Interesting story needed better narration

I enjoyed the narrative, although it could have used better research and editing - Brits don't use constructions like 'I'll go check' and someone being murdered in a robbery in a quiet English village would be national news - but generally it was an entertaining story.

The main irritant for me was the narration. The narrator would be great for other books, but she was too old for the voice of the young protagonist. She also had to cope with a range of accents - a tough gig and one she didn't get right. Brits were comic exaggerations and other Europeans - from Portuguese to Dutch - mostly sounded Russian.

For those reasons it feels cheaply produced, at a rather expensive price!

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3 people found this helpful

A Mystery at it's Best.

Emma Cole's 'Every Secret Thing' was everything you'd want in a good old fashion mystery but there was nothing old fashion in this amazing modern style story for today's demanding listeners. Brilliant from beginning to end. I would certainly recommend it.

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5 people found this helpful

Totally enthralling

This book has induced me to write my first review. I loved it. Perhaps because I was born in 1947 and therefore heard many stories of the Second World War from my family, certainly because I particularly enjoy books that merge stories from different periods in time, this novel really caught my attention. I loved the modern detective story married to the gentle romance of the1940s protagonists. The author's use of language, her powers of description were so involving - I felt at certain major points in the novel that I was standing there with the characters. Emma Cole seemed to have such a deep connection to her main characters that I felt I knew them intimately and really cared about their fate. The narration was excellent with the exception of the Portuguese names but that's a very minor irritation which wouldn't bother most listeners. I hope there will be more books from Emma Cole. Another book that affected me similarly was Geraldine Brooks The People of the Book, also a superb novel

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4 people found this helpful

Dreadful Narration

I could get past the far too many coincidences as the story was good enough to keep me interested. But the narration - oh my word! Every character over the age of 50 sounded like either Marge or Homer Simpson! almost drove me insane and I would have given up way before the end if i hadn't wanted to know how it finished. I may well listen to another book by the author, the narrator is however on my blacklist

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1 person found this helpful

story okay performance terrible

narrator was really terrible. any man or person alittle older then the main character had husky smokers old persons voices. she didnt even bother to do a Canadian or English accents. the characters in Portugal all sounded like Russians. just terrible acting all round really ruined the whole story

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