Mr. Perfect

By: Linda Howard

Narrated by: Laura Hicks

Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

What would make the perfect man?

That's the deliciously racy topic that Jaine Bright and her three girlfriends are pondering one night at their favorite after-hours hot spot: Mr. Perfect. Would he be tall, dark, and handsome? Caring and warmhearted - or will just muscular do? As their conversation heats up, they concoct a tongue-in-cheek checklist that becomes an overnight sensation, spreading like wildfire at work and sizzling along email lines. But what began as a joke among friends turns deadly serious when one of the four women is murdered....

Turning to her neighbor, an unpredictable police detective, for help, Jaine must unmask a killer to save her friends - and herself. Now, knowing whom to trust and whom to love is a matter of survival - as the dream of Mr. Perfect becomes a chilling nightmare.

©2001 Linda Howard (P)2012 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"Sexy fun....A frolicsome mystery...Jaine Bright lives up to her name: she's as bright - and explosive - as a firecracker." ( People)

"There is nothing quite like a sexy and suspenseful story by the amazing Linda Howard! The sparring relationship between Sam and Jaine is a delight. Mr. Perfect is funny, exciting, gripping, and sensuous - in fact it ranks as one of her all-time best!" ( Romantic Times)

LOVED IT! LOVED IT!

AWESOME writer! GREAT story! A real good azz story that is well written. I can't say how much I truly enjoyed this book! The previous reviews really pushed me to get this title so I hope this review gets loads of others to take a LISTEN!

VERY GOOD FUNNY, SAD, AND SEXY

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

YES, This is a good book for every female that likes to laugh, cry and get all hot.

What did you like best about this story?

When she meet his family. That was so funny.

Have you listened to any of Laura Hicks’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No but I hope to find more of her books

I guess you had to be there.

The characters were very flat - just like the narrators voice. And the oh so hilarious girl talk with the ladies having to hold their sides from laughing...well I guess you had to be there. Plus I pretty much figured out who the killer was right away. So there’s that, and the fact that the main characters fall in love in three days of knowing each other. Insert eye roll here. Skip it.

Better in text format

The narrator is probably fine for most listeners, based on the reviews and ratings. For me, her voice modulation was a bit shrill. After 30 minutes, it began to grate a bit. Also, I didn't much care for her vocal characterization of the hero, Sam.

The story itself was better when I read it, compared to audio. I love the beginning chapters, where Sam and Jane get to know each other. Great car wash scene! Some funny one-liners. Decent dialogue.

Some parts of the book are skip-worthy, so when reading, I just skim past the sections involving the other three women (Marci, Lena, and TJ) and their love life. I grow impatient with the pages (and audio minutes) spent on this. Instead, I focus on the main characters, Sam and Jane. I also flip past the pages depicting the bloody murder. Repeated explicit sex gets boring, so fast forward there, too.

So, I'd give the book almost 4 stars (because I skim past the sections I don't care for). In audio format, it's hard to skim over unwanted sections.

Very good

It was a perfect blend in of comedy and crime, mot sure if that was intended but the book was brilliantly put together with style. The narrator was good, but I think a male narrator to do the male would have been better, but she did a good job.

Mr Perfect

One of my top faves from Linda Howard and I had this years ago on CD disc but it was read so much better by the same reader of this edition. I see that they added some parts that were cut from the original Cd version but I don’t think that makes up for the droning and unexpressional new reading by Laura Hicks. She sounded like she couldn’t wait to get done with this project. She lacked in character expression when she excelled in it on her first version. The storyline saves it

Good story, wrong narrator.

As always, Linda Howard gave us an excellent story with fully fleshed characters. I would have enjoyed it much more, however, with a different narrator. The male characters had terrible voices, high pitched and nasally, which didn’t match their characters at all. Maybe go with Kindle or print on this one.

Not what the reviews make it out to be.

I found it hard to relate to the premise of this book, maybe because it was originally published in 2004 and today it's hard to imagine how a checklist for a Mr. Perfect would set off a killer, and get all of the attention it gathered in the book, I kept rolling my eyes and trying to force myself back into the era of the book, but even then I still didn't believe that the list was as racy and controversial as it is meant to be.
Also there aren't many characters in the book, so it's very easy to determine who the killer was, and I feel as if last minute changes to one of the characters was developed just to further the plot and reveal the killer to the reader. Even with the twist I knew very early in the book who the killer was. I did not enjoy this book, although the performance was good, I found the story to be lacking. I expected so much more because of all the high ratings and reviews, this story is not sexy I would barely classify it as light romance...it could actually go in the cozy category.

Overall Good Story

A good story. Part romance, part murder mystery.
Likable characters. Would have preferred a different narrator. There were different mood swings the narrator could not manage, so sometimes you had to stop and figure out who was speaking. With her voice I suggest she stick with a “lighter” story.
If you have read the book, as I have, forget this audio. If not enjoy.

Mr. Perfect disappoints.

I am new yo Linda Howard. A friend of my Gmas gave me A Time to Kill and I liked it more than expected. now you see her was a slow start but I liked it overall. this is not my favorite gene but Mr. Perfect...eh it started very poorly. I staeted and restarted it struggling to finish. It struck me as trying too in places. Particually the writing. Especially the beginning. it picked up in the middle a bit I won't comment about the end so as not to spoil.