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The Killing 2 cover art

The Killing 2

By: David Hewson
Narrated by: Christian Rodska
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Summary

Thirty nine steps rose from the busy road of Tuborgvej into Mindelunden, with its quiet graves and abiding bitter memories. Lennart Brix, head of the Copenhagen homicide team, felt he’d been walking those most of his life. Beneath the entrance arch, sheltering from the icy rain, he couldn’t help but recall that first visit almost fifty years before. A five-year-old boy, clutching the hand of his father, barely able to imagine what he was about see…

The bark of a dog broke his reverie. Brix looked at the forensic officers, white bunny suits, mob hats, marching grim-faced down the rows of graves, towards the space in the little wood where the rest of the team was gathering… Three gnarled stakes, replicas now, with the originals in the Frihedsmuseet.

A woman was tied to the centre pole, hands behind her back, bound with heavy rope round her torso. Blonde hair soaked with rain and worse, head down, chin on chest, crouched awkwardly on her knees. A gaping wound at her neck like a sick second smile. She wore a blue dressing gown slashed in places all the way to the waist, flesh and skin visible where the frenzied blade had stabbed at her.

Her face was bruised and dirty. Blood poured from her nostrils, had dried down each side of her mouth, like makeup on a tragic clown…

©2012 Pan Macmillan (P)2013 David Hewson

Critic reviews

“As gripping as the TV series. It will keep you pinned to very last page” (Jens Lapidus)

”David Hewson has achieved the seemingly impossible . . . just as gripping as the television serial . . . this book is worth reading” (The Literary Review)

”A novel in the hugely experienced hands of David Hewson that defies expectation. Hewson’s style is tight, lean, almost like a film script” (Express)

”Clear, clipped prose is beautifully up to the task, as is his forensic attention to the original's details . . . And the ending leaves a very different, but no less thought-provoking taste” (Mirror)

”David Hewson should be commended for writing such a page-turner of a book . . . The Killing has enough twists and turns to satisfy not only any avid follower of the series but also readers that are coming to it first time around” (www.shotsmag.co.uk)

What listeners say about The Killing 2

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Kept me guessing till the end

This is a hefty listen, it's long and as the plot gathers pace you are carried along from one suspect to another, with a few mystifying subplots thrown in for good measure. Because of this complexity it is perhaps a book best listened to without too many long breaks in between and at times when you can concentrate a bit on the twists and turns.



Having said that I found it a very satisfying book that kept me guessing right until the end (I hadn't seen the tv series). David Hewson paces the book extremely well and Christian Rodska reads beautifully with great characterisation. I highly recommend!

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Screaming out loud

The story and writing style are both good. What let's this audio book down for me is not so much the narrator but the narration STYLE. Why oh why are the characters using regional British accents and why the poor Churchill impression for the Minister of Justice? Who would think that a good idea?
Danish policemen jabbering in a variety of London accents had me screaming out loud. I found it all distracting and irritating to an extreme if not for the story I`d have given up. Any future books I will have to get in printed form.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Even better than TK1

I have not watched the TV programmes so my only knowledge of TK books is via these audible downloads. I really enjoyed the first book but I think on balance, I enjoyed this one at least as much if not a bit more.



The story though complex was not as complicated as Book 1 and also the ending was less annoying (the first being annoying only because there was really no way the listener could have hoped to 'guess').



The weaving of murder and Danish politics seems to be part of this series formula and I do enjoy that.



I really like the narration too.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

An ok read

I really enjoyed the Killing but was a little disappointed with the sequel. I felt it was a bit bitty in parts and also that it was too long, however, the story kept me listening and I don't regret buying it. However, I won't buy the next one.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The Killing 2 adapted by David Hewson

I watched the TV programme in Danish in Denmark where my son lives and have to say this was brilliant! It was true to the Danish, whilst written in the style that David Hewson does so well. I'm a Hewson fan, so if you like his Italian based novels you will love this! So many twists and turns it kept you guessing right up to the last chapter, and was just as good as The Killing 1. The narration is also excellent, I kept on saying one more chapter, one more chapter, but couldn't switch it off!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Great story pity about the narrator.

Having listened to the Killing 1 I was looking forward to this next volume though I was concerned about how it would be narrated. My worst fears were realised. The story is really excellent but Christian Rodska does his best to ruin it as the narrator. For some reason known only to him he feels he must employ myriad accents to depict the characters in the story. This is totally wrong. If you have listened to the first Killing you will know the range he uses. In this book it is the same accents purportedly spoken by the new characters. Why a Swedish policeman on a remote island should talk with a Geordie accent is completely beyond me. If you don't mind a range of weird accents please listen to this book it is worth it. If however like me when you actually read a book you do not employ loads of accents for the characters it is a serious distraction. Both Macmillan Books and Mr Rodska would do well to listen to how Saul Reichlin narrates his books . His narration of the Millennium Trilogy knocks this into a cocked hat.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Worth a listen the first is better.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The narrator's voice is bit booming at times but other wise good listening. And worth the price tag

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Killing 2?

When the main character is on the run and it looked like he was to blame for all, that's all im saying give to much away

What does Christian Rodska bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

The way he portraits the characters and makes them fit well

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Yes or maybe id wait for it be on dvd

Any additional comments?

I prefered the first book with Rosie Larson or was that the American version?

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good, but confusing

I was in two minds about this book because I found the performance of the reader during the first one very difficult to enjoy. I had the same problems with this one, but with the additional downside that the ending was confusing, which really affected my opinion of the whole thing.

The reader has an odd way of making everything sound very panicky, and often shouts at times when it doesn't seem appropriate. There aren't sufficient breaks between scene changes, which means that it can often be difficult to follow what is happening. However the most annoying feature of the reader is his use of a variety of weird British regional accents, which are totally inappropriate and seemingly random. It completely breaks the suspension of disbelief when you are asked to believe that in one part of Denmark, or in rural Sweden, everyone you meet has a different accent, and that they all sound like places in the UK.

The voice he used for the main politician character was very irritating, rather like a bad impression of Churchill. The same voice was used for a couple of other characters too, which was confusing.

The story was well written, with plenty of interesting twists and turns, and it was that which kept me listening. In the end though, I couldn't work out exactly what had happened, and who had actually been responsible for the series of murders the story was about. Perhaps I missed something along the way, but I didn't feel that it was at all clear.

Overall it was very good value as it was long and there was plenty to keep me going and interest me, but it wasn't anywhere near the best book I've listened to in the last while, and not as good as the first one in the series.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

The Killing 2

Please see my comments for The Killing 1. This is a very disappointing pair of books and I will not be returning to the author or narrator.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Could be based on truth

This was the second book, but honestly it wouldn’t matter if you read out of sequence. It’s detailed enough to be there, yet spares them gruesome details, that you imagination fills in. The lead character is far from
Perfect, and the story line could be hard to hear, as sadly soldiers with PTSD is a reality. I’m glad I took the leap and took on this book, but it was 20 hours of intense listening.

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1 person found this helpful