Missing Justice

Samantha Kincaid, Book 2

By: Alafair Burke

Narrated by: Betty Bobbitt

From the daughter of James Lee Burke and former Portland prosecutor comes the second enthralling Samantha Kincaid mystery.

Deputy District Attorney Samantha Kincaid is back at work after an attempt on her life and a promotion into the Major Crimes Unit. When the husband of a Portland city judge reports his wife missing, Samantha is assigned the case. She assumes her only job is to make the district attorney look good until the judge turns up. When the police discover evidence of foul play, Samantha finds herself unearthing secrets that were meant to stay hidden. Missing Justice confirms Alafair Burke's place among the genre's most talented and exciting newcomers.

©2004 Alafair Burke (P)2005 Bolinda Publishing Pty. Ltd.

Critic reviews

"The author's background as a former deputy district attorney in Portland lends gritty ambience to this modern parable of greed and ambition." (Booklist)
"Witty and concise dialogue." (Publishers Weekly)

Missing Justice

I’ve really enjoyed reading her books so far. I enjoy the insight to our complex laws.

Dull

This one wasn't for me. The author failed to create a credible environment in which to stage her characters. To my mind these too lacked sufficient form or depth to be convincing or draw an empathetic response from this reader. The plot was complex but the denouement disappointing with a long explanation of the ins and outs from one of the characters. The woman narrator also didn't quite cut the mustard. Her downunder accent did not help to centre the characters in North America and her voice was a little harsh. For some reason women narrators seem to face more pitfalls than men especially, maybe, in this genre.

I picked this book because of the narrator.

the storyline was quite good and the narrator's performance was excellent, makng the story that much more enjoyable.

good but...

this is the 2nd book i have listened to in this series. i really like the story, and i really like the narrator, but i don't like the narrator and the story together. it would be much better told by a different narrator, and this narrator would be much better with a different book.

I've become a fan

recently started readinf Alafair Burke....now im bingeing this series. the laundry will have to wait!

Bizarrely inconsistent narration

The story was fine. An engaging plot in the realistically unrealistic style of the genre. The narration was usually at least acceptable but with bizarre lapses. Suddenly, the reader would place the emphasis on the wrong word, as if she actually didn't understand what she was reading. And lots of misprononunciations. Or, most peculiarly, inconsistent pronunciations. Like half the time "prelim" had the emphasis on the first syllable and half the time on the second. Or "ferry" and "furry." When she wasn't messing up, she was solid. But an unusual number of mess-ups. ("Lien" is pronounced "lean", by the way.)

Narrator needs to learn American English

When a book is written about a specific area, in this case Portland Oregon, it would be nice if they investigated regional pronunciation. In her first book it was annoying. This book took it to a new level. My guess is the narrator is British and trying to speak American English. In this book she mangles so many American words it’s no longer funny but distracting.

Fortunately the book is good enough to get past it but if you are from USA and the NW be aware. You might want to make a game out of it. Don’t make it a drinking game or you’ll be drunk in no time.

I can't take it anymore.....

I love Alafair Burke's novels....the suspense, twists, and details keep me awake and entertained each day on my 50 mile each way commute to work and back.

But Samantha Kinkaid is supposed to be a NATIVE OREGONIAN. I usually love an Australian accent, and maybe I could have forgiven it if Betty Bobbit had bothered to look up how to correctly pronounce specific Oregonian terms and locations. It's very distracting!! The one that bugs me most is 'Willamette'. We moved to Oregon in 2000 from Southern CA and we, like Bobbit, pronounced it WillaMETTE. But as soon as we realized the correct pronunciation is Will-A-mette, we changed our ways. In fact I made a little poem to remind myself--- It's Will-A-mette, dammit! There are many, many references to the Willamette River in the Samantha Kinkaid books, and every time Betty says it, I cringe. There are other words too... like once she said 'fill-ett' and I didn't even understand at first until I figured out that she was saying fillet (like a fillet of salmon). I'm not sure if she also says Ore-GONE. But that's a notorious sign of a non-native.

The other part of the narration that bugged me was when she does Samantha's dad. She always has him laughing in a way that sounds like he's choking on food.

This is the first time I've written an Audible review, and I'm not trying to be mean or overly critical. Hopefully this review will be taken, if ever read by Betty Bobbit, as constructive criticism. Before recording, look up the pronunciations of local words.... especially if the main character is a native. None of this would have been relevant if Samantha had relocated from Perth, but she didn't.

Poor choice in reader

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I struggled thru the book. My 1st audible and did not like the voice performance. I did not find the voice overs convincing that this was Portland.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

A time capsule of Portland in the early 2000's.

What didn’t you like about Betty Bobbitt’s performance?

I live in Portland. The reader had an East Coast Accent, could not pronounce the names of neighborhoods, sounded strongly "affected" -- sometimes East Coat accent, sometimes a little British Accent. Not at all Portland, Oregon sounding.

Samantha Kincaid: a promising ADA in Portland n

After following the adventures of Detective Elle Hatcher, I am intrigued and enchanted by Sam Kincaid who works for tand is promoted to Major Crimes