a perfect listen

a murder mystery with a difference moving and very informative beautifully written - excellent

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1 person found this helpful

Relationships and regret.

A web of relationships that required some concentration in order to follow the characters. There's a piece of dialogue very near the end which is painfully beautiful and worth quoting many times.

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1 person found this helpful

Betrayal and gulit

This book looks back on the Nazi occupation of Paris and the persecution of the Jews. An old man, accused of being a Nazi, seeks santuary at Larkwood Priory, the monastery of Brother Anslem who is pulled into the hunt for the truth.

Slowly threads of different stories from the various characters come together and reveal a past riven with betrayal and guilt that these people have to live with in their own way.

A thoughtful and thought-provoking novel which was well read and compulisve listening.

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1 person found this helpful

Good story

I enjoyed the plot and the reading was great. Needed some concentration to remember who everyone was and found myself having to re listen to bits again just to understand all the connections but definitely worth it.

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Enjoyed and managed to finish.

I do not often listen to books of this length. Probably would have helped to have written list of all characters.
Many different stories interwoven throughout, I sometimes got lost.
Will try another by this author.

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1 person found this helpful

Good story (slow reading)

This is a good story I agree with what the other reviewers have said but the reading is so very slow; every piece of punctuation is noticable like no other book that I've listened to, the effect is that the narrator dampens any tension which builds up. The ponderous delivery grated on me but others may like this style.

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4 people found this helpful

A complex web, brilliant

I thoroughly enjoyed this audible book, I found the complex storylines intriguing and although they where ever-changing I had no difficulty in keeping up. It was a struggle to pull myself away and I looked forward to when I could find time to listen again. The narrator was so good I barely noticed him as I got caught up in the narrative (the sign of a good narrator, I think)

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3 people found this helpful

Wonderfully complex

This is a lovely story beautifully read. Its quite complex and moving with a delightfully rich combination of characters and full of twists and turns. I wouldn't call it a thriller, more of an intriguing mystery spanning from the activities of the French resistance to the present day and the resulting effects for three families. This is so much more than an account of a war crimes trial. Father Anselm is a warm character that I quickly grew to like and I'm pleased to see that he features in the next William Brodrick book which is now on my wishlist. I've listened to The Sixth Lamentation once and am listening again to pick up on a few nuances I missed first time round. Highly recommended.

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11 people found this helpful

plodding book & plodding delivery

I was disappointed with this book, as critics had given it a good write up, as have other reviewers on this site, soem even comparing the author to John Le Carre.

Well, John Le Carre he is not. The prose style is very earnest and at times a tad wooden, there is no real narrative drive or tension, the characters dont really come alive, and whilst the book has an intricate and well thought-out plot it all seems too pat and neat - writing by numbers almost. Not helped by a very one-paced and occasionally too slow delivery, though to be fair, the characters are quite well delineated.

Still it passed the time not unpleasantly.

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2 people found this helpful

emotion

heart-rending at times but an excellent book. The author himself was in holy orders but gave them up and became a barrister,the opposite way round to Father Anselm

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