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The Return of the Dancing Master
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
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- By: Ragnar Jónasson, Quentin Bates - translator
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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When a young woman is found lying half-naked in the snow, bleeding and unconscious, and a highly esteemed, elderly writer falls to his death in the local theater, Ari is dragged straight into the heart of a community where he can trust no one and secrets and lies are a way of life. Past plays tag with the present and the claustrophobic tension mounts as Ari is thrust ever deeper into his own darkness - blinded by snow and with a killer on the loose.
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Unexpected and different
- By green ice cream garden on 10-12-17
By: Ragnar Jónasson, and others
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Blood Atonement
- By: Dan Waddell
- Narrated by: Colin Mace
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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A body is discovered with her throat cut and her daughter believed missing. DCI Foster quickly sees parallels with the disappearance of a teenager three years earlier. With hopes fading, he calls on genealogist Nigel Barnes to piece together the links between the families of the two girls. The trail leads back to 1890, and a young couple fleeing a terrible crime in their past....
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Superb
- By Madeleine on 04-13-10
By: Dan Waddell
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A Carrion Death
- Introducing Detective Kubu
- By: Michael Stanley
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Smashed skull, snapped ribs, and a cloying smell of carrion. Leave the body for the hyenas to devour - no body, no case. But when Kalahari game rangers stumble on a human corpse midmeal, it turns out the murder wasn't perfect after all. Enough evidence is left to suggest foul play. Detective David "Kubu" Bengu of the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department is assigned to the case.
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Hot and Arid
- By Robert on 11-06-08
By: Michael Stanley
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Blue Monday
- Frieda Klein, Book 1
- By: Nicci French
- Narrated by: Beth Chalmers
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
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Frieda Klein is a solitary, incisive psychotherapist who spends her sleepless nights walking along the ancient rivers that have been forced underground in modern London. She believes that the world is a messy, uncontrollable place. The abduction of five-year-old Matthew Farraday provokes a national outcry and a desperate police hunt. And when his face is splashed over the newspapers, Frieda cannot ignore the coincidence: one of her patients has been having dreams in which he has a hunger for just such a child.
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Engrossing thriller - an easy "read"
- By Hilary on 08-15-13
By: Nicci French
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Goodnight, Irene
- An Irene Kelly Novel
- By: Jan Burke
- Narrated by: Eliza Foss
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
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The morning after Irene says goodnight to her old journalist friend O'Connor, he is killed suddenly upon opening a letter bomb. As the smoke clears, a devastated Irene determines to find the mail-bomber by tracing threads of an unsolved crime from 1955 - the same cold case O'Connor had been obsessed with.
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Welcome Irene
- By Anonymous User on 04-29-08
By: Jan Burke
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Haunted Ground
- By: Erin Hart
- Narrated by: Jennifer McMahon
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
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When farmers cutting turf in an Irish peat bog make a grisly discovery, the perfectly intact body of a young woman with long red hair, archaeologist Cormac O'Callaghan and pathologist Nora Gavin are thrown together by their shared scientific interest in human remains. Because of the preservative effect of the bog, it is difficult to tell whether the body has lain there for two decades, two centuries, or two millennia.
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Mysteries old and mysteries new
- By Linda on 11-25-03
By: Erin Hart
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The Blood Strand
- Foroyar Triology, Book 1
- By: Chris Ould
- Narrated by: Matt Addis
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
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Jan Reyna is a murder squad detective, British by adoption and choice, Faroese by birth and history. Called back to the remote Danish Faroe Islands when his father suffers a paralysing stroke, Reyna is forced to reexamine his decades-long rejection of the past and of his father in particular. But in this now-foreign country, whose language and customs he no longer understands, Reyna is also drawn into a rare Faroese murder case.
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excellent first book
- By Dr. William J. Kass on 03-22-16
By: Chris Ould
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Privileged Information
- Alan Gregory, Book 1
- By: Stephen White
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
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Alan Gregory is a clinical psychologist with a thriving practice in Boulder, Colorado. His life begins to unravel when one of his female patients is found in an apparent suicide and the local paper begins printing accusations from an unnamed source of sexual impropriety between the woman and Dr. Gregory. He launches a psychological and personal quest for the truth that rapidly intensifies when more of his patients die untimely deaths, and Gregory suspects not only that the deaths are related but that another one of his patients may be somehow involved. Lacking facts but roused by suspicion and troubled by seemingly random acts of terror around him, Gregory starts to fear for the safety of the people he loves. The question of the inviolability of confidential disclosures made to Gregory by his patients - privileged information - becomes crucial as the psychologist pursues an unsettling romance with Lauren Crowder, a lovely deputy district attorney investigating one of the deaths. Bound to silence, Gregory follows the psychological tracks of someone he fears may be a cunning and disturbed killer, while turning to his enigmatic but supportive partner, Diane Estevez, for counsel, and to his tart-tongued female urologist neighbor for support. The sinister, surprising drama unfolds against Boulder's Rocky Mountain backdrop, in the arresting natural beauty of Aspen, and in the midst of a baroque Halloween costume party in downtown Boulder. Finally, in a lonely mountain lodge enshrouded in menace, the story comes to its breathtaking climax.
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Dick Hill Overkill
- By Laura on 05-29-13
By: Stephen White
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How to Find Your Way in the Dark
- The Sheldon Horowitz Series, Book 1
- By: Derek B. Miller
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
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Twelve-year old Sheldon Horowitz is still recovering from the tragic loss of his mother only a year ago when a suspicious traffic accident steals the life of his father near their home in rural Massachusetts. It is 1938, and Sheldon, who was in the truck, emerges from the crash an orphan hell-bent on revenge. He takes that fire with him to Hartford, where he embarks on a new life under the roof of his buttoned-up Uncle Nate.
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Absolutely wonderful story.
- By George Thomas on 12-11-21
By: Derek B. Miller
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Doesn’t hold together
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October, 1914. Swedish naval officer Lars Tobiasson-Svartman is charged with a secret mission to take depth readings around the Stockholm archipelago. In the course of his work, he lands on the rocky isle of Halsskär. It seems utterly inhabitable, yet Halsskär is home to the young widow Sara Fredrika. Lars soon learns that Sara, living in near-total isolation, is unaware that the world is at war.
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meh
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In this span between armistice and depression, Americans were kicking up their heels, but they were also bringing about major changes in the social and political structure of their country. Only Yesterday is a fond, witty, penetrating biography of this restless decade, a delightful reminiscence for those who can remember and a fascinating firsthand look for those who've only heard.
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Loved this book
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On an icy night in Northern Sweden Joel is drawn outside to haunt the streets. He finds the night-time activity of his stolid town mesmerizing in its unexpectedness and variety. But can he deal with the knowledge that he gains about his neighbors, his father, and himself?
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sweet story of a young boy coming to age
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Quicksand
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In January 2014 I was informed that I had cancer. However, Quicksand is not a book about death and destruction but about what it means to be human. I have undertaken a journey from my childhood to the man I am today, writing about the key events in my life and about the people who have given me new perspectives. About men and women I have never met but wish I had. I write about love and jealousy, about courage and fear. And about what it is like to live with a potentially fatal illness.
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The Pine Barrens
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Most people think of New Jersey as a suburban-industrial corridor that runs between New York and Philadelphia. Yet in the low center of the state is a near wilderness, larger than most national parks, which has been known since the seventeenth century as the Pine Barrens.
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Top notch
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What listeners say about The Return of the Dancing Master
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Overall
- Ann L Omae
- 03-12-09
Good history, great writing
Although the Nazis called themselves National Socialists they were the opposite: fascists.
On the political spectrum fascists would be considered "extreme right", socialists "far left", and communists "extreme left". Mankell knows his history.
I love Mankell's novels precisely because of the dark Scandinavian mood. Kurt Wallander, the main character in many of his books, is a haunting portrait of a detective in his 50s who is questioning his life, his work, and the personal price it has extracted. He feels a duty to society to take on the difficult, exhausting, and grisly task of solving murders. He worries about what may be the breakdown of modern society and he is not sure his work has any measurable effect. His country is coping with major societal shifts resulting from the dissolution of the USSR, immigration, and globalization. His loneliness and depression are palpable yet he yearns for hope, meaning, and connection. I come away with a respect for the emotional honesty of a character that thinks and feels rather some two dimensional "shoot 'em up" type hero. I wonder about the people who tackle these issues in real life and what we ask of them.
Stefan Lindman, the protagonist in this book, is facing somewhat similar personal issues because of the possibility of death but he can bounce back more easily because of his relative youth. He has to grapple with evil, past and present, memory, retribution, and forgiveness. I find Wallander a more compelling character but I will take Mankell's writing however I can get it. Paradoxically, when I finish these books I feel rejuvenated and grateful for my life.
If you enjoy these books you may also like The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by Stieg Larsson.
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43 people found this helpful
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- Richard Delman
- 05-25-12
Plodding. Ponderous. Heavy. Slow.
This book is about two murders. They happen in Sweden. The people have Swedish names. The places have Swedish names. One dog is gutted. Another disappears. One detective thinks. Another detective thinks. Mr. Gardner reads. People drive places. It is cold. An old man who dances with a doll dies. Another who plays the violin dies. Decades go by, while you are listening. You wait for something interesting to happen. It does not. There is an attempt to tell a story about the Nazi years. Some people are nice. Some are not. You have no desire to visit Sweden, if this is what it's like. They do make good cars. Mr. Mankell has written good books. This is not one of them. You might fall asleep while listening to this. You could sleep eight hours, wake up, and not have missed anything.
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19 people found this helpful
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Overall
- P. C..S.
- 08-20-11
Bad job of translation!
The person who translated this Mankell novel did him no favors. Poor word choices and an obsessive dedication to word-for-word translation rendered the dialogue wooden and the narrative ponderous. Certainly a good translator will capture the culture differences reflected in the original language and recreate the Swedish forthrightness, introspection, and coolness, but this translation left the reader nothing to work with and flattened an otherwise entertaining read.
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18 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Thomas
- 05-25-10
Good, but Author Has Better
This is a very good read of a good, but not great book. The story is gripping although the main character gets a bit whiny. While his self-pity and self-adsorption were key components of the character, Mankell could have been a little more subtle. After a few hours you just want to slap him. The reader does a good job of bringing the story to life and the story (whininess notwithstanding) keeps your interest. The book defintiely plays to Scandanavian paranoias that seem a bit less shocking in translation. I liked the book without loving it. The author has done better.
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14 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Toni
- 12-12-08
Passable plot, bad history.
I give this novel a second star only because its ending is exciting.
Before that, it is s-l-o-w and depressing and only partly because detective Stefan Lindman has cancer. He is self-involved, treats his faithful girlfriend badly, and, according to the text, has no close friends. Cheerful characters are few and far between. In the one happy marriage portrayed, the spouses live apart. If this is Sweden, it's a gloomy place. The cancer functions as a plot device to account for Lindman missing some obvious clues.
The history portrayed in this book is almost laughably wrong. For example, the author has a Nazi character exclaim, "Those [bleep] socialists!" The author either doesn't know or hopes his readers won't know that "Nazi" is short for "Nationalsozialistische," or National Socialist. He has Swedes going to fight with the Nazis because they oppose Bolshevism -- when the difference is that Bolsheviks were international, not national, socialists. Stalin differed from Hitler mainly in lacking the means to pursue wars of conquest.
One is tempted to believe that the author deliberately distorts history because he also deals in despicable stereotypes. Anyone concerned about unfettered immigration is deemed a racist crypto-Nazi. Never mind that illegal immigrants in Europe largely have the same pale skin as the natives.
A minor annoyance is that the translation is British ("lorries" have "bonnets") but the narrator is American. Thus he pronounces the Brit term for cel phone "mobil," not "mob-eye-l," and a certain measure of distance "kil-oh-ME-ter" instead of "kil-AH-met-er."
The plot was passable enough to keep me listening until I reached that exciting ending. If you don't care to spend hours with a morose protagonist, however, give this novel a pass.
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11 people found this helpful
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- Joseph
- 10-31-12
Excellent
Henning Mankell is just one of the best detective writers in the genre. This book is exceptional. The main character isn't quite as fascinating as Kurt Wallander, but he is fascinating for his own reasons. From the tension of a human trying to figure out his own life while solving crimes, to the horrific nature of the crimes and the incredible stories behind them, this is just worth the read.
Mankell's new hero is troubled, flawed, likable, and at times not very nice. The villain is sympathetic, and all the side characters have their own flaws and virtues. There are almost no points where it feels like the writer is padding the story just to make it longer. It's a well-told story with excellent characters and a disturbing premise.
The translation seems to have been more for the UK's version of English than the US's, but anyone who watched Harry Potter will follow it. There are some places a phrase sounds awkwardly translated. Not enough to distract, but enough to notice.
Overall, I love this writer and this book.
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8 people found this helpful
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- L. O. Pardue
- 01-23-14
Just Mediocre
I enjoy the Wallender series by Mr. Mankell, but this one introduced a new lead character named Lindman. Overall, the audio book just wasn't interesting enough for 13+ hours. I actually dozed off a few times while listening to the book and didn't bother to go back to listen to what I missed. It ended up not mattering at all. There is a lot of repetition and scenes that go on and on with little information. Lindman, a visiting policeman, is interested in his former co-worker's murder. He is supposed to be helping the local detective, but doesn't tell the detective all the information he discovers. His justifications for holding back information are strange. Lots of coincidences happen and I see clues that the detectives ignore.
Unfortunately, the narration was only acceptable. It was more of a monotone reading instead of a performance. There was no change of voice for different characters, male or female. The strange choice of words appears to be a very bad translation of some parts of the book.
There was some interesting history about Sweden's participation in WWII. In the future, I will make sure my next choice of a Mankell book is from the Wallender series.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Susan
- 02-20-13
The best of Mankell
I have spent a lot of time with Henning Mankell and his characters and I think this is his best story. I have listened to this book a number of times and will again. If you enjoy Swedish stories, sit back and get ready for a complex piece of work..
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Overall
- Greg
- 03-11-10
A Good Series
Most enjoyable if narrated by some one other than Dick Hill.
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- LYNNELL
- 06-07-20
I couldn't finish it. The story dragged on
Terrible. I only got a few chapters in and I just dreaded picking it up
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2 people found this helpful