Narrator too old to be playing 33

Enjoyed the story but found the narrator jarring. Ive just googled him and he’s 83 but the main character he is playing is 33 and you could tell by his voice that he was far too old to be playing that role!

The love story was also a bit ridiculous- to have gone on their first date to be buying a flat and talking about having children all within a fortnight is totally unbelievable. I also didn’t like the Soham murders being brought into it. I felt that the story would have worked perfectly well without that element.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Another classic

Kept me on my toes whilst remaining so familiar and comfortable. The Francis mystery universe is yet again brought to life with excellent writing and narration.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

Excellent narration that fitted the story so well.

The
story maintains Felix Francis' well crafted stories. A good story line with suspense and pace.
Spoiler:
if I have one ongoing gripe it is the inaccuracy of the the medical event in the stories. In this one we have Theo experiencing a "dislocated ankle", requiring reduction, only to be told that there is no ligamentous injury. Having personally reduced a few ankles myself this is not possible, and the cast does not come off the same night. Recovery is 3-6 months and patients can complain of symptoms for a year or more.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Quite a technical book in places

A good story but I felt it was sometimes held back by lots of detailed explanations that while important rather stunted the flow of the fiction.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

His best yet

Loved the characters… probably the best since the Sid Halley days. More please like this

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

Disappointed overall

I almost returned this book as Martin Jarvis was monotonous and didn’t engage me at all. I decided to persevere.
The story was decent enough but I found the whole intertwining of the Soham murders an unnecessary distraction.
The character of Janis was insipid and I found myself wishing she’d just disappear.
It would have been much better to remove the Janis subplot and spend more time on the real mystery.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

excellent narrator

I loved everything and I felt totally involved as though I was actually personally involved in the whole action.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Disappointing

The characters are not very well drawn and the plot rather simple. A shame if this series becomes formulaic.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Absolute waffle

Hours of irrelevant and inaccurate facts, poorly narrated. I was always a fan of Dick Francis but Felix Francis books are not the same. This waa the worst of all his books. I have given up after 10 arduous chapters.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Awful

I usually feel like I am in safe hands with a Francis book but this was awful, it's essentially a accounting who done it. Its dull.

the reason I disliked it so strongly was the constant referencing to the Soham murders. It was a morbid voyeurism and it felt like Felix Francis was profiting from that heinous crime and giving focus on to the grieving families and an evil individual who deserves to be forgotten by all. He could easily have changed names and places and it would have had the same effect whilst not compromising the children's privacy or dignity.

He used the murders to create the drama, fear and trepidation his plot lacked and I feel it was done in the worse of taste.

On top of this no people of the main characters age talk like these did, it's massively outdated the intimate scenes are always pretty cringe at the best of times, this book is by far the worst and the way he writes his female characters is appalling. They are always so helpless, pathetic, unable to help themselves and nothing more than a prop to the main character's needs and ego. There is no depth to any character and as I result I never cared what happened to them.

In order to make the plot work the characters are by degrees astute and deeply dumb, missing facts and signs in order to crowbar in the trajectory of the story.
I don't mind the narrator as a rule but he's simply too old for the age of the character he's playing. if he had set it in the 70s it might be more excusable.
It's simply a bad book, written badly and the production of the audio version didn't add anything to it. I am going to return it.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!