The Seeker cover art

The Seeker

Damian Seeker 1

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The Seeker

By: S. G. MacLean
Narrated by: Nicholas Camm
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About this listen

Winner of the 2015 CWA Endeavour Dagger for Historical Fiction.

London, 1654. Oliver Cromwell is at the height of his power and has declared himself Lord Protector. Yet he has many enemies at home and abroad. London is a complex web of spies and merchants, priests and soldiers, exiles and assassins.

One of the web's most fearsome spiders is Damian Seeker, agent of the Lord Protector. No one knows where Seeker comes from, who his family is, or even his real name. All that is known of him for certain is that he is utterly loyal to Cromwell and that nothing can be long hidden from him. In the city, coffeehouses are springing up, fashionable places where men may meet to plot and gossip. Suddenly they are ringing with news of a murder.

John Winter, hero of Cromwell's all-powerful army, is dead, and lawyer Elias Ellingworth is found standing over the bleeding body, clutching a knife. Yet despite the damning evidence, Seeker is not convinced of Ellingworth's guilt. He will stop at nothing to bring the killer to justice - and Seeker knows better than any man where to search.

©2015 Shona MacLean (P)2016 WF Howes Ltd Historical Mystery Thriller & Suspense Fiction England

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All stars
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The narrator is not as good as the other narrator for the subsequent books. However, you really should bear with it as the story is great, and the rest of the series are excellent and the narrator of those is infinitely better. You could start with the second novel, but you really should hear this first for the set up of all the characters and their situations. Try putting it at 1.1x reading speed to make it sound less like the reading of a eulogy.

Stick with it for the plot and to move on to the rest of the series

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This was hard going. overall the story was not bad, but the whispering , monotone narrator made it a tough listen.

Good story, narrator poor

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This is a period of history I know little about & what I do know I don’t much like but this story was absolutely brilliant. Characters with back stories to tell which are gradually revealed but not so as to distract from the plot & a real who did it right to the end.

Also superbly narrated with a tone & style that suits the main character & helps to make him a person not just protagonist.

Superb story, bring on the next instalment

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A great mixture of history, intrigue and people. I loved it although I’m not sure I like the main protagonist

Superb

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A fascinating tale of intrigue and treachery, set within a vivid portrayal of life during the Commonwealth period, superbly narrated.

A great story

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The Seeker begins with Nicholas Camm's narration setting the perfect tone as Shona MacLean's grim and tense 1650s London and its inhabitants are brought to life by the text. He gives our lead, Damian Seeker just the right sense of underlying calm and omnipresent threat. Taken with the text the experience of this audiobook is one of well-researched authenticity and complex plotting. The slight downside is that with a plot that isn't the fastest paced you'll ever read and the quietly deliberate narration I did find a slightly languid feel to the production at times.

The setting is a fairly unusual one; Cromwell's Commonwealth was a strange and brief period in our history. This story shows maturity in that we don't get the usual approach of making one of the sides the "good" side. In MacLean's telling we see a terribly divided land with a populace that are scared, confused and angry. Neither Parliament nor King deserving of any great plaudits. Given that my personal younger history involved some very enjoyable time in the Sealed Knot's Eastern Association within the Middlesex Trayned Bandes I'm delighted she has avoided the usual cliches of glorified Royalists and nasty dull Roundheads.

Attention is required at the start as the various characters are introduced. It did feel a little disjointed early on but once Damian Seeker gets into his considerable stride in the atmospheric London surroundings things pick up and a very satisfying mystery thriller unfolds even if it does rely a little on coincidence. Seeker proves to be a character of significant nuance and depth while retaining an aura of mystery. Taken as a whole this is a very enjoyable first book to the series with plenty of scope for further development.

A Dark-Cloaked Figure

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What did you like most about The Seeker?

The buildings, the rooms, the houses, the churches, the spaces, the alley ways, the printer's shop, the shoemaker's workshop. And most of all the coffee houses. The coffee house in the setting of 1650s London was to my mind an inspired choice to provide a catalyst to much of the action. Obviously primarily a male preserve.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Damian Seeker who had strong locus of control and was values-led though perhaps not quite at the Jeanie Deans level. Would he have walked from Edinburgh to London to save his brother from a hanging as Jeanie Deans did for her sister? Possibly. The Seeker often made decisions based on what was right rather than who was right.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Any scene in which 'High Highness' Oliver Cromwell was present.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

I liked the narrator. Bit of a shock at first. Mr Camm was not Crawford Logan who read Maclean's first historical novel. But once I got into the timbre of his voice, I thought Mr Camm an apt choice. The main character, Damian Seeker is not a flag waving, arm circling animated character. Steady, deliberate, decisive. I think the narrator did a good job.

First we form our buildings....

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was not sure what to expect but it is a really good listen.
Nicholas Camm reads it brilliantly and really adds to the enjoyment.

top listen

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Love this book was gripped by it. English Civil War not a period cover much,but there is great depth in the period. A must read.the reading was brilliant ,over all an enjoyed experience.

Excellent,story

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Well read, great suspense in the narrator's voice and a compelling story. one of the best books I've heard.

excellent listen

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