a 21st century thriller

Jon Evans' stories are as contemporary as you can get. His characters live and operate in the same time as my daily newspaper, or TV news. Not just in the stories themselves but in the methods of working out the conclusions. They work on a truly global stage, politically, technically and geographically. Traditional crime novels are old hat. Jon Evans' stories are the future.

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Arrogant expat view on Balkans

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Gave up after 2 1/2 hours. The author is condescending and even though he seems to have been to the region he seems to lack deeper understanding of Bosnia, Croatia and the Balkans. All his Bosnian characters including the Canadian main character's girl-friend are incapable of stringing a sentence together without constantly swearing. Only the beaten and abused girl-friend of a Bosnian moron gangster kingpin speaks 'baby-talk of horror' (who could think of something more condescending to say about a woman recounting abuse?) Sometimes the moron kingpin gangster only utters swearwords and doesn't even try for a sentence.

When the Mostar Tigers don't abuse their wives they drink and shoot guns in the air and swear at NATO. The region is a 'morass of crime', the bullet holes in the cities are so much the norm they are now invisible and even the Croatian teenager who is randomly sitting on a bus next to the main character is 'unspeakably ugly' and listens to bad music.

Obviously there is a history of war in the Balkans and plenty of crime in the present. But having listened to 2 1/2 hours of prejudice and stereotype which gives no context I've had enough.

What could Jon Evans have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Understand the regions history, put crime into social context (not the same as excusing it), create real characters (not card-board cut-outs) and show a little empathy in the way he describe people and places.

And his Canadian main-characters is immature and lacks any redeeming features so far (though I suspect I am giving up just at the very moment when he's turing into the hero)

What does Jeff Harding bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Love Jeff Harding's reading. That was one of the reasons I downloaded the book.

What character would you cut from The Blood Price?

Have a guess ...

Any additional comments?

I'm not usually that negative but I really feel that the author is wronging the region and its people with his simplistic portrayal.

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