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False Pretences
- Narrated by: Patience Tomlinson
- Series: Abbot Agency Series, Book 4
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery
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What listeners say about False Pretences
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- Kathi
- 20-02-13
This book is sort of "fluff"
Would you try another book from Veronica Heley and/or Patience Tomlinson?
Probably not.
Would you listen to another book narrated by Patience Tomlinson?
Maybe--she has such a "peppy" way of reading, that I would hope she could change that in other narrative situations. I kind of think that the novel itself left her little choice--it evokes ideas (in me, at least) of something I'd give to a maiden aunt to read. Though about murder, somehow Tomlinson often keeps a very cheerful voice.
Did False Pretences inspire you to do anything?
Go to sleep. Cut my losses and find a different book.
Any additional comments?
I will admit, that I had the feeling I must have come into a book that is part of a series, which could explain why it felt as though the listener enters the story mid-stream. If that is the case, then please ignore most of my remarks, because they would be based on the listening to a single part of a greater whole, taken out of context. But, since this is the only book by this author I have read--this is my take on it as it stands alone.
There were several parts dealing with people going to church and Bea praying and talking to God--made me wonder if I was listening to literature written for people of faith. Not a turn off--just a little odd in a book of that sort, but would have made the entire thing more understandable. (As a lesson in how to live one's life as a Good Moral Person).
I think this book would be just great for some people. I personally don't like a lot of violence in books, and this promised to be that way. But it rather hit the extreme in terms of good vs evil (too exaggerated)--and that seemed to tie in with my feeling that it was meant to be a christian book maybe? I don't know.
There was one issue that could have made this book very good--racism was taken on as a major plot concern. But since the author lacks a subtle writing style, it felt more like I was being commanded to agree that racism is a terrible thing (which I've always believed anyway)--it was just too in-your-face as a topic. And that leaves me feeling sad, because it is an issue that the entire world needs to be more sensitive to--but I just felt like backing away--as though I was being hit over the head with it. I wanted to say, "All right, already--thanks for tackling a challenging topic, but back off a little and let the listener draw their own conclusions instead of its being so off-putting with over-the-top kinds of obvious situations and statements by the characters.
I KNOW that there are people who would love this book. I was not, alas, one of them.
1 person found this helpful