The Two

By: Will Carver

Narrated by: Richard Aspel, Nicki Paull

They kill without mercy.

Disappear without trace.

They are The Two.

And now the stakes are raised once more for Detective January David. 5 lie dead, brutally murdered - the first taken on the night of Halloween and as autumn bleeds into winter more ritualistic murders are discovered. January must battle his demons, for in his mind lies the clue to stopping a ruthless murderer. But his worst nightmares have literally come true when he discovers there's not one, but two twisted killers on the loose.

©2012 Will Carver (P)2012 Bolinda Publishing Pty Ltd, published in the UK by Random House Audiobooks

Didn't want to finish

What could Will Carver have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

The book attempted to make use of some techniques to increase the suspense and drama but failed miserably in a hodge-podge mess:

* DIFFERENT CHARACTERS point of views - It was nice we got the motivations of different characters in their voice, however, it doesn't work well when those same characters narrate information they shouldn't know. One victim, for example, espouses upon the killers motive. In another example, a victim, says something along the lines of they are dying and blacking out and don't see the killer walking away (or something crazy like that). Sticking to third person narration would have been better.

* DIFFERENT TIMES - One technique for increasing the suspense of a book is to throw the reader into the middle of the story, go back to the past, and then complete the story to conclusion. This does it a few times over. Also add in the fact that a character's name is "January" and there's even more confusion until the pattern of time/character narration is understood.

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

The only redeeming quality of this book was that it was free.

Somewhat confusing

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

I would not recommend this book to a friend because I can't think of anything to say that would encourage anyone to read it. The plot twist at the end was great but there is too much confusion getting there. It was not a linear story, but told with flashbacks and visions that I found hard to keep up with.. I liked the different points of view, especially the parts of the story told by the victims after they were dead.

Has The Two turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

Have you listened to any of Richard Aspel and Nicki Paull ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to any other performances by Richard Aspel and Nicki Pauli but their performance with The Two was stellar.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Yes, I would! I think it would make a great movie.

Any additional comments?

I had never read anything by Will Carver and was not familiar with the character January David. I kept thinking throughout the whole book that January sounded like a female name.

Very difficult listen

What could Will Carver have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Tell the story in a more understandable way so that it could be followed.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Narration was clear and entertaining.

Any additional comments?

At multiple points while listening to this book I thought someone had put chapters together in the wrong order. The book/plot was very convoluted and confusing. I continued to listen to all of it to try to understand what they had done wrong. At the end I was convinced it wasn't their problem, it was the author's. Interesting idea but very poorly constructed!

Sometimes Tough to Follow, But Good

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I had a little trouble following the progression of events at first. It could be just because I let my mind drift away every so often but it felt just a little confusing. Once I was able to settle in and get a feel for the way the story was being told I found myself enjoying it a little more.

What three words best describe Richard Aspel and Nicki Paull ’s voice?

Not too sure.....

Any additional comments?

Overall it was an ok listen. Nothing really blew me away but parts of the story did make me stop and think.

Well!! YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!

I can not finish listening to this story. I have given it 2 stars because it was free. Good thing it doesn't have to stay on my device!

Amazing

I know this was a free book but, how itwas ever published I don't understand..

on the edge.

luved it. I listen to it a few times before I gave my review. not cause I had to think about it. it just was that damn good.

Too Confusing

I had a lot of trouble getting into this book. In fact, I had listened to the first 2 1/2 hours and then put it aside for a while because I couldn't get into it. Then when I decided to try it again I had to start from the very beginning since I couldn't remember anything about it. At least the second time through I started to understand it a little better. This book might have been easier to read than to listen to because it took a lot of concentration to figure out what was going on and the formatting. In fact, I never did figure out a lot of it. It keeps jumping back and forth between all these different characters. You would hear about something from one person's view and then the same situation from the other person's view. Sometimes it even seemed like some of the chapters might have been out of order. My mind kept drifting and I didn't care enough to go back and listen to what I might have missed. I just wanted to get to the end, which of course I didn't understand. Not the part where you finally find out what was going on, but the very end.

Considering the material I think the two narrators did a very good job.

Scattered Story

I'm not sure how I came across this book and decided to use one of my credits at Audible for it, but it is definitely not my cup of tea. I don't like the constant visions the detective is having. They are drawn out and unhelpful. I thought the description of the main character waking up after a long night and responding to a knock on his door while retching three times was especially annoying. This author is a talented wordsmith. He's just terrific in some of his descriptions of places and people. It's just that the premise is not one I buy into (visions, good and evil, etc.). The switching between the different characters is not clever. I don't find the view of the victim knowing that his/her death is going to occur moves the story along at all. The book is tedious. That said, this is a smart author, and I think I'll look for other books he's written--just not any where he slogs through the supernatural.