A Test of Wills cover art

A Test of Wills

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A Test of Wills

By: Charles Todd
Narrated by: Samuel Giles
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About this listen

Ian Rutledge returns to his career at Scotland Yard after years fighting in the First World War. Unknown to his colleagues he is still suffering from shell shock, and is burdened with the guilt of having had executed a young soldier on the battlefield for refusing to fight. A jealous colleague has learned of his secret and has managed to have Rutledge assigned to a difficult case which could spell disaster for Rutledge whatever the outcome.

A retired officer has been murdered, and Rutledge, fighting the torment of his illness, goes to investigate. As he digs into the lives of the villagers, the witness who disturbs him most is a war-ravaged ex-soldier who chills Rutledge with the realization that he could become like this man.

©1996 Charles Todd (P)1999 W.F. Howes Historical Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives Fiction Detective Solider

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All stars
Most relevant  

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

I wouldn't recommend this book as I got bored with it.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

I like the period ,1st world war,characters weren't interesting to me

Would you listen to another book narrated by Samuel Giles?

Probably not but that might depend on the subject matter.

Was A Test of Wills worth the listening time?

No

Didn't get to the end of this one.

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This is the first time I have ever given up on an audible book but I found the narrator's voice so irritating that I gave up.

A Test of my patience

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Despite a pretentious previous review, the author and narator have pitched this story perfectly and accurately for the time periods and characters described.
It is nice to have a slower paced, less aggresive Detective Story to listen to for an evening or to go to sleep with.
Looking forward to the rest of the series.
(Crush as in 'to fancy someone' comes from the 1800s).

A good old gentle "Who done it"

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I really enjoyed this story. The mystery unfolds slowly. The plot twists are developed in a believable way. The ending seemed a little abrupt, but this is a good start to a great series. The main character, Ian Rutledge, is an appealing, believable character, with an interesting back story. I look forward to more books in this series.

Excellent first in series.

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I did enjoy this but I hope my review doesn’t sound like damnation by faint praise.

The story was twisty turny and while the ending may have been a bit of a cheat, there were some good characters and a meaty puzzle.

The reason it doesn’t get a higher rating (3 is my baseline for perfectly ok) is that the narrator just didn’t do it for me. I felt that a younger narrator would have better suited the age of the main character who would have been much more engaging with a livelier narrator.

Interesting set up let down by dull narration

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I enjoy the Rutledge stories and have heard many of them, but I am not keen of the narrator of the early books. He does not seems to have understood the importance of an RP (received pronunciation) accent which was so important until the 1960s in Britain. How could Rutledge have even the slightest provincial twang? I am sure his sister would not have one - they move in the wrong social environment for that (see "A Fine Summer's Day). If he sounded provincial as this narrator suggests then he puts Rutledge lower down social ladder than I have placed him in a very class-conscious Britain. It is also one of the things Bowles, his superior, dislikes about Rutledge.

The other thing that annoy me is the use of US words like "drapes" and "gotten". UK English may now be scattered with US English terms and pronunciation, but either "Charles Todd" is catering for an American-speaking audience of they are from the other side of the pond! It is annoying to think that "curtains" are not acceptable or valid English for a story firmly set in early 20th Century Britain.

This story is the first case for Rutledge post war when he, and the rest of the country, have to cope with their losses and nightmares or ghosts.

niggles

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Having listened to all the books over the years, I decided to revisit them and have not been disappointed. Love the twists that all the books have that keep you on your toes the whole time. Very entertaining

Brilliant start to the series

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Overall I enjoyed this listen, the plot romped along at a reasonable pace and I connected with the main characters.

The narration was reasonably good though the accents selected for the main character was inappropriate and sometimes this jarred but not enough to spoil the story.

The reason for the lower score is the ending. The last fifteen minutes seemed not to match the rest of the book, but I did enjoy the rest of the book and will try another.

Good character development

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To be honest this book is not in the first rank modern detective fiction. It is not so much the story itself, but the fact that the author just does not have the writing skills of authors such as Robert Goddard, Philip Kerr, Nicola Upson, David Downing and others, and I found that as I listened to it, it's style quickly became irritating and after a while I decided I didn't want to listen any more. If you consecutively read (or listen to) a Charles Todd book and one by one of the other authors I have mentioned, you will see the difference.

Not very well written

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Devoid of pace, this plodding detective story sees the policemen at the centre of the story wandering around talking to people and eventually getting given the solution to the mystery. Excellent narration, though.

Dull as ditchwater

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