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The Butcher's Daughter

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The Butcher's Daughter

By: Jane E. James
Narrated by: Harrie Dobby
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About this listen

The Butcher's Daughter is a compelling psychological thriller which will appeal to fans of authors like Sheryl Browne, Nuala Ellwood and Teresa Driscoll.

When Natalie Powers returns home for the first time in 13 years, she must convince everyone she has fully recovered from the mental illness that has seen her institutionalised for most of her young life. But instead of being welcomed back, Natalie enters a baffling world of deception. In the village of Little Downey, everybody appears to harbour a mysterious secret, including her father, Frank, the village butcher, who refuses to discuss the circumstances surrounding Natalie’s mother's disappearance. But who can Natalie trust if not her own father? Especially when it becomes clear her protector and confidant, Dr Moses, is not all he appears. Meanwhile, a spate of unexplained clifftop suicides has seen the seaside resort go into decline. Are the villagers somehow involved, or is something more sinister at work?

©2019 Jane E. James (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd Genre Fiction Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Village Fiction

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All stars
Most relevant
For most of this book I was confused, unable to work out what was going on.

Then (perhaps belatedly), I realised that was how I was supposed to feel. The author is putting the listener in the mind of Natalie Powers who has spent a good part of her life in a mental institution. Natatie is trying to separate fact from fiction. She is confused and doesn't know who to trust. She has memories, but doesn't know whether they are real or invented within her own mind. Natalie struggles to make sense of the world around her - in particular what happened to her mother and why did she die? Why will her father (Frank) not tell her about it? Why are there so many suicides in the village? Why are all the villagers slightly crazy?

By the end of the book, we are given a good idea of what was actually going on, but I was still left with a little lingering confusion.

As a warning, the book is pretty gruesome in places. Set in an isolated Welsh village, Natalie's father is a butcher (so we get graphic details of butchery), there is also animal cruelty, self-harm and worse. Maybe not a book to read late at night!

Good performance by Harrie Dobby (who is female by the way). It would have been nice if the characters had been given Welsh accents.

I've given this book 5 stars, but perhaps 4.5 stars would be closer to how I rate it. It's gripping, but perhaps not great literature.

Clever Idea

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maybe its just me.but that was the most confusing book iv ever read..twas like the author cudnt make up her mind were it was going...also you may pick up the bloopers. i spotted two.i listened to the whole book.so disappointed.perhaps the author had one too many woke up an continued writing forgetting were she left off an what the whole thing was about...narrator very good.

confusing

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By nature, it was supposed to be confusing but there were too many twists. i listened to the end and it was well narrated with gripping moments but it was so long and fanciful, it seemed pointless and disappointing

gruesome

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I was gripped from start to finish and loved the confusion between reality and imagination and never quite knowing the truth. I love Stephen King and this had the same feeling of some of his books such as Jack Torrance in the Shining.

Brilliant but gory

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All of it: story, narrator. Best audio book I’ve listened to for ages and I’ve got about 300 in my library. I can’t understand why this hasn’t got five stars across the board. Jane E James is a talented writer.

Fantastic

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