Detailed and thorough exploration of an awful crime

This book is extremely detailed and painstakingly lays out both the background leading up to the awful events at White House Farm and the aftermath. Some reviewers had complained about off-putting pauses in the narration but I found the narration to be very clear and any pauses are purposely placed to indicate quotes either from written or verbal accounts.

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3 people found this helpful

Good content, terrible narration

The narration of this book totally ruined it for me. Really odd intonation, strange pauses and dire accents / direct speech. The content is largely good, although the very full history of June and Nevill’s families felt a bit like padding out. However, the narration is SO bad I actually opted to stop and buy the book to carry on.

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2 people found this helpful

Comprehensive & interesting

If the case interests you, then this is a superb listen, I disagree with other reviewers and enjoyed the narrative and narrator. Essential listening and well written and read.

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the detail and love

this book really makes you see the whole picture of what life was like in the walls of whitehouse farm.. the complex relationships that made up the fabric of there family life.. a tragedy unimaginable to many is a real life story of grief beyond words for those left behind to pick up the pieces..
but amongst all there pain and dispear a family and community full of love for the memories of those taken on that oh so dark evening.. the victims always seem to be forgotten but not here.. here you really feel like you know the bambers personally and feel the loss.. love be with them all.. and may they rest in peace knowing justice was done.

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Riveting

This is a very well written book, lots of information about the backgrounds of all the players. Very good narration which keeps your attention fixed on the progression of the crime , trial and beyond. I would highly recommend this.

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11 people found this helpful

Fascinating insight.

very interesting and a lot of detail by the author and still intrigued me as to what actually happened that night.

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Longer than I'd anticipated!

I wanted to listen to this book before watching the ITV series. I found it a looong listen, yet actually had to slow down the narrator a little as her voice is quite high and the combination of high and fast made the pace hard going for me . The narration is mostly articulated very well, but now and again, misplaced emphasis on a particular word would throw me off the narrative. Also calling a straw boater a straw boa left me wondering, and not listening. I enjoyed the book nevertheless, but might avoid this narrator for further listens. Although the narrator had a 'nice' voice and tries hard at perfect diction, I didn't feel her voice held the gravitas required for the serious nature of the book.

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6 people found this helpful

Great story but read like Jackanory

I downloaded this book after watching White House Farm on ITV and listening to In Search of Rainbows End by Colin Cafell. Whereas Colin's book is a deeply personal account of the events and his own journey of grief and loss this book delves more into the history of White House Farm, the Bamber family and the ensuing investigation and murder trial.

I very much enjoyed this book but it was hampered by the narration which at times had the air of a teacher reading a story to a group of children. The narrators tone when quoting men always sounded gruff and disdainful regardless of who they were. Jeremy Bamber particularly sounds like a panto villain perhaps to emphasise his "evil" credentials which is not necessary as we are intelligent enough to make up our own minds without such obvious direction. She has a go at accents too which seems completely unnecessary as it makes no difference to the context of what is being said and takes you out of the story somewhat.

Overall a fascinating account of a captivating true crime story. I wonder if it could have been even better with the right narrator.

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Interesting and respectful

Despite the tragic subject I enjoyed listening to this audiobook. I wanted to learn more about the murders and this was very thorough, upsetting thorough at times, but that is the nature of true crime.

Those reviews disliking the narrator and the 'odd' full stops etc are totally missing the point. The narrator stops to start a quote and then sometimes links quotes with 'and' etc. I don't see why anyone has a problem but I guess that's just some people! It's perfectly obvious what the pauses indicate. I found the narrator's voice pleasant, even though I usually prefer a male narrator.

If you want to listen anders about these dreadful events then this is an excellent source of information.

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Excellent account let down by poor narration

Author Lee constructs a wide-ranging yet detailed account of this appalling multiple murder. She has clearly done her homework, tracing and interviewing the many key (and some more minor) individuals whose recollections inform the story. Her style is fluid, dense with direct quotations and forensic detail. But this solid piece of work is badly let down by the inexplicable choice of a narrator who sounds like a 12-year-old girl, when such a sobering and harrowing tale demands a mature voice. Sanderson mispronounces numerous words, eg the surname Pargeter (which she says with a hard ‘g’), hypostasis, demurred (which she pronounces ‘demured’), et al. She misplaces emphases, too, with the result that sentences sound sing-song, odd or downright puzzling; and in her effort to convey that she’s reading the many (presumably inverted-comma’d) quotes, she leaves exaggerated pauses before the actual quoted material. This makes for a bitty, broken narrative flow. Unwisely, she sometimes attempts an accent, thus straying into dramatisation. Finally, she has a peculiar habit of lingering on the final letter at the end of sentences, giving her lingering ‘s’ a strange, whistling hiss. All told, it badly detracts from a very well-crafted tale which deserves narration of a much higher quality.

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2 people found this helpful