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Absolution

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Absolution

By: Caro Ramsay
Narrated by: James MacPherson
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About this listen

 Glasgow, 1984: It looked like a simple job. Guarding a woman - nameless and almost faceless after a savage acid attack - at a Glasgow hospital. PC Alan McAlpine has no idea that this simple job will haunt his career and change his life forever.

Two decades later, in 2006, Alan steps into Partickhill police station and back in time. Now a celebrated detective chief inspector, McAlpine has been drafted in to lead the hunt for a man the press are calling 'the Crucifixion Killer'.

With his distinguished reputation, McAlpine's team are confident their new DCI will lead them to the killer. But the obsession that was born in a hospital room 22 years earlier has never quite left Alan. And now, it seems, it's come back for a reason.

©2007 Caro Ramsay (P)2007 W F Howes Ltd. Crime Fiction Genre Fiction Mystery Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Crime

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All stars
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My first book by Caro Ramsay, and it won't be the last. DCI Alan McAlpine is haunted by a case 20 years ago when he was a rookie PC. Now he has been called in to lead the investigation into the deaths of two young women, stabbed, butchered and left in a crucifixion pose.

The book is well written and plotted. The opening chapters hooked me straight in, and the story was intriguing and held my attention and kept me guessing throughout. I liked the characters of McAlpine, more broken than flawed, and his wife, Helena, though I was mystified by how accepting she was of his obsession for a long dead woman.

Excellent narration by James Macpherson.

Great debut

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Definitely well recommended if you enjoyed Ian Rankin's work, this will not disappoint
James Macpherson's narration brings it all to life. A rich Glasgow based crime story

Well written and narrated

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Really enjoyed the use of Glasgow as a setting, which was well realised and convincing, and found the early obsessive relationship of the young PC to the female victim quite involving. However, the handling of the near supernatural elements was less assured and the plot resolution felt protracted and lacked clarity.



Will probably try another book by her but, so far, not in the same division as Denise Mina or Craig Russell when it comed to "Glaswegian Noir".

Promising But Flawed

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I very rarely give 1 star and this is sadly a 0 stars if I could. Unbelievable rubbish … DNF

Nope unbelievable

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Some wonderfully evocative prose but found narration too staccato and unvaried and couldn't get past the attempt at a Scouse accent. At that point I called it a day. First audio book I've failed to finish and suspect Imay enjoy it better as a tradional read. I can't really evaluate the storyline as the narration was so irritating I never finished chapter 4.

Struggled

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Struggled with this, mainly down to the narration. A scot who can't pronounce scots gaelic, rather using the Irish pronunciation loses all credibility. His voice is soporific and allows no sense of engagement with the characters. Would give Caro ramsay another chance but not if James MacPherson is the narrator.

Poor narration

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Basis of the story could have been good but so many times it was obvious it was at the end of Alan. Totally unbelievable breakdown of his psyche. Author has totally lost the plot!! Bye Bye

Worst ever character ending

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Thin, implausible plot that dragged on. Unbelievable characters and it was totally obvious who the serial killer was so no mystery there. Worst of all, this is an author who knows nothing about POV so narrative jumped around from person to person, often in the same paragraph. Very poor writing. Narrator was good, pity he had such a terrible story to work with.

dreadful on all counts

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