But I also think listening (rather than reading) made the story even slower-going for me. I appreciated that this was a British author and story, so the accent helped enforce the spirit of the book. What does Sean Barrett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book? What do you think your next listen will be? And of the two main-ish female characters, one was a weak, sad spirit who needed saving, the other an emotional wreck who was an object of lust and little else. Not only did this not pass the Bechdel test (not by a long shot), but women were almost always described in objectifying/judgmental ways. But this one seemed overwhelmingly masculine. In addition, well, look: I read a LOT of suspense/mystery/thrillers and I'm used to everything being male-centric.

This story just felt wooden, humorless, unbelievable, and ultimately forgettable. If one guy is going to be so unlucky, at least let's keep a sense of humor about the whole thing. Sami was hapless, Ruiz was not given enough room to be a fully developed character I cared about, and everyone else was either useless or terrible or both. I'm sorry such terrible things happened to Sami, but eventually they just go so ridiculously bad I didn't care anymore and wanted the book to be over. I didn't find the action suspenseful and I didn't relate to any character.

Maybe it's just that this particular story didn't work for me, but I couldn't get into this.

Bombproof michael robotham