Average

Concept is good though my personal opinion is the overall package is fair but I classify it as average based on a number of factors several related to the audio track.
The narrator (Natalie Naudus) has a good voice, is articulate and clear however the overall performance is let down due to the following.
When speaking in the first person volume is good, crisp and clear.
When speaking in delivering a thought or an observation of one of the characters the voice reduces to just above a whisper, it grew extremely tiresome early on and made listing difficult.
It appears the soundtrack was severely edited at some point after the initial recording. There are numerous additions inserted throughout the book which are out of character and in a different 'voice'. Some of the editions added what I assume the editing team thought were significant additions whilst others left me shaking my head thinking why would you overlay the recording to add that? In my opinion it spoilt the overall effect of the book and was annoying by the stark contrast in voice, the equivalent in text like making the edited sections stand out like bold and italics.
Towards the last third of the book the book some of the voices used for different characters, specifically those of family members of the main victim, tended to drift together. A couple of times I had to regroup to identify who was actually saying what to whom.
The story itself was OK, but not cutting edge, not brilliant. For a Special Agent the main investigator is underwhelming. Makes a lot of mistakes (many admitted to in the book) and relies heavily on the supporting character to get the job done. It again had me shaking my head when in the closing section of the book the main character reflects back over the case and states she was happy with how she had handled herself. Really?
The characters are fairly consistently portrayed throughout the book. Mannerism, phrases, personal behaviour etc. And the relationship of the main two is established in such a manner to support additional episode involving them both so the closing sentence in this book came as no surprise, again a personal view but it's almost the main reason for this particular episode.
I rated the book at two stars, I know others have raved over it but in my opinion it is just not that good. OK but that's it and I would not be tempted to listen to it again or follow up books in the series.

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