The Stolen Child cover art

The Stolen Child

DCI Hanlon, Book 1

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The Stolen Child

By: Alex Coombs
Narrated by: Elizabeth Bouckley
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About this listen

The start of an addictive, tense and gritty series from bestelling author Alex Coombs.

Meet DCI Hanlon. A woman with a habit of breaking the rules and a fierce loyalty to the few people she respects.

When the kidnap of a 12-year-old boy blows the case of some missing children wide apart, the finger is pointing at the heart of the Met.

Hanlon is sent in as the only cop who is incorruptible enough to handle it. But can she find the killer before another child is stolen?

Once you start the DCI Hanlon series, you won't be able to stop. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Lisa Regan and Mark Dawson.

This book was previously published as Time To Die by Alex Howard.

©2021 Alex Coombs (P)2021 Boldwood Books Crime Thrillers Thriller & Suspense Thriller Crime Fiction Suspense
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this was ok but felt a bit dated. the main character was often overly described which detracted for me

this felt a bit dated

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Like all Alex Coombs books a great listen for the first in the series, recommend

Great listen

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I found this story somewhat disjointed, especially the first half a dozen chapters. The reader has a nice English accent, but lacks polish (I think she has potential). I’m glad I persisted however as the writing and the performance improved as the story unfolded and came together. In the end, not the best crime fiction but a reasonably satisfying book. I intend to read/listen to the other DCI Hanlon books in the hope the author can go one better with each novel.

Just good enough want more!

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Always enjoy these Hanlon stories, but the narration was not good. Lovely tone of voice but lots of mispronounced words and sentences read with incorrect emphasis such that they didn’t make sense as delivered. Distracted from enjoyment of the book sadly, but won’t stop me buying the next installment as I see they changed the narrator.

Another great story, distracting narrator though

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it is a great story but there are some areas that may be hard for some listeners to handle as it addresses child sexual abuse relatively deeply, not detailing the act of doing thankfully but the perversion range thoughts of the characters desires, I found it quite hard to listen to at times. but it was a good story and addresses the things we don't like to think about but need to realise are happening around us and importantly in this story is with hanlon going above and beyond as always.

great story

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I found this very hard to listen to.
The narration was so stilted and staccato that the emphasis was all misdirected and changed the meaning and flow of the story.
I persevered, hoping for improvement as the story progressed but unfortunately that didn’t happen.

Poor narration

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Great story but wrong choice of narration. I almost turned it off due to the strange pronunciation of so many words and names. I would avoid this narrator in future.

poor choice of narrator

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the book on balance was good. I've read another of DI Hanlon books and enjoyed them series although I think that the author carries on too much about her body - really asserting the male gaze which distracts from the story.

Additionally, this story is about a depraved paedophile ring and the detailed narrative of the perpetrator and their desires really made me very uncomfortable. It was perverse and unnecessary. Really unnecessary.

a bit too much detail at times

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After reading the PI Hanlon series I was looking forward to going back and reading the DS series. Very disappointed.

Disappointing

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I found this story disjointed and all over the place and nearly gave up on it until the 17/18th chapter. Will try a second book of Alex’s and see how it goes

Nearly give up listening

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