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The Hidden Legacy

A Dark and Gripping Psychological Drama

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About this listen

A life-changing gift with a shadowy origin - a dark and suspenseful debut novel.

1966. A horrifying crime at a secondary school, with devastating consequences for all involved.

2008. A life-changing gift, if only the recipient can work out why....

Recently divorced, and with two young children, Ellen Sutherland is up to her elbows in professional and personal stress. When she's invited to travel all the way to Cheltenham to hear the content of an old woman's will, she's far from convinced the journey will be worthwhile. But when she arrives, the news is astounding.

Eudora Nash has left Ellen a beautiful cottage worth an amount of money that could turn her life around. There's just one problem: Ellen has never even heard of Eudora Nash. Her curiosity piqued, Ellen and her friend Kate travel to the West Country in search of answers. But they are not the only ones interested in the cottage, and Ellen little imagines how much she has to learn about her past.

©2015 G. J. Minett (P)2016 Bolinda Publishing Crime Fiction Mystery Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Crime Exciting

Critic reviews

"An intelligent, intriguing and most of all, well-constructed mystery." ( Culture Fly)
"Chock-full of unexpected twists, it’s the sort of book that will keep you staying up far too late." ( The Irish Times)
All stars
Most relevant
This addictive thriller will keep you hooked as you try to piece together the apparently impossible jigsaw of damaged lives. The important difficult theme of how to deal with children who kill, is tackled with heart-wrenching sensitivity.

Addictive, moving thriller

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It kicked off with a very gripping and strong opening which drew me in. I was looking forward to more of the same, some deep and tense voyage through a life interspersed with twists and suspense. Unfortunately it turned in to a rather pedestrian story that is actually resolved to a greater extent by the telling of a whole story within it to cover the parts that don't seem to have a way in to the main body in their own merit which seems to be a failing in the story, a let down on what should have been a tense and perhaps dark story.

I won't be going back to this book to re-read it and it hasn't helped to sell the author as far as I'm concerned.

In a word, disappointing.

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What would have made The Hidden Legacy better?

An interesting story but what could have been a 'dark and gripping' drama was suffocated by the sheer volume of words used - this ruined any sense of pace or tension. Poor, superficial characterisation. I had little empathy with even the main character who at times, when I imagine, should have been going through extreme emotional turmoil was more concerned with how her make-up looked!

Would you ever listen to anything by G. J. Minett again?

No

How could the performance have been better?

Jessica Carroll probably got as much out of the text as anyone could, but had little to work with.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment and anger.

Murdered by verbosity

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Some books work better in print. I suspect that this in one. The audio version is a long winding road to nowhere. Not unpleasant but you soon realise it's going nowhere. The energy that comes from sympathetic characters and genuine moral issues just isn't there. The analysis of the horrible crime at the heart of the story is thin, this turns out the be important for me. The story ends in the end.... that's it.

Superficial strengths but ...

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