Slow Burn

Detective Alec Ramsay Series, Book 3

By: Conrad Jones

Narrated by: Paul Holbrook

Slow Burn is the second book in the best selling Alec Ramsay series, following The Child Taker, Slow Burn, Criminally Insane, Frozen Betrayal.

©2010 Conrad Jones (P)2014 Conrad Jones

Worst narration I have ever heard

I can’t really say how good the story was because the narrator was so very bad. I have listened to about 4000 audiobooks and this narration was the worst I’ve heard. It is a British mystery and the accent was a very bad country hick southern American accent. I had to skip much of the book in 10 chapter increments thinking I needed it to keep up with the series. It was totally unnecessary, if only I hand known. This book needs to be re-recorded. It is really unfair to your listeners to subject them to this book. I might give the narrator one more chance, might not. I usually give everyone, writer and reader a second chance, this one just might be too bad for that.

Worst reader imaginable

Any additional comments?

I have listened to 2759 Audible books, and this is one of the most poorly cast narrators I have heard. Could Audible not find a British reader to do this book?

Horrible performance that drags down the story.

Why oh why would the producers choose someone with a weird American accent to read this English detective novel? Why would they choose someone who pauses after every third or fourth word, whether or not a pause is necessary? I just got through with the first two books in this series, read and wonderfully performed by the marvelous Julia Farhat, only to be brought up short by this substandard rendition. I can't even realistically rate the story because I'm so put off by the narrator(s); if the story itself as good as the previous two, then it deserves more than the 3 stars I'm giving it, but I can't honestly give it any more than that because I don't think I'll be able to stand to listen to the whole thing. Also, I should mention that Julia Farhat performs all the roles herself - men, women, and all nationalities - with entertaining versatility. This version has an additional narrator voicing the female parts and while she imparts more emotion to the roles than the male narrator/reader, her voice is rather shrill and piercing, so not at all enjoyable. I was looking forward to continuing with this series but I'll have to pass on any books that are read by these narrators.