Irritating Pronunciations

Overall an interesting book and the story does reveal some information not in the tv documentaries or the West Cork podcast so for that I give it 4. The author seems to over-egg his discoveries somewhat but I still enjoyed it.

The narration however was incredibly frustrating with hugely incorrect pronunciation of Irish place names like Schull and the word Síochana which as you can imagine are used very frequently. It really grates after a while. Also the narrator changed the way he says Schull half way through the book to another different but wrong way. All in all on this occasion I would prefer to read the paperback.

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It’s pronounced ‘Skull’ not ‘school’

Small detail but not hard to get right – also important considering it features so heavily in the book.

And those kinds of details are what separates good narration from AI.

Overall, an interesting addition to the ongoing saga of Sophie’s murder. Perhaps one day someone will make the effort to write a book that focuses solely on her.

Bailey is either guilty or the most unfortunate distraction to ever be associated with a murder case.

I hope one day science will determine the answer.

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great listen very interesting case still unsolved?

loved everything about this book,its timeliness its narrative and would recommend it to any sleuth

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Terrible pronunciation

Good listen except for the pronunciation of the narrator which ruins the entire book. He has obviously never been to Ireland and it’s a shame he never took advice on same.

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Learn the name of the places in the story

The narrator is woeful, I suggest peer review before publishing. Also why is there 15 word minimum.

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Great insight

At last something that puts this horrible saga in context I now believe he dine it too many people give statements for them all to be lies.
Clothes in the bath, claiming he did not know her scratches on the arms to name a few .

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The performance is not great

The book itself is excellent, a comprehensive account of the entire story of the Sophie Toscan Du Plantier case. It has good sources and is well set out to chronologically take the reader through the entirety of the case.

However the performance is poor, the narrator ignorantly pronounces many key words incorrectly such as “Schull”, “Dermot Dywer” and “Síochana”. You would think that someone narrating a book with those names and words appearing so frequently would go to the trouble of researching pronunciation. Apparently not. Unfortunately, this takes the gloss off of an otherwise very good book. As soon as you are really starting to get into it there is another incorrect pronunciation which gets very annoying.

Overall I would recommend.

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Well structured book, covering familiar ground for the most part. Warning spoilers.

I found the narration actually quite good, though I appreciate that others were bothered, quite rightly, by mispronunciation of local place names and such.
This book goes over a lot of the information about this case that’s already in the public domain through other books, podcasts and tv films. I found it better structured and argued than some.
Mr Foster aims to differentiate his account by hitting on a specific detail that was ignored by the Gardai in the initial investigation and which he (Foster) determines to be a crucial piece of evidence overall, and specifically pointing to the guilt of Ian Bailey. That’s fair enough as a means to promote the book I guess.
I’m neither for or against Bailey as a suspect. However, the evidence in question was given by a person working in the motor trade. To suggest he might be confused or didn’t have sufficient time to observe the details of a vehicle he was filling with petrol, leading him to mistake a grey/blue car with no hub caps for a silver car with hubcaps seems to be stretching a point beyond credibility. I will also observe that, as a woman driving alone I often push back the passenger seat so that I can store items in the footwell. Sophie arrived at Cork airport with a number of items of luggage, and had a drive of around 2 hours from the airport to her house in Toormore. Perfectly reasonable to think she may have had a bag stowed safely on the floor but in easy reach with snacks, drinks, tissues, sanitary supplies etc that she may need on the drive.
Rather more interesting might be which other French women were in the area at that time who might have had a motive for killing Sophie so brutally, and a burly accomplice?

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A great listen, shame about the pronunciation!

Really enjoyed this, well researched with an abundance of detail and perspective. Like other reviews it's let down a but by the continuous mispronunciation of the Irish Language but I imagine that doesn't really matter if your not Irish..either way a great listen!

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Totally wrong narrator

I loved the frank and honest account of Nick Fosters book BUT...the Narrator was totally wrong. He pronounced alot of Irish names and places wrong which was incredibly annoying. His accent was more stiff upper lip...more suited to a story about the Royal Family. Nick Foster himself should have narrated this book as he has a good voice, more down to earth and as it's his own book I think he would have done a much better job. I love audiobooks but it's the first time I have ever not finished a book. I'll have to read the book instead as that annoying narration really turned me off what should be a really interesting and informative account of what happened in Scull to Sophie.

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