Great premise, fiendish plotting plus good finish.

I have mixed views of Sophie Hannah's mysteries.
I loved the Poirots she writes, based on the three I have read, despite having been very sceptical that I could enjoy one not written by Agatha Christie.
I was so disappointed by "The Understudy" I returned it and was infuriated I even bothered to finish "Pictures or It Didn't Happen" as it just really went nowhere for me.
So I was intrigued by the premise of this book but not overly optimistic.
I was not overly impressed by the narration, yes there were a lot of characters with various accents so not an easy job, but I found myself really disliking most of them especially the Scouse and US ones which grated rather.
Despite myself I found myself getting more and more involved and mystified by the story and once I had a hold of all the characters I was hooked.
I did not realise this was a part of the Culver Valley series which I have not read but did see the TV series adaption of a couple of them.
However despite having the same couple featuring in them, this did not spoil my enjoyment as it worked as a standalone.
It parts it was an homage to Christie and I really enjoyed that element and though I was dreading being let down by an insubstantial ending after all the suspense and seemingly impossible crime, it all came together well.
Yes a little suspension of disbelief required but overall I found it satisfactory.
I am at a time where I am short of one of my favourite authors' murder mystery thrillers and hoping Ruth Ware or Anthony Horrowitz will soon have a new offering out, but in the meantime this really filled the gap for me.
I am tempted to try some of the Culver Valley Series or another Poirot in the meantime as Sophie Hannah does have very well crafted and thought out mysteries.
Solid 4 stars and would have been edging towards 5 with a more inspired narration ... and with some more likable, less drab characters and a more exotic location it would have been 5 star all the way for me.

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7 people found this helpful

Modern day Classic.

Have already been a fan of S. Hannah's, Poirot Stories. So looked forward to this and was not disappointed. Nice classic whodunit, in modern dressing. Well performed, with nice array of intriguing characters. With only a few technical flaws. But good gripping read which had me hooked from the first paragraph.

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1 person found this helpful

Bear with it

Takes a while to get going but once it gets there, it is not bad at all. Not a patch on the Poirot books that Sophie Hannah writes but it’s OK

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Stunning

So clever. Utterly improbable but fascinating.of course none of the characters are meant to be realistic but who cares.

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Contrived

Started out in a very intriguing way and was entertaining for a while but then just got very silly. Plot incredibly contrived beyond any reason.

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always fabulous

I missed these books. It is great to read books that you can't guess the ending for.

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Really enjoyed it!

Thought this was great! Really enjoyed the narration, it was witty & funny in places, couldn’t see where it was going at all, thoroughly enjoyed it!

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1 person found this helpful

Too repetitive

I loved the idea, and liked the chacterisations of the police officers but it was far too repetitive. After hearing the same exploration of the storyline for what seemed the third time I think this book would have benefited from some careful editing.

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Brilliant book

This is a brilliant story, and I had to listen in one sitting. The culprit was pretty predictable, but the reasons behind it were not. The only very small problem I had was that it finished very abruptly, and I wasn't ready for it. Brilliantly narrated

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5 people found this helpful

Quite liked it but hated the characters

I quite liked this. I think the author has done a great job with suspense and intrigue and I enjoyed the story for most of the book - until it got to the point where peoples motives became clear and they seemed all seemed silly and poorly thought out.

I struggled to believe that people would feel so violently toward s the victim however unpleasant she was.

I hated pretty much all of the characters. Almost every one of them was self indulgent, self obsessed, self riteous, lacking in any moral compass and out of touch with reality.

The beauty of authors like Agatha Christie (and she’s certainly influenced this story) is that they manage to create believable characters who you largely warm to. That adds to the intrigue and shock. There was none of that here. Even though Sophie Hannah has written a lot already that aspect still felt immature as did a lot of the dialogue. It felt more like a debut novel from someone who was “giving it a go” I might give another of her books a read. I’m not sure.

Julie Massey did a good job. Her voice wasn’t comfortable for me to listen to. I found it’s quality a bit grating but I think that’s personal preference rather than a reflection of her ability. Her accents and the range she had with moving from character to character was excellent.

If you’re wavering, give it a go maybe and see what you think.

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