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The Sea Detective cover art

The Sea Detective

By: Mark Douglas-Home
Narrated by: David Monteath
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Summary

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Sea Detective by Mark Douglas-Home.

Cal McGill is an Edinburgh-based oceanographer, environmentalist and one-of-a-kind investigator. Using his knowledge of the waves - ocean currents, prevailing winds, shipping records - McGill can track where objects came from or where they've gone. It's a skill that can help solve mysteries ranging from disappearances to murder.

Two severed feet wash up on two different islands off the coast of Scotland. Forensics shows that the feet belong to the same body. As Cal McGill investigates, he unravels a web of corruption, exploitation and human trafficking, which threatens many lives across the globe - including his own....

©2015 Mark Douglas-Home (P)2015 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about The Sea Detective

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Superb novel

If Mark Douglas-Home continues to write as well as this he's going to join the ranks of my favourite authors alongside Lee Child, Taylor Stevens, Tom Woods and Robert Crais. Fascinating weaving of separate storylines both influenced by Cal's interest and skill in plotting ocean currents. Horrific sex trafficking which needs as much exposure as possible as one plot together with his detective work to uncover the truth about his grandfather. I loved the fact that Cal is a bit of an eco warrior and there's a lot of humour in the writing of this novel. David Monteath is a wonderful narrator, skilled actor and I think he's about to join my shortlist of favourite narrators; though unlikely to topple Jeff Harding from top place he's definitely gone into my top ten with Hillary Huber, Daniel Philpott, Jonathan Keeble and Derek Perkins and others who all add to the pleasure that the audiobooks they read provide. I listen to about 5 books a week and only stop because I also love films and good tv series otherwise as a retired person, though still quite busy with my now very small animal sanctuary, I'd be plugged into my iPhone for about 18 hours a day!
I bought the second novel, The woman who walked into the sea, long before I finished this first Cal McGill novel as I knew within the very first few chapters that I was going to love this audiobook.

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46 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

ONE OF MY MOST DISAPPOINTING DOWNLOADS

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

A completely different plot! How interesting are sea coordinates of tracing dismembered feet in trainers? I am not interested at all in how many spoons of instant coffee go into a mug half full of water. Far too much padding in a not very interesting plot. References to a size 18 woman having difficulty in getting in and out of chairs should be omitted as offensive to women. I know many size 18's who have no difficulty whatsoever sitting down, let alone standing up! As I listened I found myself wondering would the author have described a man in such terms?

Would you ever listen to anything by Mark Douglas-Home again?

No.

What does David Monteath bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

I downloaded this book purely on loving David Monteath's previous narrations. I will follow him but certainly not the author.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Sea Detective?

I would edit most scenes as I found them boring, overplayed, annoying and poorly written. The story drags on and on in a dreary fashion. I am two-thirds through listening and about to give up. Good for falling-asleep-listening though because of the lack of pace.

Any additional comments?

I have about 800 books downloaded from Audible, this being one of the worst which I will delete from my I Pod.

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32 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story by a new author

If you could sum up The Sea Detective in three words, what would they be?

keeps you guessing

Any additional comments?

An interesting new character- who isn't a policeman - by a new author who very cleverly makes the various threads intertwine but come to their conclusions apart yet together.
Good to know this is the first of a series about Cal McGill.

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27 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Engrossing tale

I simply enjoyed the way that the diverse strands of the narrative combined in unexpected ways to build to a satisfying conclusion. Definitely an unusual story of pain and retribution, and possibly redemption on many levels
I will certainly investigate other titles by the author

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26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Very disappointing

I hated this book. The narrator had a boring voice and the delivery was flat. The story was horrible, it was very disjointed and depressing and I disliked the attitude to women. Probably my worst buy since joining audible.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great read !

I really enjoyed this novel '.
I found it exciting , well written and loved the descriptions of the Highlands and the Islands
It made me very homesick

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Sea change

This is an interesting slant on data gathering in detective work concerning the sea. As an introduction to our hero Cal, it was a very gripping opening case. I found the character of Helen Jamieson was almost stronger than the protagonist though; I hope she reappears in a later story.

I enjoyed too the narrator and will keep tracks of how this series develops.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

I gave up!

The idea of using oceanography as a tool in crime detection is an interesting and appealing one, however the book is so riven with clichés and caricatures I couldn’t stand listening any more. The oceanographer is divorced and rows with his ex-wife: why must lead characters almost be in broken relationships? The worst caricature is the lead detective, DI Ryan, a misogynist who beds any new (attractive) female officers but treats his DS, Helen, with extreme rudeness and contempt because she is clever but supposedly unattractive in appearance. I don’t know if the disparate stories eventually come together but I felt the stories didn’t gel together and the narrative jumped about too much.

The narrator is good and gets the Scottish accents to a tee.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • c
  • 08-01-17

Not bad but TOO LONG!

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Well written with interesting and thoroughly flawed main character but its' just too long and padded out that's why I couldn't recommend it,

What did you like best about this story?

It is unusual and has promise for future episodes. Minus the padding please!

What about David Monteath’s performance did you like?

Yes, pretty good narration. I can't really understand the criticisms levelled here but purely a matter of taste isn't it?

Could you see The Sea Detective being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

Possibly a TV series because of the unusual nature of this sector of 'detective work'.

Any additional comments?

What a pity it wasn't either shorter-or filled up with more plot, more characters and more action. After all, the ingredients were all there just waiting to be exploited!

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Flotsam and jetsam

Really enjoyed this story within s story, of people smuggling child prostitution, as well as Cals family history woven through.

I am hopeful this will continue with more books To form a series as I feel it will be very successful.

It's a great new angle on a popular genre, which I think will be enjoyed by many.

Fabulous narration by David Minteath, wit his soft Scottish bur fir the Scottish characters but equally managed the other accents and females voices effortlessly.

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6 people found this helpful