No One Will Hear

Sam Williams, Book 2

By: Joel Hames

Narrated by: Andrew Calverley

Four murders. Four messages. One chance to catch a killer.

Renowned human rights lawyer Elizabeth Maurier lies dead, her body mutilated, her killer unknown. For DI Olivia Martins and her team, it’s a mystery. For the victim’s daughter Lizzy, a poet and academic with a shaky grasp on reality, it’s a tragedy. But for Sam Williams, the man Elizabeth fired a decade ago and hasn’t spoken to since, it’s a whole new world of pain.

Elizabeth’s death has stirred a sleeping past back to life. Former clients are darkening Sam’s door, old enemies returning, ancient cases reopening. It doesn’t help that DI Martins is on his case, the press are dogging his every step, and his girlfriend’s behavior is increasingly erratic.

But Elizabeth’s murder is just the start. As Sam reluctantly digs his way back into the past, more truths will crumble into lies. More certainties will shade to doubt. And more innocent people will die.

©2018 Joel Hames (P)2020 Joel Hames

Main character is growing up a bit

Note: Even though this is Book 2 in the series, it works pretty well as a stand alone novel.

It’s better than Book 1, which was just so-so for me. Our main character, Sam, isn’t as whiny as in the first story. He’s still rather sarcastic in his observations of people and places but he’s starting to show a bit of depth in this story. Not much depth, mind, but some. I have hopes that Sam can eventually become a balanced person. Right now, he’s still pretty self-centered.

The plot was better too. Maybe it’s because I like the mix of the past messing with the present. It brings up all sorts of problems for Sam – unresolved feelings, unresolved issues, old enemies popping up at inconvenient times, etc. Sam has to face some questionable choices he made in the past since they are smacking him in the face now.

The ladies were a little better. In book 1, they were present for roll call but not much else. Here, well, the two main ladies, Lizzy & Claire, are pretty much balls of emotion for the entire book. They were tiring. However, we do have a few other ladies that put in a better showing. Also, I do want to give a nod to Claire in that she’s living with self-centered Sam while dealing with a deeply personal trauma all while working on an intense journalistic story. (Perhaps Claire should get her own spin off series?). Since we see everything through Sam’s eyes, he see her as moody, emotional, irrational, etc. So that colors all of Claire’s narrative. And I still don’t like how Sam has a wandering eye. He doesn’t act on it but he’s clearly not fully committed to Claire either. Tinkle or get off the pot Sam!

The pacing was a little slow in some places but over all, it kept things moving along well. I was surprised by a small twist at the end. Our bad guy, who came off as creepy right from the beginning so we knew there was something up with him all along, well, he had a few surprises up his sleeves. I liked that there was this extra bit of manipulation to uncover, giving the ending an extra thrill. 3.5/5 stars.

The Narration: Andrew Calverley does make a good Sam. He’s got Sam’s sarcastic attitude done to a T. For the most part, he has unique voices for all the characters, though one emotional lady sounds pretty much like the next emotional lady. The pacing was good and there were no technical issues with the recording. 4.5/5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book. My opinions are 100% my own.

A great read/listen

I liked this much better than book 1. The plot was convoluted with the murder of Sam's old boss and other women. I liked how the author could keep my interest going with fast pace and twists.
Though it was the same narrator as book 1, I liked this one better. Maybe the plot line contributed to my increased concentration.
I could visualize the story better in this read/listen.

I really tried but I couldn't grab onto this story

I really tried to get into this story but I never fully invested into the storyline. The narrator was whiny and did not add anything to the story. Most of the book was the lead male characters inner monologue. The story lacked substance for me. It wasn't terrible but will be easily forgotten.