Sean Norman

"Holden" Nails it

Reviewed: 2019-05-21

One of his best books, and really cool to have Groff, aka Holden, narrate everything. There's a great interview between the two at the end. Really enjoyed it.

Gripping, Engaging and Inspiring!

Reviewed: 2019-05-14

Really enjoyed this. Only discovered Jensen after "I'll be Gone in the Dark" now I am following his whole interesting career.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Pretty Decent

Reviewed: 2019-03-20

I read this for a book club and it's not something I would have listened to otherwise. Not typically my genre, but it was surprisingly interesting. I loved the tone the main character Circe sets, and saw it as very representative of feminism. It is just a re-hashing of all her myth's though, and at times I felt the plot didn't flow and there were a few boring pockets. Probably the perfect book for people who are super into that stuff, lots of little Easter Eggs. Overall it was a decent read.

Kinda wish it wasn't a supernatural twist

Reviewed: 2019-02-19

The first half of the book had me totally riveted. I really wanted to know how King was going to twist the plot and fill the hole. I knew there'd be a supernatural element because it's King but I was a bit disappointed that it went so far wacky. I was really hoping for some kind of really interesting explanation since it seemed like the suspect was in two places at once. (spoiler ahead)

But I got a Mexican shape shifting vampire. It also seemed a little bit recycled from "It".

Not a bad book... but it just got boring for me by the end.

Believable ride from start to finish

Reviewed: 2019-01-02

This was written so well either the author was pulling from an experience in real life or really researched the heck out of it. There were so many human facets to the overall narrative that really sold me on the story.

Well done, would make an interesting mini series on TV.

A little torn on the plot, a little transphobic

Reviewed: 2018-10-03

I can't decide if I liked this book or not. I am on the fence, and may read the next in the series to see if it's something I really want to continue.

The premise is interesting enough. your standard detective series. But the author seems like she can't decide if she wants this to be an origin story for the main character, or a series set up. As such, learning about the main character's past seems out of place and forced in the main story line. It also makes her seem too similar to the secondary main character; the victim.

All of the characters seemed a bit similar and at times it was hard to figure out who was who. This was made worse when the narrator would use the same voices. All of the men sounded the same!

The twist at the end was convoluted. It introduced so many characters all at once in a rushed manner to tie up the ending, so I had to listen to it twice to figure it out, which took away some of the oomph of the twist for me.

Also the ending came across a bit transphobic. The trope of the person who feels trapped in their assigned gender and wants to live in another and it becomes the motive for them to be a serial killer isn't creative in my opinion. It's an outdated trope that can be harmful. I literally rolled my eyes when it was revealed. Felt a little lazy and even the characters were written in a way that it didn't really make sense. I actually think the book would of been better without the twist ending.

it's not really a terrible read, just not a great one - especially for something meant to get you hooked on a series. But it's like a pilot episode of a TV show. sometimes the first one isn't great but it gets the groove. So we'll see!

I bought this book on sale so for the sale price it was a good bargain. Not something I'd pay full price for.

Fast paced, interesting twists

Reviewed: 2018-08-28

I love that this book had two narratives, and switched between voice actors. It seemed a bit misleading to me, there was a lot of fleshing out a character at the start, but then the speed picked up and the book wasn't as content heavy as you'd think based on the first few chapters. Interesting twists I didn't see coming at first. I just found there was so much build up and then the climax of the story and resolution only took 30 minutes. Like the author just wrote themselves into a corner and needed to wrap things up as quickly as possible. Ending felt too tidy and rushed. It was good but not as satisfying as I would of hoped. There was one final twist that was sort of rushed through, but was a damn smart idea,

Overall, worth the listen!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Terrible narrator- sounds like text to voice

Reviewed: 2018-08-13

Ended up returning it because the narration was awful. Sounds like text to voice generation, and not even a good one. It's hard to believe this is a real person. Couldn't get passed how annoying it was to listen.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Story grows on you, believable, twist ending

Reviewed: 2018-08-13

At first I thought the ending was terrible, but it was a false ending and I was so relieved. A complex spiderweb of a story is built up and you really want a complex answer! The characters and story are honestly very relatable and believable. We've all known people like the characters in the book. You experience the doubt and worry, the anxiety and fear, and the anger.

Very well paced too!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Didn't want it to end

Reviewed: 2018-08-07

I've always been a huge fan of Gaiman, but hadn't yet read this book. When I mentioned to a friend about wanting to learn more about the mythology they suggested this. It's an excellent primer, and expertly told in easy to understand stories. It was so entertaining, and Gaiman really delivers as the narrator.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful