In This Bright Future

DC Smith Investigation Series, Book 5

By: Peter Grainger

Narrated by: Gildart Jackson

Two weeks of rest and recuperation - that's what the doctor ordered. Detective Sergeant DC Smith could listen to some music, make some of his own, and maybe even catch up on his reading; he is almost looking forward to it. And then there is a knock on the door. It's only his next-door neighbor, but it is the beginning of a sequence of events that will bring him face to face with some of the darkest episodes and the most dangerous people from his own past. This is Smith's fifth investigation, but this time it's personal.

©2016 Peter Grainger (P)2017 Tantor

Best novel in a marvelous detective series!

Detective thrillers do not get better than In the Bright Future! This is Book 5 in the English detective DC Smith series. Smith is on forced leave and he goes to Northern Ireland and deals with people from his past. Gildart Jackson does his usual wonderful job of narration.

If you like the mystery/thriller genre, this is a must listen novel. It's definitely one of the best of the year.

DC Smith is addicting - and this is the best yet!

Peter Grainger's DC Smith series is most similar in feel to Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache's series. Both series are about crimes and detection, but also about issues of politics, family, immigration, love, aging, revenge, death, etc. Both detectives spend time thinking, not just acting or reacting. Both have a strong moral compass. Both are interesting people, and we are compelled to keep reading to know them better.

"In This Bright Future" is the best yet in the series. So good in both performance and story that I just gave up trying to do anything else until I had listened to the end. Hauntingly told entwined stories of life and death in Belfast from the Troubles and today.

Invested in DC Smith

I love this series. The stories are always interesting and I never predict the endings. They are a gentleman’s murder...a detective novel without needing to be gory. The narration is perfect, and I get more invested in these characters with every book.

A Solid Entry in a Wonderful Series

This is Good; short of Absolutely Great because, on the whole, it reads/listens a bit like an amalgamation of an awful lot of books about The Troubles. Adrian McKinty is the MASTER of this field, and this doesn't live up to him - it's just a bit thin, and there is a plot hole - and another rather clich-ed mechanism. DC is as wonderful as ever, but I didn't feel this did him as much justice as the others in the generally Very good series. It's still worth a listen, as this series is so much better than a lot out there - it's just not one of the absolute best. Narration is as excellent as ever - and it is 'narration' Audible - not 'performance'. Don't be pretentious.

There are not enough stars for this book!

Unfortunately, I am not able to write a review that would give you any idea of how wonderful this book is! It is so rich and full of descriptions and characters and settings and and relationships and interactions. I don’t know that much about The Troubles in Northern Ireland. But this book has interested me in learning more about what happened there. I listened to the book all in one sitting because it was just fascinating and meaningful.