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River of Darkness

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River of Darkness

By: Rennie Airth
Narrated by: Christopher Kay
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About this listen

In 1921, the bloodied bodies of Colonel Fletcher, his wife and two staff are found in a manor house in Surrey. The police have put the murders down to a violent robbery, but Detective Inspector Madden from Scotland Yard has his own suspicions. In the meantime the killer is plotting his second strike.

©1999 Rennie Airth (P)2002 Recorded Books, LLC Detective Historical Mystery Police Procedural Psychological Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives Fiction

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Wonderfully engrossing tale remininscent of Barbara Cleverly's atmospheric crime stories expertly narrated by Christopher Kay. So moving a memoir of the terrible loss to humanity of the generation of first world war victims of that madness in an entirely accessible account from a small scale perspective. Beautifully written. I can't wait to read more from this talented author. Thank you.

Evocative and Spellbinding

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Truly excellent in it s unfolding story line, with the historical background, the attention to detail, and truly troubled but also the old fashioned values of it s characters. I was spell bound,,

An excellent read.

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Although the 'main' murders occur pretty near the beginning of the story, the book somehow takes a very long time after that to introduce everyone and longer still to develop their characters. It was well over half way through before I began to care much about any of the characters, or be overly interested in what happened to them, though I'd have to say that the final third of the book is pretty good.

But that narrator (Christopher Kay)! One of the principal characters is described as coming from Aberdeen. The accent chosen for him was more appropriate to Morningside. To non-Scots, this may seem a rather pedantic observation, but imagine, for example, a character being described as Cornish or Cumbrian and yet being given a Cockney accent. (Apologies, Morningsiders, not suggesting that select part of Edinburgh is at all like the East End of London; just that the accents are VERY different, and impact upon one's perception of character). Other accents - 'general West Country', Brummie, Liverpudlian and Cockney itself seem to have been attempted for other characters from time to time; none of them very successfully. General story telling, also, not really up to the standard of many others available. There seems to be a version with another narrator available; perhaps better to try that one.

Odd sort of Aberdonian

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This story is first class and should be rated as one of the best thrillers ever produced. I am a walker and listen to the storys as I walk, but I found myself rooted to the ground due to the sheer suspense, this book had you twisting from one spot to another. For the first time in the whole of my life (and I am no chicken), I found tears in my eyes. Its a book you will never forget and that is what a good book should do.I must make a mention of the reader he is so good that you think you are there with him, and the many characters are treated to their own accents.

River of Darkness

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This is an 'easy' listen. For me, there was no 'rewinding'; the story flowed easily and the characters were memorable. I enjoyed the historical setting and the reading. Good, good.

Easy

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River of Darkness - good old fashioned classic detective read
Narrator Christopher Kay would have got 4 stars but detective madden seemed to pronounced madam.
Good classic detective book could be a bit slow for some listeners
and storyline was a bit dark but I enjoyed it

River of Darkness - good old fashioned classic detective read

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I bought this on the strength of other highly positive reviews. Sadly I was not gripped by this book at all. My husband thought it might make a better film than book. The characters were numerous but flimsy and somewhat stereotyped, the sex was exceptionally explicit in a what-bit-goes-where Sex for Dummies kind of way. The final denouement, after you think the story is wrapped up, was quite exciting, but very bloody and violent. Just not a very crisp, tightly structured or intriguing book. I never really cared enough about what might happen next.

Disappointing

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