Human Remains

This audio book underlines how important the reader is and in this case the

reader lets it down completely by making one of the pivotal characters sound like an asinine chump.

In the beginning of the book I had some sympathy for Colin who first appears to be a man who is socially awkward and a bit out of step with the society in which he lives. However, as the book progresses and we continue to share his thoughts and motivation I came to realise that I was being treated to a look into the inside workings of a truly disturbed mind; a man who preys on severely depressed people. Far-fetched? No, having suffered depression myself in the past, I found it only too plausible. The narrator successfully finds different voices for the main characters and paces the reading well. If you like crime fiction then give this one a try - if you dare!

My first Elizabeth Haynes, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.



I found myself very curious about the characters, including the enigmatic Policeman..



Was left wanting more, so although the story was concluded, was there a whiff of more to come?

Hope so!

Elizabeth Haynes 'Into the darkest corner' is my best ever Audible listen, so it's a huge shame that this, her third novel, is practically unlistenable, wholly due to Karen Cass' appalling narration. This is a novel of many voices and in this narration they are all read by Karen Cass. The voice of Annabel is fine, however the other character's voices are laughable. The use of multiple narrators would work perfectly for this novel, so I'm not sure why this was not done. As I am unable to read at the moment I feel very angered that so often the books I long to read are being spoilt by such poor narration.

I am not sure how good this book is as it was murdered by the reader. This book has many voices and for me, this reader seemed incapable of more than one. I googled the reader and discovered she is LAMDA trained which I find interesting. Maybe this book's delivery is not her fault, maybe its the director who is to blame but the flat unvaried delivery meant I found the book irritating and unlike me, unable to listen to the end.

This book won a last minute extra star for the ending but up till then it was a great disappointment.

I was going to give it only 2 stars which I awarded for the authentic police background and for creating the criminal mind of Colin. No more because the book is dragged down by a totally inadequate narrator. Unfortunately the book is structured as a stream of consciousness from two main characters - male and female - and a string of minor characters. The narrator has only one voice for all the female voices and one, only slightly different voice, for all the male characters. To make things worse the author also appears to use identical phrasing and speech patterns for everyone regardless of age, background and gender. Maybe if I had read rather than listened to the book I would have enjoyed it more as I could have created different "voices" for myself. As it was only the dreadful weather outside meant that I kept picking it up again after vowing I just couldn't be bothered to carry on. The ending redeemed the book a little and so I have grudgingly given it 3 stars.

Maybe I didn't read the blurb correctly, but I found this book to be deeply unpleasant and badly narrated.
Jan

Felt no allegiance to the characters at all, poor ending which fits with the rest of the book. The story is basically about people who have given up the will to live which about sums up my feelings listening to this book.

I was never sure whether this was supposed to be a thriller or a comic story, mainly due to the reader's representation of Colin's voice. I know it is not easy for a woman to do a male voice and vice versa but plenty other readers manage quite well. I am still not sure what the intention of the author was. And I am afraid I am unlikely to buy another book with main male characters read by Karen Cass

Obviously the title should have given me a clue but the description and the sample did not prepare me for how gruesome and difficult to listen to this book was going to be. I think the voices did not help either, with all the men sounding the same as the sexual deviant sociopath that was it's main subject.
I felt tainted listening to every part where he was the subject but the story was gripping and the other characters made it good listening, so I continued to the end.
It is a good story, just not to be read when you are unable to sleep at night...it won't help your insomnia!!