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Stuart

  • 28
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  • 6
  • helpful votes
  • 36
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Satire or Prediction?

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

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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Good story with reservations

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

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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Not for me

Overall
1 out of 5 stars
Performance
2 out of 5 stars
Story
2 out of 5 stars

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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Good fun and very enjoyable

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

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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Best of the series so far.

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

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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An excellent follow up

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

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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I tried, I really did.

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

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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Tom Wilde has run his course

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

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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Not sure abut this one

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

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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OK for the tricky second book

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

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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