I’d never read a Thomas Perry book before, but saw this one on audio at the library and decided to try one since I see his thrillers in bookstores all the time. Somebody must be reading them, right?
The plot is pretty straightforward: Phil, who’s the owner of a private detective agency, is killed after having cleaned out his bank account and in the midst of an affair with his secretary. Nothing ground-breaking there. But, having no other income, his wife Emily decides to try to keep the agency open, assigning one of the detectives, Ray Hall, to figure out who murdered her husband, and why. Then the story really gets interesting. We meet the killer, although we don’t know why he did it at first, and then the guy who ordered Phil killed.
What really caught my attention is how Perry plays with the notion of fidelity. A character you know is bad turns out to be the most faithful person in the story. Someone else, who ought to be good, isn’t… at all. Even Phil, whose lack of fidelity is proven almost at the start, proves that, as Facebook would say, it’s complicated. This wasn’t “just” a mystery.
Although I liked the narrator’s smooth voice, unfortunately I didn’t think he did credible women’s voices. Emily, in particular, had a ridiculously breathy voice that didn’t match what she was saying: she’s brave and resourceful and shouldn’t sound like Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday” to JFK.
I’ll definitely read another Thomas Perry thriller, but I’m recommending this one in print!
Buy the book:
Book #6 of 12 in the Audio Book Challenge
I think it is great that you add this information about the voices. It must be confusing when a character has the wrong sort of voice.
[Translate]
Yes, the voices can be a problem — I just quit listening to another book because the New Orleans accent was so badly done. Of course, if I were not from the U.S. South I might think it was just fine, so I guess the voice is in the ear of the beholder.
[Translate]