Girl Zero cover art

Girl Zero

Detective Harry Virdee, Book 2

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Girl Zero

By: A. A. Dhand
Narrated by: Muzz Khan
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About this listen

There are some surprises that no-one should ever have to experience. Standing over the body of your beloved - and murdered - niece is one of them.

For Detective Inspector Harry Virdee, a man perilously close to the edge, it feels like the beginning of the end. His boss may be telling him he's too close to work the case, but this isn't something that Harry can just let lie. He needs to dive into the murky depths of the Bradford underworld and find the monster that lurks there who killed his flesh and blood. But before he can, he must tell his brother, Ron, the terrible news.

And there is no predicting how he will react. Impulsive, dangerous and alarmingly well connected, Ron will act first and think later. Harry may have a murderer to find, but if he isn't careful he may also have a murder to prevent.

©2017 A. A. Dhand (P)2017 Audible, Ltd Crime Fiction Mystery Crime Fiction Murder Suspense

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Critic reviews

"Outstanding - relentless, multi-layered suspense and real human drama make this a crime debut to relish." (Lee Child)
"A tense slice of neo-noir that has won Dhand comparisons to both BBC drama Luther and HBO's The Wire." ( Observer)
"A sombre, gritty race through the unsettling underbelly of the city...compelling and unflinching." ( Yorkshire Post)
All stars
Most relevant  
I wanted to return this book at first. Then I decided to give it a chance and I, well, enjoyed it to some extent. This book was kinda a background play for me. The narrator did a good job trying to place you in the story. I'm satisfied overall. However, it is not the book I would read first.

I didn't want to finish it at first but then...

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I finished this book a while back but I haven't written a review yet because, weird as it sounds, I can't decide if I liked it or not! Can I firstly deal with the narration. I usually listen to books at a speed of 1.2, because it means I can listen to more books but it's not so fast that you can't keep up with the conversation. Muzz Khan speaks so slowly that I upped the speed to 1.3, then 1.4 and finally settled on 1.5! Even with that speed I found myself getting impatient at times!! I thought the story was good and well thought out. The cultural differences between generations within the same family were heartbreakingly credible, and it's altogether too easy to imagine those type of arguments happening in families throughout the world all the time. I think it was the elements between Harry and his brother that I felt stretched the boundaries of plausibility, I couldn't get my head around it at all. So, between that and the narration issues, I may well buy another ebook by A A Dhand, not sure if I'd invest in an audio version with this narrator. Sorry

Erm, I'm not sure!

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interesting to see inside culture of other people, but it kind of dominates the story a bit. odd accent of the narrator, try a sample first, see if you like it!

ok, deffo part of a series

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This book should be good but unfortunately the storyteller is so bad I can’t listen to it. Awful, I am sorry to have to write this but in my mind there is no choice.

This is a return

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I felt like I could hardly breath for the last hour.
Brilliant, tense, heart wrenching.
The performance was top notch. Muzz Khan brings the whole thing to life.

Nail biting

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Dhand really gets Bradford. The hope, the despair; the constant tension between order and chaos. This is a well-plotted novel, and is brought to life brilliantly by Muzz Khan.

Thrilling novel, stellar performance

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I see some of my fellow reviewers have been a little savage about this one. I can certainly understand some of the points being made and plenty of people are likely to have a problem with the heavily accented narration. That said I've enjoyed these first two books and I think that Muzz Khan adds real authenticity to the Asian characters. If it all falls apart with the non-Asian characters a bit the Asians are more important to the story and the overall series. It's definitely better this way than having a non-Asian narrator fumble the asian accents. In fairness it took me a while during the first book to tune into it and I didn't like some of the pronunciation but that feeling of it being genuine felt more important. Take a listen to the audio sample and make your own decision.

The story itself delves into some very edgy subjects, it shows the incredibly multi-faceted nature of prejudice and racism within our modern communities. It delves into multiple faiths and reflects how in each there are various levels of commitment to them. The clashes of culture and inter-racial attitudes that exist in today's UK towns are far from simple and I think it's important that these things are given air by authors like Dhand.

The story, well it is a bit far-fetched but no more than say some of Peter James's Roy Grace novels of which I am a big fan. It's hard-hitting with characters that have grown up the tough way in desperate circumstances.

I think the other reviews demonstrate quite reasonably that this isn't going to appeal to everyone but all I can say is that I am enjoying this series and feel that the stories have relevance to our modern day society. The ending which had an almost epic feel to it also suggests that Dhand will be upping the ante somewhat in the next book.

Niche Appeal?

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So I don’t normally read books like this ....not really being a fan of violence. But having grown up in Bradford and then escaping it in my teens, my interest was captivated when I heard the free snippet . The narrator has a wonderful Bradford accent and I really enjoyed the story which had me gripped throughout. A really good book. And made better by references to places I remember
. I think I might now go and get the first book by this writer 😀

Brilliant!

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Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

yes for content, no for the voice

What did you like best about this story?

good plot

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Muzz Khan?

anyone - I found his pronunciation annoying, any word ending in a Y was strange, I put the speed to 1.5 to try to take this away.

Could you see Girl Zero being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

yes

Any additional comments?

no

narration

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Avarage story, not much suspension.. But the accent was really putting me off through the book

Did not like the accent

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