Slowly a mystery emerges

This is the first part of a trilogy of books that starts in the 1950s. The early part of the book moves slowly as the characters are introduced and fleshed out and one might think it was going to be a simple family saga. However, after a while a mystery, with its origins in the pre-War period, emerges and one realizes that the story is much more complex and gripping. The structure of the book suits being an audio version as the story is largely told chronologically by a first person narrator remembering the past. It is excellently read by June Barry. I shall certainly listen to the next two parts.

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QUALITY FIFTIES NOSTALGIA & MYSTERY

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The author Andrew Taylor is in his mid sixties, which is why he understands perfectly the era of the fifties. I am the same age and can appreciate his novel which is superbly written. The narrator June Barrie was perfect. I was transported. Not sure if today's younger reader will appreciate this. But I do.

What other book might you compare Office of the Dead to, and why?

There are too many wonderful novels. I am about to read the next book the Judgement of Strangers, which is the middle novel of the Roth trilogy. It sounds very promising.

Have you listened to any of June Barrie’s other performances? How does this one compare?

She's not a prolific narrator, but I'm hugely impressed with this reading. I'm staying in rural China where there are no westerners, and it gave me hours of joy to be reminded of England and the spoken word.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

This has been made into a television series. In my opinion, Audible should rethink this rather meaningless question and delete it.

Any additional comments?

This is my second review in three years of listening, and only because I think the author and narrator deserves the praise, as they have given me so much pleasure. And I hope it gains a wider audience.

Brilliant!

I really enjoyed Office of the Dead. It is well-written, intriguing and has a great plot. I would recommend the whole trilogy to friends. I am looking forward to the next one!

A story devoid of tension, pace or narrative drive

Confusingly, this is either the first book in a trilogy or the last, depending on whose comments you read.

If it were the last then perhaps the purpose of this book is for answers to the mysteries in the previous books to drop into place. Perhaps those reading it as the third book in the trilogy are constantly emitting sighs of satisfaction as they say to themselves "Ah, that's the reason why that other thing happened in book 1 or 2".

I read it first and found it extremely slow and lacking any tension or narrative drive. For the first 80% of the book, nothing really happens. The narrator stumbles across a couple of unexplained facts, but so what? The narrator is a dispassionate observer with no skin in the game and the author gives us no real mystery to drive the story forward.

As a standalone book, this doesn't work. Perhaps it does in the context of the trilogy.

The narration is excellently and convincingly done.