Gerard
- 280
- reviews
- 483
- helpful votes
- 297
- ratings
-
He's Gone
- By: Rebecca Collomosse
- Narrated by: Victoria Blunt, Cicely Whitehead, Joe Eyre
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 494
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 489
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 489
My fiancé brought me tea and scrambled eggs in bed that morning, and we snuggled together, talking about buying our rings, and about our perfect wedding next year. Then we headed into town. He held my hand and gazed at the ring I liked best, a smile spreading slowly over his face. Then a glass of bubbly to celebrate. I felt flushed, excited and ready for the rest of my life with the man I loved. We race to get on the train home. It screams to a halt and I run towards its open doors. Made it. I think he’s right behind me — but when I turn around, he’s gone.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great plot
- By Jayne Major on 29-11-24
- He's Gone
- By: Rebecca Collomosse
- Narrated by: Victoria Blunt, Cicely Whitehead, Joe Eyre
Silly
Reviewed: 24-12-24
Basic plodding stuff. The usual unlikely story. The usual crazy female. Why are there so many viscous female murderers in fiction when there a so few in real life? Flat ending.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Thicker than Water
- By: Anthea Fraser
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 11
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 7
James Markham's family are shocked when he jilts his fiancée for a woman he met only days earlier and about whom he appears to know very little. When they meet Abigail they are swayed by her beauty and charm, but puzzled by the aura of mystery that surrounds her.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Intriguing read
- By Karen on 15-05-10
- Thicker than Water
- By: Anthea Fraser
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
Gastly
Reviewed: 15-12-24
A revolting story. Best avoided. Gruesome murders with the usual ludicrous motivation thrown in. Utter rubbish.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
The Night Guest
- By: Hildur Knútsdóttir, Mary Robinette Kowal - translator
- Narrated by: Mary Robinette Kowal
- Length: 2 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 9
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story3.5 out of 5 stars 9
Iðunn is in yet another doctor's office. She knows her constant fatigue is a sign that something's not right, but practitioners dismiss her symptoms and blood tests haven't revealed any cause. When she talks to friends and family about it, the refrain is the same—have you tried eating better? exercising more? establishing a nighttime routine? She tries to follow their advice, buying everything from vitamins to sleeping pills to a step-counting watch. Nothing helps. Until one night Iðunn falls asleep with the watch on, and wakes up to find she’s walked over 40,000 steps in the night.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
an absolutely wild story delivered incredibly.
- By VICTORIA CASWELL on 25-12-24
Disappointing
Reviewed: 02-12-24
Underwhelming. A good fragment of an idea. Short as it is, shorter still would have been better. The tale may have cultural references that escape me. I hope so. Otherwise quite disappointing.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
A Beginner’s Guide to Breaking and Entering
- By: Andrew Hunter Murray
- Narrated by: Phil Dunster
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 230
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 214
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 214
My name is Al. I live in wealthy people's second homes while their real owners are away. I don’t rob them, I don’t damage anything… I’m more an unofficial house-sitter than an actual criminal. Life is good. Or it was - until last night, when my friends and I broke into the wrong place, on the wrong day, and someone wound up dead. And now…now we’re in a great deal of trouble.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Good characters, some humour
- By Vicki on 29-04-24
- A Beginner’s Guide to Breaking and Entering
- By: Andrew Hunter Murray
- Narrated by: Phil Dunster
I was glad when it finished
Reviewed: 25-10-24
Some positives about this one. Good start. Characters a little off the shelf, another sassy girl and yet another computer whizz to mention only a few. For me the problem was that the storyline just didn’t hold my interest sufficiently across the length of the piece. I began to check remaining run time about three hours before the end. This happens. I could have done without the author’s slightly sickly contribution at the end of the piece. I hope this isn’t going to he one a feature in future recordings.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Crypt
- Life, Death and Disease in the Middle Ages and Beyond
- By: Alice Roberts
- Narrated by: Alice Roberts
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 175
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 161
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 161
In her previous two bestsellers, Professor Alice Roberts has powerfully and evocatively revived people of the past through examining their burial rites, bringing a fresh perspective on how they lived. In Crypt, Professor Roberts tells the story of modern Britain from 1066 to the present day - by exploring changing methods of honouring the dead.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Thoroughly thought provoking
- By Marywood J on 17-05-24
- Crypt
- Life, Death and Disease in the Middle Ages and Beyond
- By: Alice Roberts
- Narrated by: Alice Roberts
A lecture series masquerading as something else
Reviewed: 22-10-24
Obviously informed. The work of an enthusiast for interested generalists. Feels like I’ve stumbled into a vaguely interesting undergraduate lecture; lots of information but a bit thin. Very worthy. Suitable for serialisation in small doses on radio four.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Intermezzo
- By: Sally Rooney
- Narrated by: Éanna Hardwicke
- Length: 16 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 424
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 411
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 411
Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common. Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his thirties - successful, competent and apparently unassailable. But in the wake of their father's death, he's medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women. Ivan is a twenty-two-year-old competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward, a loner, the antithesis of his glib elder brother.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Disappointed
- By tomtcat on 28-09-24
- Intermezzo
- By: Sally Rooney
- Narrated by: Éanna Hardwicke
I couldn’t wait for it to end…
Reviewed: 04-10-24
Two thoughts pestered me I as I listened: why is the story line so thin, and why the overwrought emotional tosh? Perhaps I am just out of touch and we are all supposed to be quivering, emotional wrecks now. I found the sibling rivalry/laboured parallels and the tortured soul searching deeply uninteresting. The borrowing from the good and the great didn’t help. Nor did the frequent rhetorical flourishes (channeling sub-Joyce?) I found my self searching for the playback speed control and listened to the last three hours on x1.5. I see there are higher speed options available and wouldn’t hesitate to use the highest setting if paid to listen to Intermezzo again. To be fair, it could have been a passable short story. But 13 hours? Really.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Past Lying
- Karen Pirie, Book 7
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 103
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 97
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 97
Edinburgh, haunted by the ghosts of its many writers, is also the cold case beat of DCI Karen Pirie. So she shouldn't be surprised when an author's manuscript appears to be a blueprint for an actual crime. Karen can't ignore the plot's chilling similarities to the unsolved case of an Edinburgh University student who vanished from her own doorstep. The manuscript seems to be the key to unlocking what happened to Lara Hardie, but there's a problem: the author died before he finished it.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Cathleen McCarron is back!
- By Mark F. on 10-04-24
- Past Lying
- Karen Pirie, Book 7
- By: Val McDermid
- Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron
A far fetched story
Reviewed: 01-10-24
Mostly ok. Another absurd storyline. Most annoying is the snivelling voice of the side kick. And why was the baddie so cavalier about the cctv footage? Not McDermid’s worst effort.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Ghosts
- By: Dolly Alderton
- Narrated by: Holliday Grainger
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,701
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,329
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,324
The first novel from the award-winning, best-selling author of Everything I Know About Love. Thirty-two-year-old Nina Dean is a successful food writer with a loyal online following but a life that is falling apart. When she uses dating apps for the first time, she becomes a victim of ghosting and by the most beguiling of men. Her beloved dad is vanishing in slow motion into dementia, and she's starting to think about ageing and the gendered double-standard of the biological clock.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
I so wanted to enjoy this !
- By Beautifully written on 19-10-20
- Ghosts
- By: Dolly Alderton
- Narrated by: Holliday Grainger
Horrible
Reviewed: 18-09-24
Is this meant to be horrible? Perhaps that is the point. A story about a menopausal right-on feminist and demented male. And a daughter. But dull as can be imagined. Most worrying that some might quite like it. Men are awful after all.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Poppet
- By: Mo Hayder
- Narrated by: Jot Davies
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 237
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 209
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 210
The Maude is outside. It wants to come in. It wants to sit on your chest. The mentally ill patients in Amberly Secure Unit are highly suggestible. A hallucination can spread like a virus. When unexplained power cuts lead to a series of horrifying incidents, fear spreads from the inmates to the staff. Amidst the growing hysteria, AJ, a senior psychiatric nurse, is desperate to protect his charges.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Gripping and terrifying
- By Saffy on 12-01-14
- Poppet
- By: Mo Hayder
- Narrated by: Jot Davies
A bit far fetched
Reviewed: 07-09-24
A very far fetched story indeed. Yet another mad woman up to no good. Characters are uniformly caricatures from central casting. Not one as remotely believable or sympathetic. All in all, distinctly average.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
I'm a Fan
- By: Sheena Patel
- Narrated by: Sheena Patel
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 69
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 65
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 65
"I'M A FAN" tells the story of an unnamed narrator's involvement in a seemingly unequal romantic relationship. With a clear and unforgiving eye, Sheena Patel makes startling connections between power struggles at the heart of human relationships to those in the wider world, offering a devastating critique of social media, access and patriarchal systems.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Phenomenal!!
- By Jess Wetherden on 12-03-23
- I'm a Fan
- By: Sheena Patel
- Narrated by: Sheena Patel
Mercifully short
Reviewed: 19-08-24
Competent writing. Not an especially appealing set of characters. Sustained furious criticism of most things. It’s not fair and everyone else is mean. Hoping for some kind of ending. Well read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!