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  • The Fourth Friend

  • A Jackman and Evans Thriller
  • By: Joy Ellis
  • Narrated by: Richard Armitage
  • Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (7,082 ratings)
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The Fourth Friend cover art

The Fourth Friend

By: Joy Ellis
Narrated by: Richard Armitage
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Introducing Richard Armitage, our star narrator


Richard is well-known for his array of film, television and theatre work, including The Hobbit, Spooks and The Crucible. His trademark baritone voice has earned him recognition, too, through his performance on many notable audiobooks as well as in TV and radio show narration. This experience shines through in Armitage's gripping performance of the Jackman and Evans series where he plays host to a plethora of characters.

And Joy Ellis, the book's author

Joy Ellis started her career as a flower seller in Mayfair in the 1960s, before going on to open her own florist in Surrey. When the recession hit, Joy had a career change and became a bookseller, and attended a writing course in Greece where she was mentored by Sue Townsend. She now lives in the Fens with her partner Jacqueline, where the flatlands and marshes provide inspiration for her eerie plotlines.

Summary

Crimebusting duo DI Jackman and DS Evans are back, solving another crime that will make your skin crawl.

Police detective Carter McLean is the only survivor of a plane crash that kills his four best friends. He returns to work, but he is left full of guilt and terrible flashbacks. So for each of his four friends, he decides to complete something that they left unfinished.

Eighteen months before the crash, Suzanne Holland disappeared, leaving a room with traces of blood but no other leads. Suzanne was the wife of one of Carter’s four best friends. Adding to the pressure, the boss’ niece has a stalker. Due to the sensitivity of the Holland case, Carter is put on this investigation.

DS Marie Evans is the only person Carter can confide in. But even she begins to doubt whether he can really cope and whether he is actually losing his mind. DI Jackman and DS Evans of the Fenland police face a battle to untangle three mysteries, and can they really believe their friend and colleague Carter?

©2017 Joy Ellis (P)2017 Audible, Ltd

Meet Joy Ellis

We travelled to the Lincolnshire Fens, the home of Joy Ellis and the setting of the Jackman and Evans series, to find out more.
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What listeners say about The Fourth Friend

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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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

Ellis Gets Into The Groove!

In cricketing parlance Ellis is like an expert with the bat, she's settled in, maybe had one or two very minor scratchy moments but now she's established her rhythm and is starting to stroke the ball around the ground with some elegance. She has shown extremely fine judgement with this book having built a very likeable pair in Jackman and Evans. This is more psychologically oriented and to allow her story freedom to breathe and grow organically she knows when to let her leads step back and let other characters have their moments in the limelight.

Jackman and particularly Evans are extremely human characters, perhaps more caring than your average fictional detectives and this does give an additional angle to some of the plotlines. The Fourth Friend is about a colleague who is particularly vulnerable and some of the relationships between the characters such as him and Evans and an old friend of his were carried off to near perfection. Although the book starts quite literally with a crash there is no great action in it at all after that and so it was those relationships and personal traumas that kept me engrossed from start to finish.

Of course such a story is brilliantly suited to Armitage's very considered narration. He is one of the smoothest narrators I think I've heard which put together with the story makes The Fourth Friend a very compelling package and this series is now firmly ensconced on my Must Read list!

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32 people found this helpful

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

Crime with a difference.

I was hooked in the first chapter. Brilliant book and superb narration. I'll be looking for more books by Joy Ellis , also anything narrated by Richard Armitage . Sad I've finished it!.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Funereal Narative.

I haven't disliked a book so badly for ages. A dire story is read by Richard Armitage in a depressing sonorous funereal tone that is wearing in the extreme.
A very thin story goes nowhere for most of the book to the point I couldn't have cared less about how it ended which was wise as if was a truly soulless one.

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16 people found this helpful

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

A non stop thrilling ride

An original book with a great story full of twists and turns, excellent characters and no slow points. The story kept me guessing till the end. I was thoroughly taken by this excellent writer who was new to me. One of those audible reads that stands way above the rest. I am now going to look out for more by this author.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Who thought crime could be so boring...

This is about 20% crime 80% coping with a character's friends deaths. Pretty boring if you wanted an actual crime book.

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11 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

Brilliant

Loved this story. Richard Armitage as usual an excellent narrator. I have enjoyed all the books in this series.

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11 people found this helpful

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

Great narrator, intriguing story

Enjoy this series mainly due to narrator, wonderful voice to the main character. Story as usual captivating, walk a bit extra just to listen . Had 2 stories woven throughout and eventually connected but not in way expected. Looking forward to next book. Recommend to listen while walking ,knitting really enjoyed this book

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8 people found this helpful

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

Contains spoiler

This is the third Jackman and Evans book I have listened to and it failed to live up to the standard.
Mr Armitage read in a flat uninterested tone and failed to make clear what were thoughts or what was spoken. Worst of all was Ms Ellis's method of tying up loose ends. Drowning is not an easy way to die, and doubly cruel for a dog. I doubt that any man aware of that and who loved his dog as much as Silas did would have allowed that to happen to his dog.

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7 people found this helpful

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

Looked promising but...

I thought this looked interesting from the summary and reviews but it was not for me. I only managed about an hour before giving up. I can only describe it as "grey" - slightly depressing narration, no discernible thread to the story, and no characters which I cared about. Maybe I'm used to being spoon-fed easier listens, but there was nothing at all I could recommend about this book.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • ej
  • 15-12-18

An intriguing story

Quite different from Joy Ellis’ previous books. A little macabre in places but a psychologically fascinating read. Jackman I felt was a bit sidelined in this story, but the rest of the characters were good. Read beautifully as usual, by Richard Armitage. I don’t think I could listen to a Jackman and Evans book without him reading it now. He is them and they are him!

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4 people found this helpful