Doug M

It's not Hole. It's YA

Reviewed: 10-19-23

The language and style lack the edgy grit of the Harry Hole series. This story seems obviously written for a younger audience. I set aside my Hole expectation and, with that in mind, enjoyed the story. The opening horror scene seemed a little ridiculous to me, but it all came together in the end in an unexpected and pleasing way. The story seemed to finish with two hours left to go. But Jo Nesbo then did what I like most about his writing, he began peeling back layers of revelation with unexpected twists that kept me intrigued until the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the narrator, who did not resort to theatrics to carry a scene. His straightforward approach added the creepy atmosphere that I enjoy the most when it comes to horror.

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Eerie set up. Drab, soap opera storyline

Reviewed: 05-29-23

The teaser pulled me in. The first few chapters didn't disappoint. But from there, it was soap opera drama with an emphasis on who's sleeping with who, and the criminal investigation went nowhere until almost the very end when things were revealed in a flurry. The villain was a surprise, not because of a cleverly crafted twist but because they didn't have much of a part in the story. The eerie setting, which was so promising in the teaser, just didn't pan out. The narrator did alright with tones for different characters, but she relied..to..much..on..a..halting cadence..to..add tension..to a scene. It became distracting.

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Great. Could have been shortened.

Reviewed: 05-13-23

The author writes how people think and act, and this gives the story an incredibly realistic feel. The first-person perspective of the main gives a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a narcissistic psychotic. It's disturbing and frightening to think these high-functioning individuals can be in our daily lives. The narrator continues a superb job with cadence, inflection, and character voices which only heightens what is already a tense thriller. The story is full of easter egg surprises to familiar cultural things as well as her prior books in the series. My only criticism is that I feel a few hours could have been removed due to extended introspective self-talk and introspective dialogue between characters. But it's all good entertainment.

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Fell far short of the teaser catch phrase

Reviewed: 04-29-23

"They don't know what I'm capable of..." is the last line of the book description, and that phrase alone drew me into the book. However, it didn't become clear what she was capable of until around 1.5 hours left in the book. And then, it just wasn't that dastardly. The book description gave me more chills than the book. Some of the actions really seemed implausible, not how real people act.
However, the story did have a nice twist about 2/3rds of the way through, with another one at the end.

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Great premise. Lost it's way in the middle.

Reviewed: 04-16-23

The premise is terrifying enough - kidnap a child in order to get your own kidnapped child returned. It's worth the purchase because I found the idea very provocative. What would I do in that situation? That said, the author forced a few cliches on some of the characters. That made it a little drab for me. The initial resolution came pretty early in the book, leaving me wondering what the author had to write about. The story seemed to tread water for a bit, making me impatient to get on with whatever was going to happen. The grand finale felt a bit formulaic. The twist wasn't really believable.

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It's ok. Disappointing end.

Reviewed: 11-25-22

The story is a slow mover. Characters are believable in action and language. The author did a good job of building the tension in the mystery as the story progressed.
Unfortunately, the climax bombed. New characters were introduced to solve the mystery. So, all of the guessing, figuring, and wondering throughout reading the story were for nothing. It couldn't be solved until the final elements were introduced. That was an irritating letdown.

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Not up to her usual standard

Reviewed: 11-13-22

The collection of stories felt like the author and her agent were capitalizing on her novel success to sell some old stories that would never have been published otherwise. While the stories were ok, they lacked the imagination and wit of her novels. Echoes of Stephen King resound a little too strongly for me--a woman in an abandoned hotel seeing two children that aren't there, getting drinks from an imaginary bartender, and more similarities to the Shining. Another story has a woman discovering a mysterious way to revitalize broken and dying things and does so with her cat. Two of her novels have King similarities also. Given the author's tone and voice in her writing, and her ability to pull the reader into a scene, I hope for more originality in the plot. The narrators did fine. The author's introduction to each story didn't appeal to me. Describing how the inspiration for the story came about seems a bit self-indulgent. Hopefully, her next work will be a novel, which I will happily buy.

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1 person found this helpful

Wasn't looking for self-help, but it did

Reviewed: 09-30-22

I thought I would be learning about the importance of breath and the science behind it, which I did. But the author also passed along some simple breathing techniques. I tried a couple out of curiosity and was surprised to find they benefited me just as the author described.

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Great idea. Meh execution. Terrible narration.

Reviewed: 09-30-22

I think the premise is a terrific idea. The promotional teaser drew me in. Unfortunately, that's the best part of the book.

The main problem with the book is the narrator. The main character is a female. All the other characters were male (except for two brief appearances by supporting characters at the end). The narrative text was fine in regard to tone. The female lead voice was a little pinched and higher, which sounded like a teenager to me. ALL the male voices were a struggle--pinched in the back of the throat like be spoken mid-swallow. Again, the adult men sounded like teenagers. But all of this is overshadowed by the narrator's halting style of speaking. Words come out in bursts of 1-7 words at a time with micro pauses in between. Very distracting and difficult on the ear. The narrator is supposedly a classically trained actress who has done many audiobooks. What the heck?

The story is a great idea that ended up being a long chase with multiple encounters between the protagonists and villains. It soon became unbelievable with confrontation and escape again and again. The story was told, not shown. Everything was told as if someone was watching a movie and described to you what they saw. Absent were the inner thoughts, self-narrative, transparency, and emotion that make the characters come alive. The characters were cliches of good and bad guys. No witty sayings, no cynical observations, no turns of a phrase, no play on words that liven up a story. No twist. Halfway through, I was impatient to finish it, which I did.

All that said, the story may have been better than it hit my ear. Again, that narrator.

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1 person found this helpful

Checked all the boxes for a great story

Reviewed: 09-20-22

The author is an actress who reads her own book, and it works very well. Being the author, she knows where to stress the language, quicken the cadence, and change her pitch for the characters and situations. Being an actress, she can do this without going over the top creating annoying emotion when the story gets tense. The book is a satisfying listen.

The story itself is intriguing right from the start. The author frames the question, "What's going on?" in a way that kept me engaged and wanting more of the story. At no point did I wish the story would hurry up and finish. She highlights all the nuances of natural human behavior that pull me into the story instead of observing it. Yet, she doesn't wallow in scene description or character reflection. The story moves forward at a steady pace. Characters behaved like real people. A startling twist caught me off guard midway through and then another about three-quarters through. Both made it exciting. The author did a good job of keeping me wondering which characters were good or bad.

Since finishing, I am still thinking about the story, which is evidence of its impact on me. I really enjoyed it.

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