Five Bloody Hearts

By: Joy Ellis

Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies

Grace Repton, a beautiful older woman, walks into the police station to tell Detective Matt Ballard she has information that could stop a murder. Her fiance, the infamous serial killer Jeremy Reader, has told her that he has a disciple who is going to kill using Reader's horrific methods.

Reader murdered five women and was finally brought to justice by Detective Ballard. Reader is safely imprisoned in a high security prison, and claiming to be a reformed man who wants to help the police.

But can Matt believe the serial killer or his peculiar wife to be? Can the love of a good woman really change a serial killer?

And the Fenland police also have another investigation on their hands. A Lithuanian migrant worker is found dead on the fens. There is no ID on him, but he has a Tree of Life tattoo. This is the third body to be found with this distinctive tattoo. Is this gang war or something even more sinister?

The police are stretched to the breaking point with multiple copycat murders. And Matt and his girlfriend Liz will fight for everything they care about in a heart-stopping conclusion that will have you on the edge of your seat.

©2019 Joy Ellis (P)2019 Tantor

Decent story, wrong reader

If I continue with this series it will have to be on my Kindle. The intonation on almost every line here was off. It wasn’t the dodgy accents either that got me. Every now and then, I caught myself reciting a sentence out loud without dropping the ending just to hear it like it should have been read. Sorry to be so negative but a good narrator is crucial for me. I can’t hear any more with this reader.

Love Joy Ellis!

. They mostly center police station and work on multiple cases at same time. I have read over half of what this author has written and will be finishing the rest!

enjoyed, characters and narrator

Enjoyed this, Book 2, of the series to the first. The difference was the narration. I had hesitations about trying the second in the series because I found the 1st in the series to be a bit caustic in tone. Now that I have listened to Book 2, I realize that it was the narrator and not the book content that created that impression. I plan on listening to #3 and hope to enjoy it as much as the second.

So disappointed

I have loved the DI Galena and Jackman series. I am not enjoying Matt Ballard as much. The first book was ok, but this one is taking me a while to finish. It may be because the narrator is absolutely horrible. I will be sure to never get another book he narrates. The others have kept me on the edge of my seat. This one cannot keep my attention and I keep having to rewind to try to keep up with the plot.

worth it, even with the overdramatic reading

cool story, like the characters, not a fan of the narration (at all) ; but worth it if you need to listen instead of read (like myself) - this is definitely one book i wish i could've read myself

Too contrived

Not one of her best books. Started well, but just not believable at the end.

Least favorite of all the JE books so far but..

it’s still worth a credit, I don’t regret the hours invested, and wouldn’t discourage anyone from listening.

That said, if you’re just starting with JE then don’t choose this book/series. Jackman and Galena are both better options. Some characters from those series make an appearance in this book which helped bump up the rating a bit.

The narrator was skilled. Can’t deny that. The problem is he made every single character sound like they were in their 60s. Made it tough to discern ages of some of the characters. For example, Brynn is a *young* up-and-coming detective, but he has the voice of a posh elderly aristocrat. Ruined the vibe on a great character.

The story was predictable and drug out. And it felt like a shortcut to make the various storylines all work together.

Only other issue was the seemingly rookie mistakes or oversights by so many senior characters. Doesn’t seem plausible if we’re supposed to take this team seriously.

But to be completely honest, I enjoyed enough of the characters in the first two of this series to move on to the next. Only because I’ve already finished the other two book series. Again would start with either of those first if you’re new to JE.

Read Don’t Listen on This One

This was the worst narration I have ever heard. Cartoonish possibly? Very low level skill and extremely over-acted. I did listen to the whole book, as I am trying to get through the Ballard series, but even the plot was iffy for me. This narrator is top of my list on who to avoid on Audible.

Best one yet

I knew the real killer in the middle but couldn’t figure out why. That was a surprise

Not my favourite

I am a fan of Joy Ellis and have read/listened to all the Nikki Galena books, a stand alone book and all the Jackman and Evan’s book, this wasn’t as good as they normally are, in my opinion. I really did not enjoy the narration, it brought memories of 1970’s British sitcoms to mind, which wasn’t really appropriate for a murder story. The accents were often way off, and it’s a real no for me when male readers try to do a female voice. I wish they’d just read it and know we can tell when it’s the female character without doing high pitched campiness, which women don’t sound like anyway. I guessed who the murderer was early on in the book, which I found quite frustrating as I found myself saying out loud, c’mon, you must know who it is, to the fictional cops. I love Joy Ellis books, but this one wasn’t for me I’m afraid.