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Black Out

By: John Lawton
Narrated by: Lewis Hancock
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Summary

As the Luftwaffe make their last desperate assault on the city, Londoners take to the shelters once again and eagerly await the signal for D-Day. In the East End, children lead police to a charred, dismembered corpse buried in a bombsite. The victim is German, and it soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary murder.

For Russian emigré Detective-Sergeant Troy, it is the start of a manhunt which will lead him into a world of military intelligence and corruption in high places - a manhunt in which Troy is both the hunter and the hunted.

©2015 John Lawton (P)2015 Oakhill Publishing
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What listeners say about Black Out

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Thoroughly Enjoyed

The four stars overall indicates that I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Blackout. The missing stars indicate that it has some wearisome flaws. However, they do not outweigh my enjoyment and I will certainly be listening to the next Troy book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Tale with twists.

Another good tale from Lawton very well read.
Good information about the history of the times.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Couldn't get into it...

I just couldn't get into this story at all! Especially with Lewis Hancock's narration. It seemed that the whole story jerked along in a mist, sometimes a fog of sorts. I can only hope the next story in this series takes off. This one crashed😔.

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

Thought it would never end

I persevered with this book because the author was new to me and had been recommended by a friend.

The story is almost incoherent and totally unbelievable, badly written with clunky dialogue. Although the background is London during the war, from 1944, it hardly impinges on the narrative and the main character isn’t really inconvenienced by bombed streets etc.

Maybe it’s a story better suited to the page. The narrator did his best, without managing to do a convincing female voice, which was confusing at times.

I can only say, don’t waste a credit on this tedious and much too long book. I wish I’d had the sense to throw in the towel after the first few chapters but I’m an optimist at heart and kept thinking it was bound to improve. It didn’t.

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

Suddenly becomes pornographic

Nice little story, interesting, well told, quirky characters. Excellent narration. I was settling in to enjoy the whole series. But then suddenly, two-thirds in, there was an explosive, violent sex scene involving the lead character, which objectified a woman and used vile language for women's genitals. Just awful. One minute a bland detective story. The next bordering on pornographic. It was so out of place, totally salacious and completely unnecessary. I think the author must have been working through some personal fantasy. I stopped reading at that point, it disturbed me (as a woman) so much, and that was it for me. Shame. So I won't be reading the whole series after all.

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5 people found this helpful