the narrator killed this one

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Absolutely not! The book is okay but the narration was really terrible. It sounded like the person narrating was learning to read as they went along and had no awareness of the actual content/meaning of the words she was saying out loud. The intonation completely destroyed the author's intent and quite often mispronunciation was just ludicrous. Overall the narration was so distracting that I couldn't get into the novel and really couldn't say whether it's any good. Out of deference to the effort that authors put into their work I always finish a novel but this one was through gritted teeth! I found myself musing on how audible versions of books are produced, from the initial selection of the narrator, through the actual recording of the performance of the work, to the involvement (if any) of the author. This is the first time that I have considered asking for a refund of my listening credit and I have listened to hundreds of books on Audible for over 10 years now. My advice to those thinking of listening to this is to take a few minutes to listen to the sample before you add it to your basket ... or perhaps just read the novel rather than listen to it.

What didn’t you like about Julia Anthony’s performance?

See my comments above.

Do you think A Deadly Thaw needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Not if it's the same narrator ...

Any additional comments?

The first in this series was great (different narrator) but the narration of this one has stopped me dead in my tracks. If there's another one and it has the same narrator then I won't be listening to it which is a great shame as the series promised to be really good.

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8 people found this helpful

What a shame.

I have to agree with the other reviewers - a good detective story let down by an appalling narration. The narrator, editor and publisher should all be ashamed to have let the multiple mispronunciations of not uncommon words go uncorrected. The childish emphasis applied to many phrases and sentences completely took away their meaning and impact.

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2 people found this helpful

Story Okay, narration not so good

Story was okay. I listen to alot of crime series and there was nothing new in the characterisation and the 'romance' between characters was just too obvious. I think it would have been better with a better narrator. Like others, the mis-pronunciation of words and the tone of the voice grated. I also struggled to make out the different voices which made it harder to follow the story and who was talking. The voices did not seem to go with the characters and just felt a little young - more for children's book I think.

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1 person found this helpful

Is narration not edited?

What would have made A Deadly Thaw better?

A different narrator.

Would you recommend A Deadly Thaw to your friends? Why or why not?

No, the book was recommended by somebody with similar taste in books. I chose to download the audio version. It is a lesson to me that a bad narrator can ruin a story.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Other people have detailed the mispronunciations that pepper the narration, they were very distracting. The emphasis often fell on the wrong part of the sentence and some of the voices of the characters were just strange.

Any additional comments?

Just don't understand how this got through the editing process.

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Disappointing narration

I nearly gave up on this book because of the narration. It was not easy to distinguish between the accents of different characters and there were many mispronounced words.

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1 person found this helpful

Good story awful narrative

Story is interesting but the narrator is awful very boring and no character I almost returned it but stuck with it.

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Dreadful narration

What would have made A Deadly Thaw better?

I'm sure this is a good book to read, but the narration is awful. The pronunciation of some words is laughable and the whole thing is just very poorly read. I haven't even managed to listen to the end. What a shame, I really enjoyed this author's first book but this has put me off.

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6 people found this helpful

The Narration!

I genuinely cannot tell if this book is good or not. It has an intriguing premise and I've previously enjoyed a book written by Sarah Ward.

The narrator made it impossible for me to concentrate on the story, such was my incredulity at the amount of mispronounced words. Very distracting.

Viscous is an altogether different word than vicious, and relevation is a made up one!

This one is going back.

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3 people found this helpful

Nice plot but not the best narrarion.

This book has nice premice and it is entertaining but the narration was hufe dissapointment.

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Worst Narration I have ever heard

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend the written book but not the Audiobook

What didn’t you like about Julia Anthony’s performance?

No sense of timing, no flow, mispronounced words, sounded like a schoolchild reading to a class. Nearly gave up listening but carried on out of respect for the author

Do you think A Deadly Thaw needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Yes please but with a different Narrator.

Any additional comments?

Please withdraw this edition and re-record with a different Narrator.

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5 people found this helpful