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Shireen

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The Grand Hotel: A Novel Part 2 Audiobook By Scott Kenemore cover art

Ghostly Good Story

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

Reviewed: 01-06-24

It might be the English teacher in me, but this craftily and exquisitely told story feels like a combination of Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”, an Agatha Christie mystery and a classic ghost story. The audio was very engaging and the stories are enticing and clever. A very satisfying listen!

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Something Old Still Works

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

Reviewed: 06-18-21

I'm sorry, but also I'm not sorry! Agatha Christie is an icon and her stories, while they may seem quite dated by now, still hold up as quintessential murder mysteries! They characters are echoes from times past and there is nothing wrong with liking them for who they were in the times from which they were written. The ups and downs of the story still hold intrigue, the motivations and alibis of the characters still keep the reader anticipating the next move, and the lead detective of Hercules Poirot is still great! Christie is a classic mystery writer and her stories are still enjoyable to experience!

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No Defense Needed For a Killer Story!

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

Reviewed: 06-18-21

WOW! Just WOW! This novel had me hooked from the very first minute of listening to it. Grover Gardner delivered a stellar performance reading William Landay's expertly crafted murder mystery a la "Law and Order"/"CSI"/"Boston Legal". When I found out that this amazing story that you WILL NOT figure out until the VERY last sentence has been turned into a movie with Chris Evans and Michelle Dockery only made me want to listen to it as quickly as I could.

The entire premise of the story and the way in which Landay created the landscape for his story is utterly captivating and unique. It is a combination of normal storytelling and courtroom scenes and courtroom transcripts. Landay is really quite clever in how he weaves the intricacies of the story and keeps leading the reader by the nose in whatever direction he wants. And here's the thing, I did not mind AT ALL to be lead around by the nose. Landay made me feel like I knew where he was going better than he did, and he proved me wrong EVERY SINGLE TIME! At the end, I just sat back and let the shock of the ending of the novel wash over me. It was so satisfying, creepy, and unexpected all rolled into one.

This is one story you must put on your short list for getting to ASAP. You can thank me later!

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Blazing Praise for "The Coldest Case"!

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

Reviewed: 06-18-21

Ok, I really liked this. Now, I know I seem to like just about everything I listen to, so it may just be the English/Drama teacher in me, but I do love listening to a full cast audio production because I can really imagine everything that is going on. I just really like the "old time radio" feel of these productions!

You put the writing talent of James Patterson alongside the voice talents of actors like Aaron Paul, Krysten Ritter, Nathalie Emmanuel and Beau Bridges and you are going to get a red hot audio production without much effort! The story was solid, the cliff hangers were definitely crafted to keep you wanting more, and the ending was not as predictable as I thought it was going to be. I am actually intrigued by the ending and hope to see more Black Book Thrillers with Billy Harney and his sister and father.

I am surprised, actually, by how much fully fleshed out story was crammed into less than 4 hours! If you are a James Patterson fan, you WILL NOT be disappointed!

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An Intriguing Tale Lost in Time

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

Reviewed: 06-17-21

I have to admit, I do not think I was paying close attention when I first started listening to this novel, but then I realized I was hearing a story that took place over different eras of time and had several different women as the protagonists. The more and more I listened to the story, the more and more hooked I became.

About two-thirds of the way into the story, I was really beginning to wonder how Kate Morton was going to tie up all of the loose ends and make the various storylines meet, but I was not to be disappointed. Morton did an amazing job in weaving all of the stories of the various women and time frames together into a cohesive and satisfying conclusions for the entire story. To say I got really lost in this book is not a bad thing at all! Morton's characters are compelling and their individual stories are extremely interesting and I really became invested in the story once I realized I really needed to focus more when I was listening. I don't think I would have gotten lost in the beginning if I were reading the book. But this problem was mine, not the author's.

The audio itself was quite enjoyable and Joanne Froggatt did a terrific job with the different characters. I did not have much trouble keeping everyone straight in my head.

This was really a lovely novel and the intricacies of the story itself were intriguing and definitely kept me engrossed until the very end.

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Huxley is Still Relevant!

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

Reviewed: 06-17-21

This dystopian classic NEVER disappoints no matter how many times I read it! Michael York is the perfect voice for this English classic. His distinctive voice inflections make differentiation between characters very easy to keep track of who's who. As our current time of 2021 has us all dealing with a global pandemic and covering our faces in masks, the story of how could a world possibly change so drastically as Huxley depicts the Brave New World, does not seems nearly as far fetched anymore. Using this audio with my English classes has livened up the conversations and class discussions, for sure.

In our world today, I think we can often get a dose of reality through some really insightfully written dystopian fiction by authors such as Huxley! Read and think, people! Read and think!

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A Bright and Scary Future?!

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

Reviewed: 05-04-21

This book was so very good I almost can't stand it. I am an English teacher and I am currently teaching the classic dystopian novel "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley. Now I want to add this in to the mix! James D. Prescott has done such an amazing job of creating a realistically achievable and scary future, while still being able to add in a sci-fi element. But it all seems totally believable! The twists and turns of this story were expertly woven to make the reader think they had figured it all out, but Prescott didn't make it that easy. There was always a new, "Wait...what? I wasn't expecting that!" moment that kept you glued to the story. The narrator's voice was absolutely a pleasure to listen to! Gary Tiedeman gave ever voice (even the radio announcers) their own characteristics and his female voices were well done, too. I also really liked how the author provided how he formulated ideas and what research he did for this novel in the end credits. This, too, was very enjoyable and added to the complexity of his story. The man certainly did his research!

I just cannot fully express how much I enjoyed this author and narrator! I am going to look for more from both of them right now! Really fantastic!

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Consistency is a good thing!

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

Reviewed: 04-13-21

Ok, I have listened to the entire Mindhunter series from Brant and I enjoyed them all, even if the side storylines with the male and female characters were 100% predictable: they meet, they hate each other at first, then they think they might like each other, then they have mind blowing (highly detailed) sexual encounters that sends, at least one of them, "over the edge" and then they usually get married. But this part is not why I listen to the stories. Around all of the slightly X-Rated Harlequin Romance stuff, there are some really interestingly written murder mystery storylines. This is the stuff I really enjoy! "McClain's Law" fulfilled this element of Brant's writing style as well as the Mindhunter series did for me. This was a good murder mystery to unravel!

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Not all exits wounds are clean!

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

Reviewed: 04-13-21

This compilation is truly a mixed bag. Some of the stories are interesting, some are shocking, some are awkward, some are just plain...not good. While I appreciated a variety of voices narrating the different stories, some of the voices and accents were simply not pleasant or easy to listen to. I was not very satisfied with this one. Taking a pass would not be a horrible decision.

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Worth sticking through to the end!

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

Reviewed: 04-13-21

When I first started this novel, I wasn't quite sure what I had gotten myself into. I definitely had to adjust the speed to about 1.3 in order to find the tempo that was right for me with the narrator. Don't get me wrong, she has a lovely voice and her character interpretations are terrific, but the Polish accent made the reading a little too stilted and speeding her up worked better for me. I felt pretty lost until about chapter 6 and then I felt more comfortable with the story and where it might be going. It was at this point that I went and read some more reviews and realized this novel had won a Nobel Prize for Literature! Being an English teacher, I decided I definitely needed to stick with it, and I am so glad I did! The ending was so very satisfying! No spoilers, but I really did not see it coming! The author crafted the trails through her story so well that I followed her willingly and was so joyously surprised at how it all settled in the end. This one takes some concentration, but it is so worth sticking with her through to the end!

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