Walk a Crooked Line

Jo Larsen, Book 2

By: Susan McBride

Narrated by: Christina Traister

In the follow-up to the #1 Kindle bestseller Walk into Silence, a young girl takes her own life. But what - or who - drove her to it?

When a teenager’s body is found at the base of the old water tower, Detective Jo Larsen is one of the first on the scene. Tragically, it appears to be a clear case of suicide.

But the more Jo learns about Kelly Amster, the more she finds herself needing to understand why the high school sophomore would take that fatal plunge. As they interview family and friends, Jo and her partner, Hank Phelps, begin to fit together the pieces of a dark puzzle. Something happened to Kelly in their small town of Plainfield, Texas - and it sent the young girl straight over the edge.

Haunted by the memories of her own childhood, Jo digs deep into the shadowy corners of a seemingly tight-knit community - to uncover a devastating secret…

©2018 Susan McBride (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Jo Was Not As Strong and Texas Drawl Was Awful

I got this book because I liked the first book so much. This 2nd book just wasn’t the right mix for me. First of all, Jo seemed like some kind of whipped child who could not get over her mother’s treatment of her as a child and the abuse done by her step-father. Perhaps I can’t relate but the narrator didn’t help because the voice of Jo was a whisper without much strength and she was the lead detective. Hank, her partner, had bad knees and backed her up with his ‘good ole boy actions’ which really got on my nerves. The story is about a young girl who jumps from a water tower leaving a suicide note. Probably in most places that would mean no more investigation but that was not the case here. The investigation was because Jo wanted to find out why she committed suicide. What makes a pretty 15 year old kill herself. There is a group of football players who play a role, a big role, and there is a dognapping ring involved. The cruelty to the dogs almost made me quit listening/reading but I had to find out who did it and why. The author is a good writer and I like her style but this book had too much of a Texas small town attitude and the narrator turned me off with her attempt at the Texas drawl. Maybe she was reading the words the way the author intended but it annoyed me. The narrator was Christina Traister. This was my first book with her as the narrator. I try to read and listen because usually the narrator adds to the story but in this case it may have been a retraction. Anyway, I will give Susan McBride another chance because I liked Jo so much in the first book.

Decent read and listen..

You could tell this was based in a very small town because the story was about a 15 year old girl who killed herself and dogs that were being dog-napped. You knew for sure that Kelly jumped from the water tower because that was chapter one, and it says so in the blurb. The rest of the book was about Jo Larson and Hank Phelps trying to find out what drove her to it. And what was happening to the dog was disgustingly cruel.

There was nothing romantic or sexual about this story. The F-bomb was used 2 times.

As to the narration: Christina Traister made the narration very boring. She made Jo Larson’s voice sound very soft and robotic. It was like she whispered through the entire book. As did Detective Hank Phelps. His voice wasn’t too bad but the whispering got on my nerves. She read in a normal voice, yelled, laughed, cried but when Jo or Hank spoke it was in an unemotional whisper.

Walk a Crooked Line??? Not sure how this applies

This book was certainly NOT a "not put downable book!" It did not keep my interest and I had trouble finishing it. The plot was slow to the very end and the narrator definitely had a difficult time doing the different voices. Not enjoyable listening!