Stuart
- 28
- reviews
- 6
- helpful votes
- 36
- ratings
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Mania
- By: Lionel Shriver
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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In a reality not too distant from our own, where the so-called Mental Parity Movement has taken hold, the worst thing you can call someone is 'stupid'. Everyone is equally clever, and discrimination based on intelligence is 'the last great civil rights fight'. Best friends since adolescence, Pearson and Emory find themselves on opposing sides of this new culture war. Radio personality Emory – who has built her career riding the tide of popular thought – makes increasingly hard-line statements while, for her part, Pearson believes the whole thing is ludicrous.
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Prescient & scary
- By C. Spencer Weatherley on 14-04-24
- Mania
- By: Lionel Shriver
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
Satire or Prediction?
Reviewed: 04-09-24
This was my first Lionel Shriver novel, though I am a fn of her columns in The Spectator. A well told satire of the Woke movement. Some may perceive it as sufficiently dystopian to be humorous. I suspect some people viewed 1984 the same way when it was published. Well narrated.
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The Black Orchestra: A WW2 Spy Thriller
- Black Orchestra Series, Book 1
- By: JJ Toner
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
- Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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In Berlin, Kurt Müller, an Abwehr signalman, discovers a colleague lying dead at his radio receiver. The criminal police dismiss the death as suicide, but Kurt is not convinced. Kurt follows a trail of mysteries, witnessing several atrocities that expose the Nazi regime for what it truly is. When the trail leads him to the German resistance, he faces the most difficult choices of his life. He must choose between his duty and his conscience, between his country and his family, between love and death.
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Strangely compulsive
- By Alan Bateson on 07-02-20
- The Black Orchestra: A WW2 Spy Thriller
- Black Orchestra Series, Book 1
- By: JJ Toner
- Narrated by: Gildart Jackson
Good story with reservations
Reviewed: 09-05-24
Story is good, from a different angle but why does every author feel they have to get a mention of Bletchley in? In this book Bletchley and its role seem common knowledge which is not correct. Turing is described as ‘heading up the place’ and ‘a famous mathematician’. Both statements are inaccurate. The narrator is fine though he clearly does not speak any German. Overall it’s a decent tale and I hope the next book is as good.
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The Distant Echo
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Tom Cotcher
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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On a freezing morning four drunken students stumble upon the body of a woman in the snow. Rosie has been raped, stabbed and left for dead in a cemetery. The only suspects are the four young men now stained with her blood. Twenty-five years later the police mount a cold-case review of Rosie’s unsolved murder, and the four are still suspects. But when two of them die in suspicious circumstances, it seems that someone is pursuing their own brand of justice....
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Absorbing story with good characters
- By Janet on 07-03-17
- The Distant Echo
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Tom Cotcher
Not for me
Reviewed: 13-03-24
I tried, I really did. I got to an hour into part two and it just seemed like one soap opera cliche after another. The dialogue was stereotypical and in the end I just couldn’t take any more. Returned.
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The Beat Goes On
- The Complete Rebus Short Stories
- By: Ian Rankin
- Narrated by: James Macpherson, Ian Rankin
- Length: 20 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Over the years, Ian Rankin has amassed an incredible portfolio of short stories. Published in crime magazines, composed for events, broadcast on radio, they all share the best qualities of his phenomenally popular Rebus novels. Brought together for the first time, and including brand-new material, this is the ultimate Rebus short-story collection and a must-have book for crime lovers and for Ian's millions of fans alike. No Rankin aficionado can go without it.
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A satisfying collection...
- By FictionFan on 13-11-14
- The Beat Goes On
- The Complete Rebus Short Stories
- By: Ian Rankin
- Narrated by: James Macpherson, Ian Rankin
Good fun and very enjoyable
Reviewed: 12-03-24
I like the Rebus novels but hey can be a bit hard going at times. These short tales are just right. Rebus never takes himself too seriously and the plot lines are just complex enough to engage without being overly complicated. Definitely recommended for Rebus fans. the author's piece about the development of the character is also very interesting.
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Ring of Spies
- The Richard Prince Thrillers, Book 3
- By: Alex Gerlis
- Narrated by: Rupert Bush
- Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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As the war approaches its end, Prince once more has to risk everything. Berlin, 1939: a German intelligence officer learns a top agent is quickly moving up the British Army ranks. He bides his time. Arnhem, 1944: British paratroopers have been slaughtered in one of the bloodiest battles of the Second World War. A shell shocked officer is convinced that the Germans knew they were coming. But who betrayed them? Back in London, Richard Prince, detective and spy, is approached by MI5 about a counterintelligence operation.
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Best of the series so far.
- By Stuart on 21-02-24
- Ring of Spies
- The Richard Prince Thrillers, Book 3
- By: Alex Gerlis
- Narrated by: Rupert Bush
Best of the series so far.
Reviewed: 21-02-24
Slightly slower paced than the precious two books and the more believable for it. Good narration though some of th foreign place names were a bit off but nothing to worry about.
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Sea of Spies
- The Richard Prince Thrillers, Book 2
- By: Alex Gerlis
- Narrated by: Rupert Bush
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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The Allies are desperate to stop neutral Turkey supplying vital materials to the Nazis - materials which could help them win the war. But then a British agent makes a fatal mistake and disappears in Istanbul. In England, detective-turned-spy Richard Prince - back from a clandestine mission in Nazi-occupied Europe - is hunting for his lost son. Before long he is drawn into a dangerous follow-up operation, posing as a journalist in Turkey. The mission soon goes wrong.
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Escapism, needing to suspend disbelief
- By Robert on 18-08-21
- Sea of Spies
- The Richard Prince Thrillers, Book 2
- By: Alex Gerlis
- Narrated by: Rupert Bush
An excellent follow up
Reviewed: 17-02-24
Great story. I did wonder early on if the author was trying to make Richard Prince a bit of a fool. Luck played its part as it does in real life. I'm going to make one big criticism. During his briefings, the intelligence staff make reference to the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley. They mention both the name and the location. Bletchley Park was one of, if not the most secret location of the war. Even if the officers were cleared for the intercept, they would never have mentioned the location of the station and certainly not to an agent going onto enemy territory. Other authors do the same thing.
I am looking forward to listening to volume 3.
Outstanding reading by Rupert Bush, some of his Turkish pronunciation is a bit off, but I'll forgive him that. I am a fluent Turkish (and Russian) speaker but not all of us are!
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Geneva
- By: Richard Armitage
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage, Nicola Walker, Jane Perry
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sarah Collier has taken a step back from work to spend more time with her family. Movie nights with her husband Daniel and their daughter Maddie are a welcome respite from the scrutiny of the world’s press. As much as it hurts, it’s good to be able to see her father more too. He’s suffering from Alzheimer’s and needs special care. Sarah has started to show tell-tale signs of the disease too. She’s been experiencing blackouts and memory loss. It’s early days but she must face the possibility that she won’t be there to see her daughter grow up.
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A Stunning Debut Novel
- By Sarah on 21-10-22
- Geneva
- By: Richard Armitage
- Narrated by: Richard Armitage, Nicola Walker, Jane Perry
I tried, I really did.
Reviewed: 07-01-24
I’m sorry, I love Nicola Walker and I’m sure the rest of the cast are fine and the story is good but I cannot listen to anything (or read it for that) in the present tense. It doesn’t flow and jars on my imagination.
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The English Führer
- By: Rory Clements
- Narrated by: Adam Sims
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Autumn 1945 - Off the east coast of England, a Japanese sub surfaces, unloads its mysterious cargo, then blows itself to pieces. Former spy Professor Tom Wilde is enjoying peacetime in Cambridge, settling back into teaching and family life. Until a call from senior MI5 boss Lord Templeman brings him out of retirement. A nearby village has been locked down by the military, its residents blighted by a deadly illness. No one is allowed in or out. There are rumours the Nazi machine is still operational, with links to Unit 731, a notorious Japanese biological warfare research laboratory.
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very enjoyable
- By cathy m on 04-02-23
- The English Führer
- By: Rory Clements
- Narrated by: Adam Sims
Tom Wilde has run his course
Reviewed: 29-05-23
I struggled with this one. The villains were too comic book, the clues too convenient and Tom Wilde just too clever and always in the right place. Plus I hate his wife’s character now. Time for Tom Wilde to go back to academia.
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Witchfinder
- By: Andrew Williams
- Narrated by: Richard Mitchley
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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London, 1963. The Beatles, Carnaby Street, mini skirts. But the new mood hasn't reached the drab and fearful corridors of MI5 and MI6. Many agents joined the secret service to fight the Nazis. Now they are locked in a Cold War against the Russians. And some of them are traitors. The service has been shaken to its core by the high-profile defections of Cambridge-educated spies Burgess, MacLean and now Philby. Appalled at such flagrant breaches of British security, the Americans are demanding a rigorous review.
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A great thriller
- By Amazon Customer on 13-10-19
- Witchfinder
- By: Andrew Williams
- Narrated by: Richard Mitchley
Not sure abut this one
Reviewed: 29-03-23
What's good - first rate narration and helped by the obvious native Welsh. What's not so good - I read Peter Wright's book, Spycatcher when it came out and thought it and he very amateurish. He's portrayed as such here but too much of this work seems to have been taken directly from Spycatcher with other authors such as Pinchr and West/Allason not being influential. I have studied the Cold War and the Intelligence community at high academic level so I consider myself well versed in the subject. I thought this book was too long and had too many irrelevant threads, or ones that could have been properly developed - was his wife a spy or not? I also found the ending a bit contrived and rushed.
I can't wholeheartedly recommend it but it is worth a go bearing in mind you can return it if you don't like it.
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Sacrifice
- Ryan Drake, Book 2
- By: Will Jordan
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Afghanistan, 2008. A Black Hawk helicopter carrying a senior CIA operative is shot down by a surface to air missile, its lone passenger taken hostage by a fanatical new insurgent group. Knowing this man holds information vital to the ongoing conflict, the CIA bring in Ryan Drake and his elite Shepherd team to find and rescue their lost operative.
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Still Impressed
- By Anthony M. on 15-03-20
- Sacrifice
- Ryan Drake, Book 2
- By: Will Jordan
- Narrated by: Sam Devereaux
OK for the tricky second book
Reviewed: 05-10-22
Character development going well though one 'removal'. Story typical of the genre but well crafted and read. Two minor points, ISAF is not referred to by the initials but as a word by those involved with it and RPG [despite what EVERY writer thinks] does not stand for Rocket Propelled Grenade but is the Russian designation which translates as Handheld Antitank Grenade launcher. [Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт, romanized: Ruchnoy Protivotankoviy Granatomyot]
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