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The Doll Maker

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The Doll Maker

Written by: Richard Montanari
Narrated by: Scott Brick
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About this listen

Detectives Byrne and Balzano return to the streets of Philadelphia to put an end to a macabre succession of murdered children.

A quiet Philadelphia suburb. A woman cycles past a train depot with her young daughter. There she finds a murdered girl posed on a newly painted bench. Beside her is a formal invitation to a tea dance in a week's time.

Seven days later two more young victims are discovered in an abandoned house, posed on painted swings. At the scene is an identical invitation. This time, though, there is something extra waiting for Detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano: a delicate porcelain doll.

It's a message. And a threat. With the killers at large, Detectives Byrne and Balzano have just seven more days to find the link between the murders before another innocent child is snatched from the streets.

©2015 Richard Montanari (P)2015 Hachette Audio Mystery Police Procedural Fiction Suspense Detective Crime
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I enjoyed this one so much, maybe even more the second time around. It's so goofy and improbable but so carefully plotted with multiple threads coming together in a satisfying way.
The antagonist/s was/were so agonizingly pretentious. It was a bit hard to take, and I admit to thinking "oh, you d*****bag" multiple times and rolling my eyes. But the backstory was pretty creative and wonderfully weird and awful.
The twisteroo was surprisingly affecting.
Also, there was a lot of nice development in the lives of the protagonists. The "barn raising" scene was delightful.
It was a fun one.

good

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Fantastic story and even better narration. I will follow this author and review each one in turn.

Fantastic

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