
The Birthday
Detective Natalie Ward, Book 1
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Buy Now for $26.99
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Narrated by:
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Diana Croft
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By:
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Carol Wyer
About this listen
One hot summer’s afternoon, five-year-old Ava Sawyer went to a party. She never came home....
When five-year-old Ava Sawyer goes missing from a birthday party at a local garden center, the police are bewildered by the lack of leads. That is, until two years later, when Ava’s body is found and another little girl, Audrey Briggs, goes missing. Audrey also attended that party....
Leading the investigation is Detective Natalie Ward. A mother of two teenagers, this case chills her to the bone and is a disturbing reminder of the last job she worked on. One that still keeps her awake at night....
Natalie soon discovers that Ava’s mother has some worrying gaps in her alibi, and as she digs deeper, she’s sure Ava’s father is not telling the full story. And what did the owner of the garden center Elsa see that day? Something that she’s not telling Natalie....
Just as Natalie is facing up to the grim possibility that Ava and Audrey were killed by someone close to home, another little girl from the party doesn’t come home from her ballet lesson. Can Natalie find a way to stop this killer before more innocent lives are taken?
Gripping, fast-paced, and nail-bitingly tense, this book will keep you listening long into the night. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott, and Karin Slaughter.
©2018 Carol Wyer (P)2018 BookoutureWill be looking for the next book by this author.
Enjoyed this read
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serial killer
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Best book ever
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Let's face it, the characters in a story should always be the driving force behind plot because, after all, people, their personalities, choices and behaviour are the reason things happen the way they do. Here it's the other way round: the characters are crammed in to conform to the plotline, which, by the way is virtually identical to The Dare - Book 3.
I mean yeah, it's passable, but there's just no originality to it. Red Dragon by Thomas Harris was written in the mid 80s - and it still has more hutzpah in its little toenail today than all these books. Connoisseurs of great crime writing will find Wyer banal, unoriginal and formulaic, though it must be said that the 3rd book was better than the 1st ( i haven't had a go at 2 yet).
Yes, you're patently familiar. Flawed cop heroine with murder squad investigates, she's conflicted and tortured by the pain and emotion of it all and whatnot, she's rollin' rocks uphill, trying to do right in a man's world, juggling work, colleagues and family, and all the while the killer is out there, and yes, you did meet him briefly early on, and after a few red herrings, she sniffs him out. I mean, come on. It's just so predictable. You can't just rip off Midsomer Murders like this and get away with it! At least not without getting pulled up for it!
I give it 52 out of 100...
If you're slightly hungover and it's a Sunday...
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In yellow dresses!
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listened to this over one day!
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Gripping.
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Not a bad summer book
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Good but not great
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Excellent listen
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