Extraordinary reflection of the real world of poli

I enjoyed this collection of four thrillers. My interest in Africa was tickled by a couple of books I read last year but in this case I was specifically impressed with the author’s mastery of the craft of the action-packed crime thriller. It was very good, I thought. The plots of each of the four books are simple yet powerful, with the action driving forward to an inevitable powerful confrontation. The characters are believable and the whole thing seems well researched. Very entertaining, I thought.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

Writing of a very high quality

Super. Four crime thrillers - really more accurately described as police-procedural thrillers - in a country where the police are as corrupt as the criminals they chase. The audio is good quality, with the narrator doing a range of accents. Perhaps he could have used a woman for the female parts. But anyway he does a good job.

More important, this is writing of a very high quality. The banter between husband and wife, detectives and their bosses, and between vicious criminals in their drunken humour and drunken barbaric violence, is all handled with aplomb. I couldn't stop listening.

Lovely plots, great forensic and ballistic accuracy (I know a bit about this), and believable action all the way.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Unusual and very effective

The vocals are unusual and really quite captivating. It's good not to have mid-Atlantic English (either BBC or bland USA). The narrator does a fine job, though I would have wanted a woman to do the female voices.

The book itself is superb. I like these cops and their attitude. The villains, too, are the worst kind. The final scene of the fourth book is very beautifully done. It is a classic denouement after an amazing journey through the rough world of the evil crime that inhabits this region. A very good book to listen to and to read.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

Top class thrillers

These were top class thrillers. I was so intrigued by the accents and the local context. I have many friends in Yorkshire who know South Africa and many of them have referred me to the newspaper reports that come in day after day about the crime and corruption there. These thrillers certainly capture all of that. I found them most interesting and well written, and the reader was very good to do all the different accents so well.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

Beautifully plotted

If you could sum up The Ryder Quartet in three words, what would they be?

Believable action thriller

What did you like best about this story?

I’ve read a couple of the individual stories in this quartet, but it was very good to go through them all in sequence from the beginning, and hear the author read them himself. The accents are good and – although I would prefer to have had a man and a woman’s voice to share the different genders between them – it was altogether very satisfying. The way the hunt for the evil criminal unfolds is expertly handled. By the time the great climax comes in the final chapter of the final book, one is ready for some big-action martial arts. The author doesn’t disappoint. I found the writing very well laid out, beautifully plotted, with lots of warm and believable human characters throughout. Most enjoyable. Some great discussions about rugby, too. Very funny.

Have you listened to any of Ian Patrick’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Yes, one of the volumes, but this is the best.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Laughs and cries all the way

Any additional comments?

Brilliant. Highly recommended

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

Very satisfying: a different kind of thriller

I was thoroughly impressed with this. The writing is outstanding. It's a great plot, with an evil antagonist who teases and avoids the detectives during the course of four very exciting and different crime capers. The books hang together but are also self-contained: one can listen to any one of them and have a full-blown plot, inclusive and with a beginning, middle and end that makes it stand alone. But, together, they also have an overall arc that holds them in one developing story. It would make a good Netflix series.

The narration is good, with a rich timbre and clear diction. I would have liked to have a couple of female voices play the women characters, but the narrator manages to distinguish them well enough. The accents are well defined, and the energy and rhythm is good.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Four lovely thrillers

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, for sure. Four eight-hour audiobooks collected together in one audiobook makes for a lovely series (and reasonably priced, for four books) to listen to in the awful winter weather we are having. It's like curling up next to the fire with a comforting warm voice taking you through the depths of dark despair and then out the other side again.

What did you like best about this story?

The whole series makes sense as a cohesive whole, although each story stands independently of the rest. It was lovely picking up the hints and connections between each of the stories. It's like a Lee Child novel, where you say "oh yes, he's referring back to the thing that happened in that book". Same thing here. It all connects so well.

What about Ian Patrick’s performance did you like?

Nice and easy and different - a clear voice with good diction but not the standard mid-Atlantic accent we hear so often.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. Not possible. Not desirable, either. It is thirty hours all in all so I took over a week to listen to it. In the bath. On the bus. In front of the fire. Lots of red wine and warmth and an exciting series.

Any additional comments?

The dog is amazing. What a character. I should mention that my dog sat with me in front of the fire and whined whenever the dog in the book got into trouble. Uncanny, that. Clever canines.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

Great stories, narration gets better

I already had the kindle version of this collection but I then received this audio book in a free promotion. Nevertheless, my review is an honest one: I owe the author nothing because I don't know him (or her: I see that he/she writes under a pen-name).

I loved the stories themselves. They are really good reads. The characters are real and fun and - in many cases - adorable (the Afrikaner detectives are cute, and the dog is - well - just the best dog you could ever have). The villain is not adorable. He's a monster. But good old Jeremy comes to the rescue and cleans up the dirt. Thrills all the way as good prevails over evil.

The narration is, to be honest, not top class. I liked most of it (and indeed it gets better and better as the narrator settles in and identifies more and more with the characters). I found the narration tentative at the start, but then it starts flowing more easily. Certainly, it is clear and understandable all the way, with good diction and a nice variety in characterisation.

So: a good collection of well-written stories, with just a little still to be desired in the audio narration.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

First book was great; had to get the others too

I read the first book in this series of four, and had to get the rest, because it was such a compelling plot and wonderful characters. Each of the stories is independent and can be read without reading the others, but it is very satisfying when you get to the end of the whole collection and think back on each episode and see the connections and the clues that are hidden and then taken up in other episodes without affecting the plot of the one you're busy reading. It would make a great Netflix movie.

I listened to the audio version because I got it on a free promotion. But having got it free didn't prejudice me (I had already paid for the first book in the series and gave it a five star review before I got the audio collection).

What I like most is the accents and the range of very dangerous characters. The cops are great fun, too, and they all work together very well. If I have a criticism it is that the women characters could be read by a woman's voice.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

Very compact four books, well written

I liked the short stories of this writer and started following him. As a result of that I got his "Devil Dealing", the first one in the crime thriller series. Then I received this collection of four in a free promotion of the audiobook. Well, I have to say that listening to the quartet was a delight. It all came to life with the narration.

The accents are wonderfully dark and dangerous and the characters are so interesting. The villain - well, the main villain, but all the villains, really - are so very bad, but at times they are totally understandable as one hears little drops of clues and insights into their lives and what makes them tick.

These are super books and the whole quartet is very good indeed. The narration is very good and the accents are totally believable.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful