The Stolen Child cover art

The Stolen Child

DCI Hanlon, Book 1

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The Stolen Child

By: Alex Coombs
Narrated by: Elizabeth Bouckley
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About this listen

The start of an addictive, tense and gritty series from bestelling author Alex Coombs.

Meet DCI Hanlon. A woman with a habit of breaking the rules and a fierce loyalty to the few people she respects.

When the kidnap of a 12-year-old boy blows the case of some missing children wide apart, the finger is pointing at the heart of the Met.

Hanlon is sent in as the only cop who is incorruptible enough to handle it. But can she find the killer before another child is stolen?

Once you start the DCI Hanlon series, you won't be able to stop. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Lisa Regan and Mark Dawson.

This book was previously published as Time To Die by Alex Howard.

©2021 Alex Coombs (P)2022 Boldwood Books
Crime Thrillers Thriller Fiction Suspense
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What listeners say about The Stolen Child

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not the easiest listen

I struggled to keep engaged with this narrator. I would not choose to listen to another book narrated by her

The content of the book is very explicit in terms of child sexual assault by paedophiles. It was hard to listen to, and I'd not have chosen this book if I'd been aware of the content in advance. I felt the author relished in repeating the details. There are disturbing images that cannot easily be forgotten and I felt quite upset and angry. Obviously this is a work of fiction, but the fact that we live in a world where things like this, and worse, actually happen is just overwhelming.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The narrator made listening hard work

Storyline was great. Narrator was terrible please don't let her do anymore.
I loved the story, and Hanlon was a really good character. I persevered with the narrator because of the book. But having to hear a story where the story teller didn't inject any atmosphere into the story was real hardwork.
Ready for the next book hopefully with a new narrator.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Stolen child

Great book to read couldn't put it down
buy the book and enjoy.
Great read

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A little too explicit.

I liked the audio book a lot. Read well. However it was an extremely sensitive subject and I felt it was too graphic in places, which I felt was totally unnecessary. I fast forward at one point.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

So so could be better

The overall story wasn't too bad but it became very difficult to follow sometimes due to poor editing. There were no real pauses in between paragraphs which could sometimes be very confusing as it appeared that the narrator was still talking about one person's perspective when they had in fact changed. Its a basic narration, bot bad but not great with no real variation in tone or voice for different characters. Obviously it's a bit grim in terms of subject matter so be ready for that but overall ita bot too bad, looking forward to listening to the next.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Don’t expect a following of the previous books

Well, it’s like this book was written by someone who didn’t read the previous books. The main character on this book is very shallow, specially in comparison with the previous ones.

If you haven’t read them you will meet a main character described as myth, very shallow. She is an almost inhumane robot., not much likable or dislikable The story is ok though. Always hard to listen to stories with children that suffered. But it is an ok crime book.

The reader sounds like a robot, but I could bear it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The Stolen Child

Thoroughly enjoyed the story and never had any Issa with the narrator’s pronunciation. She may have a slight lisp which made her delivery most enjoyable. Nothing to complain about. JRR

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable story, well narrated.

EB Narration is fine by me. The Hanlon stories are always entertaining. All good. Wish I hadn’t delayed bc of a bad review.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A good story spoiled by the performance of the narration

Like all D I Hanlon stories this was interesting intriguing and exciting in parts but was let down with the narrator’s style , robotic and devoid of inflection. I almost gave up as I found it irritating . Glad I didn’t as it was a good story

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Characters

Really enjoyed this apart from the narration, the voice is obviously Ai and hyper annoying. Please change for future recordings.

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