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The Empathy Problem

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The Empathy Problem

By: Gavin Extence
Narrated by: Jack Hawkins
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About this listen

Driven by money, power and success, Gabriel has worked ruthlessly to get to the very top of the banking game. He's not going to let the inconvenience of a terminal brain tumour get in his way. But the tumour has other ideas. As it grows, it appears to be doing strange things to Gabriel's personality. Whether he likes it or not, he seems to be becoming less selfish, less mercenary, less unlikeable. Once he could dismiss the rest of humanity as irrelevant. Now he's not so sure.

Women in particular are becoming worryingly three-dimensional. And none more so than Caitlin, the unremarkable girl he sees busking on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral. When she plays her violin, Gabriel could almost believe that he has a soul.... But as each day that passes brings him closer to his last, has time run out for second chances?

Best-selling author Gavin Extence pushes the envelope again with another thought-provoking and funny novel about the surprises, good and bad, that life can throw at us.

©2016 Gavin Extence (P)2016 Hodder & Stoughton Contemporary Contemporary Romance Dark Humour Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Medical Metaphysical & Visionary Romance Comedy

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All stars
Most relevant
An interesting tale, superbly told by the narrator who brings the characters to life. I enjoyed the style of the writing and the way the story evolves. A sad, but also strangely uplifting listen. Highly recommended.

Moving Story

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Enjoyed this book. Good knowledge of the city put against one person's life altering health issue. As always Jack Hawkins does awesome narration, he does voices so well. Nice interplay between the 2 main characters. If there was an equivalent for Chick Lit but involving a male lead character, this would be it.

Thoughtful listen

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I really like the writing of Gavin Extence, but it did take me longer to get into this book than the Alex Woods, i think that was because I didn't immediately like the main character. But I did enjoy it, and will probably read it again, I also became fond of Gabriel. (The main character)
This author seems to have a different perspective on life and has a lovely way of writing.

I do have one criticism........ The narrator pronounces reMUNeration as reNUMeration ..... This is a frequent mistake by many narrators and it does irritate! Apart from that, I thought he did a superb job!

It took longer to get into this book

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15 out of 10 if I could. Equally as good as the author's 1st book. Interesting story lines merged into one. Poignant & again made me audibly laugh quite a bit, even though there was tragedy. I hope Extence is writing a 4th book by now. I will be buying all of this author's works as soon as they are released. For me I found His 1st book was exceedingly good; it was excellent. His 2nd book very good & for me this 3rd book was again excellent. Hope he uses the same narrator for his 4th. I love the narrator's delivery too.

Absolutely Brilliant

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My first book by this author and after reading the synopsis I thought this book might be a typical "bad guy falls in love and becomes good guy" story but the good reviews made me give it a shot. In some sense it is what I thought but it's so much more as well. It's not unbelievable and not chick lit romantic, which I was glad of. It's dark, meaningful and thought provoking but still funny, somehow lighthearted in a nonchalant kind of way and an easy read. The narrator was also very good and suited the main character. Glad I went ahead with the purchase.

More than the synopsis suggests

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