Nail-biting thriller

This book has kept me gripped from the moment I started reading it. Amazing tours de force of historical writing, original & perceptive. Cannot wait for the next KM to come out in print (March for hard copy). Slight pause for thought when I first heard the accents of the 'Women' & Locals (as delivered by David Thorpe), but ended up giving him a Gold Star for clear and believable narration. Cannot recommend this highly enough. First Class!

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5 people found this helpful

Excellent Norfolk accent !

I didn't realise this book was set in Norfolk until I started it, David Thorpe accents are brilliant. I loved the story, the details about the saints and the mix of Christianity verses folk lore.

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Slightly curious title

Having had a bad run of books that I hadn't really enjoyed, finding this was a welcome breath of fresh air. This is the second of Karen Maitland's books I've listened to, the first being Company of Liars, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Sadly I thought Company of Liars overlong and over complicated but The Owl Killers was fabulous and I achieved that curious state where I yearned for the end but didn't want to finish.

I'm still not sure about the title. The book had some superb strong, female characters and some real villains but the whole owl killer thing seems almost superfluous to the story and it would have worked just as well without it. All Ms Maitland's characters are well drawn and our narrator, David Thorp, did an excellent job in portraying them, even the women.

It took me the best part of a year to think of reading this second novel of Ms Maitland's. I suspect it won't take me that long to get round to listening to yet another!

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Olde Aged Christian and Pagan Folk story

If you could sum up The Owl Killers in three words, what would they be?

Magical - Dark - Chilling

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Owl Killers?

Pretty gruesome scenes throughout but the most memorable ones are the conversations between the village priest and the "Village ruler's" nephew.

Have you listened to any of David Thorpe’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I Haven't.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Not really don't think it was that sort of book.

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Entralling mystical medieval

It took me about an hour of listening to really get into this imaginative and enthralling story and become familiar with the five characters through whom the story would be told. It's an extraordinary novel that brings medieval existence to life in all its day-to-day privations, subservience to the local lord, superstitions and fears of eternal damnation drummed into the populace by an unforgiving Church. It's a very powerful story of the struggle between good and evil centred around a village somewhere near Norwich where a group of women from Low Countries have setup a religious community that is distrusted by the Church and by the local community who are still in thrall to pagan beliefs exploited by a band of Owl Masters who terrorize them.
Much of the pleasure and power of this book is due to the exceptionally good narrator, David Thorpe, who brings a wealth of characters to life by giving them individual voices by which they are easily identified in this roller-coaster of a story.

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20 people found this helpful

Owl Killers

Already read owl killers, listening to it on audio even better. Come on gathering of ghosts.

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Keep going

I did nearly give up after an hour or so. I couldn’t really work out what was going on or where it was going but the narration was so good I kept listening; and I’m glad I did.
This is the second Karen Maitland I’ve listened to and will certainly be looking out for the third.

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It's a great picture into the past.

Loved the story and the narrator.
Do recommend this book if you are interested in knowing a little more about the dark ages...

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Mixed feelings

My wife disliked it, I liked the way the period was portrayed, but the story was a bit too supernatural for my tastes. (plus I am intrigued where she found a rocky mountain with a gushing waterfall in Norfolk . . . . . )
Having said that, David Thorpe brought this complicated book to life. His reading made this book and we subsequently quite enjoyed it. I'm unlikely to read any more KM, but we will be listening to more David Thorpe. Check him out!!

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13 people found this helpful

Gets better & better

Slightly confusing start as all the characters are introduced but it builds into an excellent story which I think is every bit as good as Company Liars which I loved.

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