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Past Lying
- Karen Pirie Novels, Book 7
- Narrated by: Lauren Lyle
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
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Past Lying
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Summary
THE HEART-POUNDING NEW NOVEL IN THE KAREN PIRIE SERIES, NOW A MAJOR ITV SERIES STARRING LAUREN LYLE
Edinburgh, haunted by the ghosts of its many writers, is also the cold case beat of DCI Karen Pirie. So she shouldn't be surprised when an author's manuscript appears to be a blueprint for an actual crime.
Karen can't ignore the plot's chilling similarities to the unsolved case of an Edinburgh University student who vanished from her own doorstep. The manuscript seems to be the key to unlocking what happened to Lara Hardie, but there's a problem: the author died before he finished it.
As Karen digs deeper, she uncovers a spiraling game of betrayal and revenge, where lies are indistinguishable from the truth and with more than one unexpected twist . . .
The Queen of Crime Val McDermid is at the top of her game in her most gripping and fiendishly clever case yet.
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What listeners say about Past Lying
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Cornflakegirl
- 16-10-23
So disappointing!
I haven’t finished this yet and I will, but I felt I had to add to all the other reviews and warn people to stay away from this one and just buy the book. The narration is poor which I’m so sad to say as I love Lauren as Karen in the TV show, but a good actor does not mean a good narrator. Worse than the lacklustre reading and lack of character distinction is the quality of recording and editing. There are so many places where the volume and tone change entirely for one sentence which I can only assume is a re-recording. Occasionally you find this in an audiobook but not several times per chapter. I have no idea how this got through quality control and it really impacts on the listening experience. So very disappointing!
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11 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sue ONeil
- 22-10-23
Appalling narrator, excellent story.
The narrator may be a good actress, although looking nothing like the description in the novels, but could not read a menu. Slurred and sloppy speech, mispronounced words and a sense of pace and timing that does not exist. Please have this re-read by the previous excellent narrator. Read as if a book had never been read before, even to herself. I have heard wonderful narrators, this lass will never be one. She should try listening to some of the great narrators to develop a sense of how to do the job properly. If there are to be further novels in this series - please, please have the previous reader do the job so the story is paid it's due respect. I stuck with it as I am a fan of the series, but would think hard about buying another if this was to be the same narrator. I think at that point, it would be Kindle or the book!
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Financespod
- 06-11-23
Great but……
A slick and gripping story that we have come to expect from Val McDermid but the narration is dreadful.
The narrator sounds bored and the editing makes the script sound robotic and disconnected.
Listen to the book for the story and hope you can get passed the narration!!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- san2har
- 14-10-23
Slow burner
Yes I agree that the narration could be better but I didn’t find it too off putting as I come from that part of the country. The story was a little muddled to begin with but once Karen and her ‘team’ started to unravel the ‘perfect murder’ the story fairly bowled along.
I thought that it dealt with the fear and frustrations of the pandemic and the difficulties faced in a realistic manner and of course there is the continuing stories of the familiar characters. I enjoyed it.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Tasha
- 10-01-24
Awful narration
The story was good but the story teller spoilt it, very nasally then quiet gutted
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- S. F. Bond
- 12-11-23
Wonderfully complex plot
Love the Karen Pirie novels and this is no exception because the characters are so well drawn. Great to have stories within a story. Despite the seriousness of murder underlying the novel there is genuine black humour.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sally
- 01-11-23
Great story
Poor narration, tonal change when edited bits added, changes in volume, lack lustre narration, however the story is great, I persevered through the frankly awful narration almost returned the book purely because of it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Graham Hursthouse
- 04-11-23
As good as ever
I didn’t have any issue with the narrator. Excellent book. Looking forward to the next
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Olwen
- 25-01-24
The fact it mentions pre Sent day nhs staff help and praise A very good story Thanks
Excellent story. A good page turner.Lovely to hear praise of nhs staff. I can highly recommend.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 11-12-23
Such a shame that they changed the narrator
Have always loved the Karen Pirie books and this story is no exception but I really didn’t enjoy the narrator. I understand the actress was chosen as she had played the part on TV but there was no differentiation of accent or tone between the characters which made the storyline hard to follow as you were so busy focussing on who was supposed to be speaking. About halfway through a random English accent appeared but that was about it. Such a shame.
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2 people found this helpful