Keith Aspinall

Well, written, but curiously disjointed

Revisado: 10-01-23

I enjoyed listening to this book because the performance is so good. I cannot say the same about the story. It starts with two or three threads of plot, and eventually weaves them together, but the whole effort seems somewhat misguided and ineffective. Definitely not one of his best.

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So many lost opportunities to be good

Revisado: 08-24-23

Interesting characters, interesting plot, but somehow it just doesn’t come together. Interesting story threads unfinished, potentially interesting characters under developed, a huge disappointment.

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Brilliant

Revisado: 02-15-23

A great story, with narration, that perfectly fits the heroine of the story. Could not be any better.

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Not worth the trouble

Revisado: 01-01-21

I love Scott Brick generally, when he uses his powerful voice to amplify the drama of the text. In this case the text is worthless - weak character development at best; cartoon villains; and a riduculous plot. It starts well with the lead character an NTSB investigator at the scene of a small plane crash - it goes seriously downhill from there. Totally unbelievable, and that is coming from a science fiction reader who is fairly tolerant of scientific leaps. Unfortunately Scott's reading skills somehow just emphasize how weak the book is, rather than rescue it. What a shame

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Book with great 'bones' but lousy development

Revisado: 07-12-16

Is there anything you would change about this book?

develop the characters, develop the plot.

What was most disappointing about Robert Bryndza’s story?

Promising plot, interesting situation, potentially interesting characters, but this book fails at every level. The plot is weak when it could have been strong - it starts with lots of potentially interesting threads, none of which are properly fleshed out, and the ending just appears with no progressive suspense. Felt as if the police pursued a lot of plausible leads, none of which come to anything, then -bang- the answer is all there, and not a very interesting answer at that. The characters are potentially intriguing, but don't ring true as real people - the senior police officers are capricious and lazy idiots until the last 5 minutes when for the first time in the book they sound more or less normal; and the main character does one stupid inappropriate thing after another.

What does Jan Cramer bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Jan Cramer's reading is the only good thing about the book, although she does tend to play up the book's story and character deficiencies rather than seek to minimize their absurdities - making the senior officers sound even more idiotic and one dimensional.

Do you think The Girl in the Ice needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Not if it is as weak as this

Any additional comments?

Such a disappointment! This author could have produced a fantastic book with more attention to plot and character development.

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Dreadful overall, but I kept listening...for 32 h

Revisado: 04-23-15

I was so glad to finish this book. I have listened to hundreds of books over the past 10 years with audible and there have been so few that I have had to return but this is the worst book I have ever listened to through till the end. The fundamental problem with this book is that the protagonist is completely unsympathetic, feckless, and frustrating. Bad things happen to him but he compounds his misery as he drifts through his life making a series of idiotically bad decisions. Given a series of opportunities to make more of his life he consistently fails to take them, and I felt nothing but frustration. He is credited with having the human insight to be a fantastic antiques salesman, but displays total incompetence with all his friends, living through the events that happen to him in a state of ignorance. He doesn't say the obvious things and after the first 10 hours I was so frustrated that I considered stopping listening. I think David Pittu, the narrator, is wonderful for every character except the central character. His voice for Hobie, Boris and the others are brilliant but for some reason the central character's weakness is emphasized by the pace and style of the personalization he uses. Whoever directed this reading to be slow and ponderous is most at fault - a lighter touch and faster pacing for the central character might have rescued this work and cut the listening time by half.

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Truly dreadful, avoid at all costs...

Revisado: 04-23-14

What would have made The Plantation better?

This was a first novel, so perhaps one should have more tolerance for "rookie errors". However, this was so poor, that I doubt that I would try any others in this series. On the positive side, it has an interesting premise, and this kept me listening until the end. However, the plot is overly intricate in highly improbable ways - major plot lines just evaporate, never to be resolved; the primary characters have potential, but just don't come across as human, overcoming impossible obstacles without comment.

Has The Plantation turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, but it has made me believe that this author is talentless.

What does Dick Hill bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Dick Hill is a master narrator, but even he seems to be struggling with the scripts hyperbole.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Plantation?

The white slave trade to Africa might be an interesting element, but largely superfluous to the primary "reversed roles" revenge plot. It adds, but creates complexities that the author has to go through unlikely contortions to resolve - e.g. how does an ex-special forces officer manage to persuade a full team to leave their duty on his say-so, deploy with full equipment to Africa, engage in a private war, and then come back blameless? Really?

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Very workable PI story spoiled by the narrator

Revisado: 04-10-11

The protagonist in this book is an intriguing and convincing character, involved in an interesting and compelling plot. Unfortunately the narrator simply murders the book. The written style is full of witty dialogue and irony, requiring an understated reading for its full affect. This narrator simply over acts (hams up) the dialogue, making quite enjoyable witty dialogue just plain irritating. Patrick Lawlor is now on my (very short) narrator blacklist.

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Disappointing

Revisado: 04-10-11

I really wanted to like this book, but just could not. The plot and setup are quite promising, but fail to deliver. The characters are poorly constructed, not plausible (even within my highly flexible imagination), and do not develop in a three dimensional way. Net net I could neither relate to, or like any of the primary characters. The overly dramatic reading did not help. What a shame.

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Solid and fun, but disappointing

Revisado: 03-13-06

I enjoyed this book for its period character, and it is a good story with strong characters. Somehow, the overall effect did not reach its full potential. Very little detail of the times of DaVinci in the book, quite a trivial tale really. Was it Leonardo's swans to ride the coattails of the DaVinci Code?

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