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oceanjasper

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Moonraker cover art

Tense and realistic; a cracking story.

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 07-10-2024

My dim memories of the film version of Moonraker is that it was utterly ridiculous. The book is wonderful. Atmospheric, mysterious, tense and full of the social history I love about 20th century Cold War thrillers. Bond’s character is fleshed out a lot compared to the previous books in the series and the Bond Girl is a worthy partner who plays just as big a part as Bond in saving the day.

Fleming’s prose is crisp and sometimes lyrical; it was a treat to listen to it being read by a beautiful voice. Bill Nighy’s performance is pitch perfect, with an amazing variety of character voices. In keeping with Fleming’s own description of him, the Peter Lorre-like mincing tones of the villain’s sidekick are a creepy highlight. I wish he had read all the Bond books.

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Entertaining but not perfect

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 26-06-2024

I loved the full cast format, like a radio play. The story was very twisty and intriguing. The performances were great but the actors had to labour with some very banal dialogue. British audio drama usually manages to make you feel like you’ve been dropped into real life but this one felt quite stagey and artificial a lot of the time. And the lead detective taking a case involving her friends and blabbing to her husband about the progress of the investigation made me think that either the author doesn’t know much about police procedure or that the concept of conflict of interest doesn’t exist in the USA.

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Totally engrossing

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 19-03-2023

Gosh, this series is good! It has everything: a twisty plot, fascinating characters, crisp and elegant writing and the perfect narrator. After finishing the first book on a Friday, I devoured this one over the weekend. I just sat and listened for hours at a time rather than requiring a couple of weeks of housework or gardening sessions to get to the end, as is my usual audiobook experience. Benson is a compelling protagonist and the tantalising details of his past and and his struggles in the present only add to the drama of the courtroom scenes. I want to dive into Book 3 but I also want to savour it…

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A wonderful listen

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 14-03-2023

I found my way to this audiobook through the narrator’s backlist, and what a discovery it was. A gripping mystery with unique characters and elegant language. The narration was perfect for the story, with crisp diction and expressive dialogue. I’m intrigued to see how this series develops. Thankfully further books are already available….

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Just immerse yourself in the theatre

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 03-08-2022

This is a character driven mystery. The various members of the amateur dramatic society are brilliantly drawn and their tangled relationships are so much fun. The clashing egos, the jealousies, the insecurities and personal struggles are all revealed to the reader. There are clues but this is not an investigation that focusses on the evidence. It was very entertaining but also psychologically true. The narration is excellent and easily distinguishes all the different characters. Bring on Book 3!

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Much better than the TV show!

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 03-08-2022

I read the Barnaby novels back in the 1980s before the TV show existed. As a teenager gorging on all the English mystery novels I could find, from any era, I only noticed the plots back then. But I liked my TV drama to be more realistic, so I abandoned the TV series fairly early on. Listening to the books now has been a bit of a revelation. I knew they would be rich in detail, but Graham’s writing sparkles with elegance and humour that I’m now able to savour. The excellent narration makes the books easy to listen to but I don’t want to miss a single vivid description or well chosen metaphor. I hope Audible releases the whole series.

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Very enjoyable

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 13-04-2022

This is a cute story with wonderful performances. It was great to hear audiobook narrator extraordinaire Zachary Webber interacting with other voice actors.

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Love Hacked: A Reluctant Romance cover art

A fabulous listen!

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 28-11-2021

I very rarely listen to romance in the audio format but Penny Reid’s books are perfect for it. She takes her time to tell a story but the characters are interesting, they have conversations about important things and there is always plenty of gentle humour. In this book the mysterious hero is gradually revealed to the heroine and to the reader, in a way that made the time fly by and compelled me to keep listening. Everything except the epilogue is read by the female narrator (not Joy Nash as the notes indicate but Devra Woodward) and she is wonderful. She infuses the first person reading of Sandra with emotion and humour and her voice for the hero Alex really worked for me as well. This is my third Penny Reid audiobook and they’ve all been entertaining and truly romantic.

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Great entertainment

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 22-05-2021

This is a review for the whole series. I had a ball listening to this. The characters were all a bit mad, the dialogue was often hilarious and the storylines were amusing. I particularly enjoyed the episode involving the Ministerial Visit, having been a victim of one of those myself. I could have listened to hours more of this series, which deftly makes a few points about climate change amid the shenanigans of the expeditioners.

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The Goodbye Party cover art

Easy listening but nothing special

Overall
3 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 23-04-2021

This series was interesting enough to keep me listening while I did other things, although the dialogue is terribly banal and the main actor is pretty wooden in his delivery. But the ending isn’t really satisfying, feeling rather rushed and highly implausible. The most intriguing aspects of the story are lifted straight from the real life Bogle and Chandler mystery (which is much more compelling) and I expected a more ingenious solution.

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