Watchers of the Dead

Alec Lonsdale, Book 2

By: Simon Beaufort

Narrated by: David Thorpe

December 1882. Attending the opening of the new Natural History Museum, reporter Alec Lonsdale and his colleague Hulda Friederichs are shocked to discover a body in the basement, hacked to death. Suspicion falls on three cannibals, brought from the Congo as museum exhibits, who have disappeared. But Alec discovers that three other men have been similarly murdered, and when he and Hulda discover a letter in the victim's home warning of a catastrophic event planned for Christmas Eve, they find themselves in a race against time. Who are 'The Watchers', and can the duo stop them before they strike again?

©2019 Simon Beaufort (P)2020 Oakhill Publishing

What happened?

I read the first book a while ago, recalling that I really liked it. This one, however, I'm declaring a mess. The main character and his colleague, Huldah, were fine, but the rest of were either forgettable, or in large part unlikeable. The "cannibals" angle should never have been accepted by the publisher, obvious that premise was never going to come out right. Changing the narrator was fine with me as I'm a fan of Thorpe's work.

Why, why change narrator??

I like this series a great deal, and I like the characters . . . but I have a huge complaint that may stop me from listening to any further books from this series. Why change the narrator after the first book? Honestly, a listener gets used to how dialogue flows, how accents are portrayed, the demeanor of the characters - Jonathan Keeble did all of these things in the first book expertly -- so why change? Instead of being calm and collected, Lonsdale is now excitable and loud, and Hulda's English has taken a downturn. So disappointing.

Nearly ruined the book for me.