Good plot, well written but unlikable characters

Is it me ........ or is the the books I am listening to lately which do not seem to fully hold my attention?
My guilty pleasure is falling asleep listening to a fabulous whodunnit or psychological thriller - the better written and more gripping the faster I fall asleep, I imagine as I am so absorbed and transported, I forget about the stress of the day and finally relax.

Anyway, with an excellent book, it can take mere minutes and then in the morning I zoom back to the last words I remember hearing, while semi conscious, and resume for a morning chapter or so. If the book is really amazing then I look forward to listening to it all day and if it is exceptional, I take it with me and listen during the day.

Recently I have had about four in a row books which I listen to for ages, fall asleep - wake up and cannot be bothered to go back over all those chapters I missed and just carry on as I could not be bothered really. I do not return the books as nothing really wrong with them, well narrated, well written, no glaring plot holes but just something about them that does not make me go "wow".

The Sanctuary, my first Emma Haughton thriller is such a book.
I was intrigued by the premise, narration was fine - though the Spanish pronunciation was a bit off and as there was not that much it would have been nice if there had been more of an effort made with the excellent and easy to find online pronunciation sites.

The writing was excellent and compelling in places and the plot seemed to jog along nicely as I dipped in and out.
I think my main let down was the characters of which I did not care for a one!
Nor did I care what happened to them.

I found the protagonist particularly unlikeable, though intelligent and resourceful, she was just not my cup of tea.
Perhaps due to my disrespectful nocturnal dipping in and out, I found the rest of the characters to be quite bland with the exception of Antonio who seemed like fun. So as the body count rose, I found myself profoundly sanguine about the whole thing.

As the book came to a climax and the plot was revealed it did begin to grip me though to be fair I felt like I had not missed much, nor was tempted to go back and read it fully. Although I have given the book a solid 4 as it was well written and plotted, had an exotic location and was general well read and helped me relax it did not thrill or grip me really.

Maybe just me and I will definitely try the next Emma Haughton thriller but I long for a big meal of an audiobook like ............ an Anthony Horrowitz Magpie Murders or The Word is Murder, one in the Robert Galbreith Strike series, - the fabulous Hot Water by Cristopher Fowler, Heat Wave by Kate Riorden, The Harbinda Kaur Series by Ellie Griffiths, a well narrated Ruth Ware, The You series by Caroline Kepnes, the recent thrillers by Lisa Jewell, any of the amazing new thrillers by Louise Candlish like The Other Passenger/Sudden Departure of the Frasers/Those People, Tammy Cohen's recent work, The French Girl/How to Kill your Best friend by Lexie Elliot, The Other Couple/Tattletale/The Festival by Sarah J Naughton, Shiver by Allie Reynolds, Breathless by Amy McCulloch, Dirty Little Secrets By Jo Spain, The Cove by Alice Clark Platts, Cara Hunter's excellent series, Jane Casey's Cat Kinsella Series, Liane Moriarty's Apples Never Fall and many others, Rebound/Exposure by Aga Lesiewicz, Something in the Water, The Family Game and The Disappearing Act by Caroline Steadman, Confidence and Conviction by Denise Mina, most of Sabine Durrant's thrillers and Her Perfect Life by Sam Hepburn, The Villa and Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins .......... these are all thrillers I was truly excited and involved 100% and of course there are many more who have a big place in my heart and which I would re-read chapters of rather than skip or skim.

So to sum up, I enjoyed it, it was well crafted, intelligently and well written, but whether it is me just finding so many audiobooks a bit "Meh!" these days or just a good book not being quite my thing, this did not blow me away
... but I will be back for the next for sure.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

Great author

I’ve loved both or Emma’s books so far, love the setting if both this and The Dark. Encore!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Formulaic

A very safe story stuck between a romance novel and an attempt at new age Agatha Christie. The social media and starlet references were clumsy. “That actress off the latest HBO” kind of thing. Characterisation was thumbnailed and cliche at
best. No real exploration of the grey area between addiction and recovery. Her guilt was false and her downward spiral was something most people would treat as normal life.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!