Ritual

By: Mo Hayder

Narrated by: Andrew Wincott

Nine feet under water, police diver Flea Marley closes her gloved fingers around a human hand. The fact that there's no body attached is disturbing enough. Even more disturbing is the discovery, a day later, of the matching hand. Both have been recently amputated, and the indications are that the victim was still alive when they were removed. DI Jack Caffery has been newly seconded to the Major Crime Investigation Unit in Bristol. He and Flea soon establish that the hands belong to a young man who has recently disappeared. Their search leads them into the darkest recesses of Bristol's underworld, where drug addiction is rife, where street-kids sell themselves for a hit, and where one of Africa's most disturbing rituals may be making an unexpected appearance.

©2008 Mo Hayder (P)2013 Dreamscape Media, LLC

Critic reviews

"Readers looking for visceral thrills need look no further than this gritty English series." ( Publishers Weekly, Starred Review)

"Hayder has long been a master at blending crime and horror genres, but this time she outdoes herself, flip-flopping the supernatural and the explainable like a cycle of poison and antidote that will remain with the reader long after the final page." ( Booklist, Starred Review)

Dissapointing

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Book is fine but the reading is poor

What did you like best about this story?

Fleas character is very interesting

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Andrew Wincott?

The first two books were brilliantly read and I did not want to stop listening, unfortunatley Andrew does not hold my attention and the breathless "soppy" voices of the majority of characters really grates.

Do you think Ritual needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

no,

Any additional comments?

I was very disappointed with the reading of the book but not the actual book which if better read would have been good

Caferty series “Ritual” book 3

This series is rather different from most detective/police books . I bought this one first when I was a newbie. Realizing it is a really long story based on one incident, I probably would not have started. I do enjoy all the characters. And it is an interesting story. Sick, perverse, and dishonest. Reminds me of current day pirates.

They changed the narrator.

They changed the narrator, I prefer the original. This narrator was not bad, I have enjoyed several books that he narrated. Unfortunately, his reading style changed the personality of Jack.
I have also noticed that the narrator is changed twice more. A total of four different narrators for seven books. This is a series, a little continuity would be nice. I don't think I can continue listening to it, I am going to have to switch to hard copy if I want to finish it.

Male narrators,

Any additional comments?

Male narrators! Please, oh please, oh please, stop reading female voices by whispering and/or trying to raise the pitch of your voice. It sounds ridiculous & is super distracting. Just read female characters in your normal voice; we'll be able to figure it out. Trust me.

tense and disturbing

I love the Jack Caffery character. Flea is a great addition. keeps you guessing the bad guys til the end.

Disappointing

Any additional comments?

After reading "The Treatment" I was so enthused, thinking that I had found a great series to binge on. The change of narrator in this, the third Jack Caffrey novel, made all the difference and not in a good way. I had gotten a really strong sense of Jack in the previous books, and the whole reason for leaping into another one so fast was to see what would happen to him next and how the loose ends would start to tie up or snarl. I have no problem with this reader's voice, but his delivery is oddly singsong, with the same cadence on every page, and we've lost the intelligent, multi-layered working class Jack I had gotten invested in with the teriffic Damien Goodwin readings. I'm almost halfway through and my mind is wandering. Questionable whether I'll return or finish it.

Avoid - not worth it

After listening to the first 2 Jack Cafery books and loving them, this was a big disappointment.

Narrator is so awful I had to stop.

What would have made Ritual better?

A different narrator! Wincott is so sing-songing and "posh" it's grating. I got through about five chapters and then had to stop. I'll skip the next Hayder too simply to avoid his performance.

What was most disappointing about Mo Hayder’s story?

I didn't get through enough of it to judge.

How could the performance have been better?

Mr. Wincott's voice is lovely but ill-suited to the material.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

None I can think of.

Any additional comments?

N/A

Ritual

Just not my kind of book, I guess. I started with a misconception of the summary and could not adjust to the confusing switches between reality and conjured images. The readers seemed a bit boring. if you enjoy the occult, you will probably like it.