THE SORROW HAND

The Sorrow Hand by Dwight Holing
Book 1 in the Nick Drake series
Narrated by Steve Marvel
Genre: crime fiction
Format: ebook & audiobook

About The Sorrow Hand:

For Vietnam veteran turned wildlife ranger Nick Drake, the war at home proves just as deadly. A contemporary western thriller.

Harney County, Oregon, 1968: Nick Drake has a chest full of medals and enough demons to fill a duffle bag. He's been trained to kill, but never retrained to rejoin society. Drake flees to the lonesome high desert in search of redemption and takes a job patrolling wildlife refuges where the only conflicts are keeping out stray cows and ticketing poachers. But then he stumbles across a girl's body ritually placed in a gully. Her murder is only the beginning, and Drake must face humanity's heart of darkness once again if he's to stop a killer from turning even more gullies into graves.

Source: Info in the "About The Sorrow Hand" was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40963058-the-sorrow-hand on 30/10/2023.

Buy Link(s):

 

My Thoughts:

Reading the titles of the books in this series, it seems that the author has a thing about body parts.

I'm not a historical fan. So I wished that the story's setting could have been several decades later.

I thought that this book is kinda supernatural because of the black bird, but it is not. It is crime fiction.

I kind of able to identify with the hero. He is not perfect. Damaged. But trying his best to live in an imperfect world. Dang! But I could identify with that!!

I don't have PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) but I hear it has devastating consequences. I listened to veteran interviews and I heard some say that it is the moral injury that is a whole lot difficult to battle than the actual war that they had been through.

The plot is not twisty like a hurricane, but I did not see it coming either.

Steve Marvel reads with a cadence that is earily like a singsong. I am not fond of singsongs. However, I stop hearing it as I get absorbed into the story.

Quantitative Evaluation:

Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (7 hrs and 3 mins listening time)
Plot = 4
Narration = 4.5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

Books In The Nick Drake Series:

 

Meet The Author

About Dwight Holing:

Dwight Holing lives and writes in California. His genre-spanning work includes novels, short fiction, and nonfiction. His mystery and suspense thriller series include The Nick Drake Novels and The Jack McCoul Capers. The stories in his collections of literary short fiction have won awards, including the Arts & Letters Prize for Fiction. He has written and edited numerous nonfiction books on nature travel and conservation. He is married to a kick-ass environmental advocate; they have a daughter and son, and two dogs who’d rather swim than walk.

dwightholing.com | twitter | facebook | amazon | goodreads

The Narrator

About Steve Marvel:

ACTOR. NARRATOR. WISEASS.

Multiple Voice Arts Award nominee Steve Marvel is one of only four narrators to be chosen a winner of the ACX Audiobook Narration Contest by Audible's Mike Charzuk. Steve received his classical theater training at Northwestern University and continues to work in theater, film, and television. The former voice of financial writer John Mauldin's Thoughts from the Frontline weekly newsletter, Steve's voice-over work also includes video games for the likes of Mattel, Sony, and Activision, and regular stints in eLearning. Steve applies his performance skills and mastery of accents to craft unique, distinctive characters for his fiction titles.

stevemarvel.com | twitter | facebook | instagram | imdb | linkedin | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
The ebook and audiobook were bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.

THE NIGHT SHIFT

The Night Shift by Robert Enright
Book 1 in the Sam Pope series
Narrated by Lee Beddow
Genre: crime fiction
Format: ebook & audiobook

About The Night Shift:

Join the fight.

Sam Pope was one of the UK’s finest soldiers, serving over a decade as an elite sniper. After a near fatal shooting brings an end to his career, Sam returns home to his family and a potential new career in the Metropolitan Police. When disaster strikes and his bond with his family is broken, Sam takes a job as an archive officer within the Met, hunting down criminals that have beaten the system and delivering his own brand of justice.

When a terrorist attack at the London Marathon shakes the city to its core, Sam decides to open his own line of investigation. Venturing into the world of organised crime and police corruption, Sam soon finds himself as the number one target… and faces a race against time to expose the truth.

Source: Info in the "About The Night Shift" was taken from amazon on 17/12/2024.

Buy Link(s):

 

My Thoughts:

This is my first Robert Enright read and I'm glad that I stumbled upon this author!

It took a lot of perseverance on my part to get into this book. That added to the pace of this book taking a rather long time. I grieved for the loveable characters killed! That took a little bit of time, too. So this book is not fast-paced. But the action is furious!

Halfway through, we are shown who the perpetrator is. So, it is not so much about finding out who, it is about how they caught the bad guy.

I did wondered why there was a "DI Pearce" right from the start. It made for a good plot, that is why!

So the plot wasn't twisty. But it was exciting!

It wasn't exactly mentioned in the book, but, Pearce must have put together enough evidence acceptable in court to convict the criminals. Because I was worrying that there won't be enough evidence acceptable in the court of law and the bad guys get to get away.

Lee Beddow reads with a bit of a singsong which I am not very fond of.

Quantitative Evaluation:

Story telling quality = 4
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = (7 hrs and 41 mins listening time)
Plot = 4
Narration = 4

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

Books In The Sam Pope Series:

 

Meet The Author

About Robert Enright:

Robert Enright was born in North London and resides in Buckinghamshire with his wife and daughter, working earnestly to write for a living and dreaming of the day he can get a dog.

He is the author of the international best selling Sam Pope series and the upcoming DS Jack Townsend series.

www.robertenright.co.uk | instagram | facebook | tiktok | amazon | goodreads

The Narrator

About Lee Beddow:

Lee Beddow has been in and around audio recording for nearly forty years. He started with his own studio, AbbeySound, a music recording facility that he set up when he was eighteen. The studio is situated in a former convent, and AbbeySound currently resides in what was once the nun's dormitories!

For many years, teaching was Lee's regular work, but he continued to do voice-over work. Now, he has decided to make his voice and production skills his focus. Lee can narrate scripts, audiobooks, master the audio with correct levels, chapter marks and spacing, as well as produce bespoke music for authors that want that extra touch in their productions. He has narrated a wide variety of audiobooks, with many series utilizing his ability to mimic lots of both British and world accents, with work ranging from mysteries and sci-fi to comedy and all-action thrillers, plus children's, romance, and instructional titles.

Lee is married to Jackie with two children, James and Holly, and an American Cocker Spaniel called Reuben.

abbeysound.org/audio | twitter | facebook | linkedin | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
The ebook and audiobook were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.