Outstanding!

I am a big fan of Rob Parker's work, and have absolutely inhaled his Ben Bracken series. I highly recommend the Ben Bracken books if you love a big, bold action thriller - Bracken is uncompromising in his ways, but has a strict moral code at heart, and this makes him just the kind of hero you can attach yourself to. They are corkers! So I was chomping at the bit to get into Rob's new series, especially since it is set in his own backyard of Warrington.

Far From The Tree, the first in a new crime trilogy from Rob, offers a wonderfully gritty Northern Noir police procedural story, with a very different kind of hero from Mr Bracken. This time, our protagonist is Detective Inspector Brendan Foley - a man who has spent his whole life in Warrington, slap bang in-between Manchester and Liverpool, and whose roots go deep into the local area. He is a dedicated police officer, but Foley is not your normal run of the mill copper, because he has a few skeletons he would rather like to keep hidden in relation to his family background - ones that are straining to burst out into the open as the horrifying case of the Warrington Twenty-seven gets underway....

The investigation is destined to derail Foley, as it becomes very personal indeed, and there are plenty of delicious wtf moments throughout that hit you like the proverbial truck, as the chilling truth becomes clear...but no spoilers, now! I will say that this takes you to some dark places, and sets everything up beautifully for book two, which I am now eagerly awaiting. There is also the most delectable of little titbits in this tale that will have fans of the Ben Bracken books grinning - know I did.

This story is full of everything you want from a slick police procedural and crime caper. It is so evocative of 70s and early 80s crime strories, but with a clever modern twist - think The Long Good Friday and the wonderful Fox with Peter Vaughan (should you be old enough to remember this), all tied up with a big Line of Duty ribbon (in blood red, of course). There are good guys, bad guys and those who cross both sides of the line - of both the male and female variety - which give this very wide appeal. I particularly enjoyed smart, gutsy DS Iona Madison, who Rob uses to share his love of boxing with the reader.

Unusually, this new trilogy is being released in audio format, by Audible Originals, before coming out in print and I found this rather enjoyable. The audio book is narrated by Warren Brown (of Luther fame) with aplomb and the perfect intonation for a story of this kind. The pacing and suspense are nigh on perfect, and will have you sitting on the edge of your seat - and periodically falling off at the big hitting moments. I always know I am onto a winning audio book when I find myself stopping what I am doing and just listening, and I confess that much of the housework was neglected while was listening to this one (good one, Rob!).

I think it's fair to say that this is the kind of book Rob Parker was born to write. I have seen Rob blossom as a writer with each successive book, as he matures and gets to grip with his craft, and he uses every bit of his considerable skill here - weaving multiple threads and complex characters to great effect, and completely drawing you in to the world he has created. This is outstanding work and I absolutely loved it!

And can I just say, as a connoisseur of a clever book title that Far From The Tree is a stroke of genius!

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28 people found this helpful

Brilliant!

Performance and narration fantastic and very authentic norther west accents. Brilliantly performed.
Great story and likeable characters
I was so disappointed when I finished to be leaving them
Hope for a series

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8 people found this helpful

Great Start, pity about the rest

This book had me totally enthralled from the beginning but it went downhill rapidly and got more unrealistic as it went on unfortunately. Great narration though

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1 person found this helpful

Excellent!

An excellent performance by Warren Brown. A great story, superb characters and plot. I highly recommend this

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Gripping

First audible book I've listened to. I thought it was great. Exciting, gripping and a numbers of twists. I've read Rob's Ben Bracken books and enjoyed those, which led me onto this. Was not disappointed and can't wait for part two.

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far from the tree

loved it, narrator excellent held me spellbound so twists and turns, right to the end. looking forward to listening to another of these books.

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Fanciful and fast paced crime thriller

There are a lot of crime thrillers and they do have a tendency to blend together and be a bit formulaic. It needs something a bit different to stand out from the crowd and Rob Parker's new book Far From the Tree (an apple never falls...) certainly ticks the boxes here as the book opens with a mass grave with 27 bodies in, of all places, Warrington. We hear the tale of a beleaguered police force working from a makeshift swimming baths stuck between the conurbations of Liverpool and Manchester battling to solve a high profile crime that has gripped the nation and their battles with the Home Office who want to take over the case and conflicts due to personal relations which are inevitable in a town this size. The coppers are as hard as the criminal gangs and similar in many ways; the story is told against a backdrop of Guinness drinking and amateur boxing. It is gritty and tough and I loved some of the descriptions eg "the case was blown wider than a blue whale garroted", "he looked like a cadaver on invisible strings" and, my personal favourite "his legs felt like blended eels". The pieces of the fanciful story line all come together to a nice conclusion in the end.

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Enthralling!

Could not stop listening. Have made sure I’ve stayed awake during the night to keep on listening! I buy far too many audio books and mostly they’re good sometimes okay sometimes they get given back but this one given the amount of writing currently going on in this genre which is just about okay & maybe rescued by a good performance is VERY Good! Not happy there isn’t another to get next but I don’t think I’ve had much from this author but will now look to his other books. As an addendum: this book says it’s ‘performed’. Yes it is! There’s narration & performance. I could listen to Jonathan Keeble reading a shopping list & he is always credited with being the performer. There are also several women performers who perform Jo Ellis books who are equally good. I think that audio books require a performance not just a bit of a reading & I’ve not bought audio books because those that have can’t listen any longer to the person narrating it. So signing off with when will the next one performed be available?

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What a book!

I loved this book. The characters and the narration were so engaging. I couldn’t wait to be alone to listen to more!

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Loved it!

I found this compulsive.
Didn't want to go to work as I would have to wait for my next installment. Warren Brown did a brilliant job.

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