Guardian of the Damned

By: Bella Fayre

Narrated by: Kelley Hazen

Doctor Donna DeShayne, a well-known forensic psychiatrist, is invited to evaluate and assist in solving a crime 21 years in the making. Faced with events from more than a century ago, DeShayne finds her strength and stride as she eventually faces her own past and that of the guardian of the damned.

©2016 Catherine Lowery (P)2020 Catherine Lowery

Powerful, Compelling, A Must Read

After listening to Bella Fayre’s wonderful book, Sisters of the Scorned, I was compelled to listen to Fayre previous two books in her Dr Donna DeShayne series. I was riveted and profoundly touched by Sisters of the Scorned, and I found Maelstroms of the Silent and Guardian of the Damned equally powerful. Fayre provides detailed historical accuracy within a spellbinding story. I hope you will join me in celebrating Fayre’s gift for storytelling and Kelley Hazen’s bringing everything to life in her reading. I am posting this same review for Maelstroms and Guardian since I am at a loss for words on how to praise them without repeating myself.

Guardian of the Damned

A superb murder mystery. A cold case becomes so much more as pieces are put together and it becomes evident that there’s a serial killer at work. Will they get to the bottom of things before the body count increases?

Bella Fayre did a fantastic job of keeping me guessing. I hope to see more from this author.

I’m always entertained by Kelley Hazen’s performances. She did a fantastic job with this cast of characters. Bravo!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Worth reading

I enjoyed it mostly. However it was a bit slow and at times confusing. Kelley was brilliant as always.

Decent Mystery

I did enjoy listening to this murder mystery with good narration. It is about Dr Donna DeShayne a forensic psychiatrist solving old murder while being stalked by her ex, it does have a lot of history, twists and turns as well as good characterization and a surprise ending. I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Thank you

Great Read

Guardian of the Damned was a great read by Bella Fayre. Doctor Donna DeShayne, a well-known forensic psychiatrist, is invited again to assist in solving a crime that is twenty-one years in the making. She is faced with events from over a century ago. This was another great read by the author and I loved the life Kelley Hazen brought to the characters.

Guardian of the damned

This was a good book.It was a bit confusing,even knowing the story of the Johnstown Flood. Narration by Kelley Hazen was good.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A Great Listen

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the narrator and found it fun. A cold case that isn't quite cold yet. When a friend moves to a new city, he asks Dr. Donna DeShanye to help him with it. As Donna investigates, she realized that somehow these crimes are tied to a people and a crime committed in the past century. But it's hard to concentrated when her own past is slowing closing in on her. Suspense and humour dominate this novel. It's interesting and intriguing characters keep you listening, wondering what unexpected twist will happen next. It's very enjoyable and I'll have to check out more books from this series.

I'm undecided on this one...

I'm undecided on this one... On the one hand, the main plot - looking fo a serial killer - was quite interesting, with its historical background of the Johnstown Flood of 1889, but on the other, there were so many other things thrown into the plot that I had my doubts at times as to which crime/event really was the main one....

I'll try to avoid spoilers but that may be difficult... So, the three things that bothered me most are:
1) I know catching a serial killer takes time and a lot of research and talks and tedious re-reading and re-examining of everything the investigating team gathers while working on the case, so I have nothing against the fact that the plot covers over a year of Donna's life... but I never felt like this investigation was really important except one or two times when we were told that Donna had spent a whole night/a few whole nights reading and analysig the police files (and this in as much as one sentence)... I found out more about her private life (like what she did with her friends and what food she ate) than about what she knew about the killer, what she learnt from the files.. Throughout the whole book I had a feeling that the serial killer plotline was there as the background for all Donna's socializing stuff... Pity, cause it was really interesting...
2) As for solving the crime itself I feel we are left in the dark; there are no clues for us, no hints whatsoever - it's even more irritating, we are told that Donna has found something crucial to the case... and then the narration stops without any kind of information as to what it is. It's like telling me "I have a cake for you" and never showing (not to mention giving) it to me...
3) I really don't know why the first half of the book concentrates so much on the escaped prisoner (I can't write more for "no spoilers" policy:)). I think it was supposed to give us some background to the main characters' lives but the whole plotline is completely unnecessary and could be totally cut out - it neither adds to the character development nor relates to the main serial killer case... Unless I have missed the fact that this book is a part of a series and all the events around the escaped prisoner somehow relate to what happened before... But I don't think it's the case here...
And one more thing - although I quite like Ms Fayre's writing when it comes to the use of language (it's very descriptive and flows really smoothly), I really don't like the fact that we are told things instead of seeing them happen. I felt so distant all the time, I didn't feel emotionally engaged into what was happening to Donna and other people even for one moment. It was like listening to a description of a movie rather than watching it...

But, the book has its strenghts, too, the greatest is the references to the Johnstown Flood of 1889 and the motivations of the serial killer that we get to know at the end. I'm not a US citizen but I like history, so this whole part was what really kept me listening on. And, as I have already mentioned, the descriptive language, the way people are portrayed, is another strong point.

So overall, it's a strange book, difficult to rate. But if you don't mind a slower pace in your crime novels and a lot of digressions, give the book a chance. It'd say it's solid 3.5 stars for the plot.

Narration by Ms Hazen is fantastic. Again, she had quite a few characters to voice and as always she managed perfectly. She's also great when it comes to conveying the emotions of individual characters and she makes them feel real, which takes your listening experience to another level:) Good job:)

DISCLAIMER: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Outstanding

Absolutely loved everything about this story. Once the Narrator started reading it was impossible not to feel a part of the emotions.