Irritating narrator

If you have already been infuriated by the stupid voices in the Betty Church series don’t go near this book. The over acted babyish tremulous voice of the narrator made it impossible to finish or even care about the ending of this book. She also seems to forget who she is wobbling on about as she seems to apply it to more than one player depicting the personality of a wet fish very well. Refund thanks, shame really as I think - when not distracted by the quavering voices - the story is ok.

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2 people found this helpful

Fabulous

Best book I have listened to for months. Narrator was excellent and brought the story to life.

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More needed from the final scenes!

I found the first approximate two thirds of this book to be absolutely compelling and listened to this book as quickly as possible. The story of Flora is horrific and I felt such sympathy for her and on occasions even had tears in my eyes. Her final scene is terrible indeed. Unfortunately for me, the author failed to sustain similarly high levels of dramatic tension in Isobel’s part of the story, leaving me with too many questions. What happens, for example to the Fox-Whateley’s and to the villagers? What about Flora’s revenge mentioned earlier on in the story? It was all over too quickly and seemed almost unfinished. Is there going to be a sequel perhaps?

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Fantastic

Wow!
Narrator was one of the best yet. . The story had me gripped from the start to finish

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Good story ruined by terrible narration

I’m enjoying the story line, but not sure I’ll be able to finish due to the terrible simpering narrator; It’s so distracting it just ruins an otherwise good book. When I listened to the sample, the character was a slightly precious 19yr old from the C19, so it didn’t seem so ill fitting to have a simpering voice playing the part, but gracious the ‘modern’ female character doesn’t fit the voice at all, The attempt at Welsh is just as appalling, she dives between a ridiculous Welsh then broad west country accent. Her over emphasised ‘cut glass’ English narration is also a difficult listen as it feels she’s acting and not telling a story (fine if she’s playing a character not fine when being a narrator), But really it’s the very ‘girly’/ high pitched’ slightly breathy, simpering voice throughout the story that is as irritating as a wasp at a picnic. .
I think the narrator would have been much more suited for Jane Austen or similar but not a thriller.

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Excellent performance

Totally ludicrous story but excellently read. Entertaining, scary, gruesome, fairly short, would probably read another!

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Gripping, right up until the end

This story cleverly weaves the events in a Victorian asylum in rural Wales, with the story of a somewhat disturbed psychic woman who comes to live in the same building in modern times. The asylum story is all too plausible, but the modern-day characters and events are less compelling. Once the dark secrets had been revealed, I thought the story kind of fizzled out. I didn't listen to the last twenty minutes, and I don't feel I lost out.

I found the narrator a bit too fraught and stressed. Of courses, she's telling a fraught, stressed story, so this is appropriate. Still, it gets a bit tiring after a while. Despite what other reviewers have said, the narrator's pronunciation of Welsh words seemed plausible to me. I'm not a Welsh speaker, but I spent some time working in rural South Wales, and I recognized the Welsh words perfectly well. I don't know many English people who would do better.

All in all, despite the slightly weak ending, a good read/listen.

Incidentally, Audible lists the author as "SE England" and "Sarah England", so finding other works by the same author isn't entirely straightforward.

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Entertaining

An entertaining enough thriller with a supernatural story and strong female characters. A few places were creepy but nothing was out and out terrifying.

there ending of the main story was a bit weak but the epilogue was outstanding.

Penny Scott-Andrews did a very good job of narrating the story.

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Gruesome dive into madness and witchcraft

Kept me enthralled pretty much from the beginning. storyline was good with some good twists along the way. Actress was a bit too full on for me and needed little more light and shade in the delivery. the pronunciation of abyss was annoying.

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A wonderfully addictive dark gothic creepy read

Having read the Father Of Lies trilogy by Sarah England, thus quickly making her one of my favourite authors, I was excited to get going with this book. Ordinarily, I love the physical aspect of reading an actual paperback, to me, that is part of the magic. However I spend a lot of time out walking my dog and opted to get this in audiobook form. It's always a concern that the narrator may be annoying, or incongruent to the characters - but this narrator portrayed the characters brilliantly!
The settings, the characters, the plot fit together perfectly well, making you want to continue chapter after chapter! The author is obviously well researched, and isn't afraid to reach into the darkest corners of our psyche. Terrifying, and genius! LOVED it!! Highly recommended! Roll on Monkspike!!

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