missing person was not a woman as I expected it to be, second I admire the non ageist characterisation of Pauline as a glamorous and voraciously appetited 75 year old who is shown as a strong willed dynamic woman and not a tragically delusional figure of fun. Ditto her similarly aged husband Charlie who also is leading a very full and complex live with no apologies or allowances made for his age.
Of course they are not the average couple irrespective of age, so why shouldn't they be still seen as valid characters leading exciting lives as many 70 somethings do and have always done.
The story was told as so many are, jumping back and forth and as I was not totally enthralled I did find it a bit hard to follow and had to keep going back to make sure I had not missed anything.
I did find also two coincidences that I found hard to swallow and I gave up before the end as a pre-order I had been looking forward to arrived in and I felt I had sort of got most of what it had to give.
Narration was fine, one of the female narrators had that kind of voice that sounds as if she has just finished a digestive biscuit and washed it down with a cup of tea - it is an attractive quality but always makes me feel slightly peckish!
And that I suppose is a good metaphor for the whole book- bit of a storm in a teacup which left me rather unsatisfied and craving something I could really get my teeth into.

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9 people found this helpful