Diane St John

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

Revisado: 02-27-24

I just finished listening to this and am thinking I am going to start all over at the beginning (something I never do) because it is SO well written, SO entertaining, SO well performed. I love all the characters, the New Orleans environment, the lovely Southern accents, the descriptions of gumbo, voodoo, etc. I also listened to the first one of the series and loved that as well and am looking forward to number 3 and after that numbers 4 through infinity hopefully. This is one of those books that restores your faith in humanity and the world and I am not quite sure why but it is the perfect antidote for our current cynical hostile world.

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Excellent but one complaint

Revisado: 12-08-23

I am about 70% of the way through this book and have loved it. If you have any interest in alternative health and/or the mind/body connection you will be fascinated. It's well written and really well narrated. However, I have just listened to the chapter about women in our society, how they are denigrated, victimized, stifled, disbelieved and thwarted, to the detriment of their health. The author talks about interviewing a female firefighter, whom he describes as "feisty", a term hardly ever used for men and which is defined as a "relatively small or weak person who is nevertheless courageous and determined." OMG, this woman is a FIREFIGHTER, and still is not respected for her strength and skill. I know the author's heart is in the right place, so it's a perfect example of how immutable our prejudices can be despite our best efforts.

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Dull and tedious

Revisado: 10-15-23

Statisticians may appreciate this book but I gave up about a third of the way through. It is mainly a description of research studies that read as if a robot wrote the text. "437 of these patients had bad outcomes, compared with 379 of the other patients, a difference of x patients, or y%, and we did control for the fact that 54 of these patients were between 63 and 75 or had pre-existing cardiovascular issues..." OMG make it stop. And the conclusions are kind of self-evident: If you take an ambulance to the hospital but traffic is heavy due to the Boston Marathon being run that day, your outcome will be worse than if the roads were not as busy. If you happen to get an ER doc who routinely prescribes opioids, you have a greater chance of ODing at some point in the future than if you got a doc who doesn't prescribe opioids. I definitely regret wasting a credit on this book.

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Torture porn

Revisado: 05-12-23

I love the plot of this book and the writing is amazing. The narrator is one of the best most expressive voices I have heard. But I am about a third of the way through and probably will not listen further. The two protagonists are seeking info about their married sons' murders, a great plot. But the way they obtain the info is by beating, torturing, threatening and/or killing the people they interview. I would not call it noir so much as torture porn. All of the beatings are described in loving, lascivious detail - the sound the bones make breaking, the victim's screams and pleas, the appearance of the guts and brains. I get that it's just a book but there is so much vigilante "justice", police brutality and gang mentality in the world right now that I don't want to read anything that glorifies torturing and killing people, even as a means to a good end. I do love the author's writing style and will check out his other books to see if they are less violent.

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Very pleasantly surprised

Revisado: 09-21-21

This was sort of a random choice for me and I was not very enthralled with the first slow atmospheric half hour of it. But from the moment Rodeo went to the old woman's house and was hired to investigate this murder I was hooked and it just got better and better. I am more than halfway through now and it's one of the best Audible books I've listened to. The narrator is AMAZINGLY good, all of the characters are immediately distinguishable, his delivery perfectly captures the humor and the pathos of the various situations. The writing style is sometimes very captivating; the author takes risks with the writing style that sometimes fall a little flat but most often are fresh and interesting. Amazon has a preview of the physical book but no real pages, only reviews - I wanted to look at the written pages because people on Amazon have complained about lack of punctuation and not being able to distinguish which character is speaking, which is definitely not a problem with the Audible version. This is excellent detective fiction. Highly recommend.

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Boring

Revisado: 02-06-21

I had high hopes for this based on the reviews and was so disappointed I gave up a couple of hours into the book. There’s a lot about high school baseball teams and baseball strategy and the pecking order of teenage boys. I didn’t care about any of the characters - they just seemed like cardboard cutouts. I got tired of waiting for the “suspense” to happen. However, the narrator was excellent and did the best he could with the material.

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So disappointing

Revisado: 11-06-20

This started out strong and basically went nowhere until a couple of uninteresting events at the end. Not sure what the point was. The premise was so promising. The writing was good but edged over into poetic sometimes - and not in a good way. I liked the narrator but she imbued the character with BITING. SARCASM. IN. ALMOST. EVERY. SENTENCE. which got old after awhile; I know the character is hostile and angry but it would have been good if the character had developed more or if we occasionally saw her vulnerability.. If you are looking for a thriller I would definitely not recommend.

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A wonderful surprise

Revisado: 06-27-20

I confess I have only listened to two chapters so far but I love it so much I had to review it immediately. This really ranks with the best detective fiction and is evocative of Raymond Chandler, Robert Parker and Sue Grafton. I immediately fell in love with the character and was intrigued by the plot and the BEST part is the writing style which is tight, fresh and engaging and often laugh-out-loud funny. It is perfectly narrated by the co-author. I have not been this excited to continue listening to an Audible book in quite awhile and highly recommend. I am hoping this develops into a series because I will be first in line to purchase any installment.

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Love love love 💕

Revisado: 11-25-19

More more more please please PLEEEASE!!???? I absolutely loved this novella and adored the narrator. Although I am close to Viva’s Gran’s age I completely identified with Viva and loved accompanying her on her explorations around New Orleans. I loved the personalities of all of the characters, everyone was interesting and tried hard to do the right thing, which is so refreshing in a book as in life. I am hoping this becomes a long-running series so we can continue to enjoy Viva’s adventures in various locales. This is my favorite so far of all the little monthly bonus books. Extremely well written and perfectly performed. Highly recommend.

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esto le resultó útil a 4 personas

Excellent!

Revisado: 05-04-19

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT. This is one of the best audible books I have listened to in a long time. The minute I got home from work every day I put on my headphones and went out for a long walk so I could hear more of it. I was not familiar with this author but now am excited to read his other offerings. I loved the writing style - direct and surprising and perfectly paced. Although the author is male he gets inside the head of his female character completely authentically. I loved all the characters and loved the direct communication style of each married couple; really you can relate to every character in the book. The narration was perfect - love Sophie Amoss’s voice, pacing and inflection. If I have one quibble, it is the over-intrusive voice of a male character who appears halfway through the book in a flagrant way; I wish his voice had been softer and more subtle. But all in all I haven’t loved a book this much in a long time and am very grateful for Audible, the author and the narrators.

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