The Long Call: Two Rivers Book 1 cover art

The Long Call: Two Rivers Book 1

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The Long Call: Two Rivers Book 1

By: Ann Cleeves
Narrated by: Ben Aldridge
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About this listen

Now a major ITV series, The Long Call, adapted for television by screenwriter Kelly Jones and starring Ben Aldridge, who also reads this updated audiobook.

The Long Call is the No.1 bestselling first novel in the Two Rivers series from Sunday Times bestseller and creator of Vera and Shetland, Ann Cleeves.

In North Devon, where the rivers Taw and Torridge converge and run into the sea, Detective Matthew Venn stands outside the church as his father's funeral takes place. The day Matthew turned his back on the strict evangelical community in which he grew up, he lost his family too.

Now he's back, not just to mourn his father at a distance, but to take charge of his first major case in the Two Rivers region; a complex place not quite as idyllic as tourists suppose.

A body has been found on the beach near to Matthew's new home: a man with the tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death.

Finding the killer is Venn’s only focus, and his team’s investigation will take him straight back into the community he left behind, and the deadly secrets that lurk there.

The next book in the series is The Heron's Cry.

This audiobook is an updated recording by Ben Aldridge.

 Crime Fiction Mystery Police Procedurals
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This does not read like the regular Ann Cleeves storyline. The character outlines are convoluted and vast - to the point of abject confusion. For a 1st book in a series I would have thought the main character strengths would be established and yet Matthew appears weak - with no obvious personality, indecisive and reticent - the antithesis of a Detective of his rank. Too much unnecessary detail of the minor periphery of witnesses, spreads the plot thin and gives the impression it was all fed into an AI app of no imagination, which evolved into a hurried stew of words. Gratuitous homage to a gay couple actually weakens the overall stereotype of the tough cop image and makes the reader wonder if husband Jonathon should reverse roles.
I stopped before the end of chapter one. I won’t pursue this series any further.
Very disappointed - makes me ask the question - who actually wrote the book? JNP

The Long Call

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the story isn't bad but the narrator is so stilted it spoils what could be good. so staccato and boring. wasted credit

just ok

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not one of her best. and I hate to say this but the reader made me want to scream! so emotionless story telling. to be honest I was glad when it was over. get shetland stories instead.

slow and drawn out

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.