Like nothing I’ve read before

Totally different kind of book. In equal parts had me wanting to pause to solve puzzles and continue listening to find out how the story ended.

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Heartwarming and satisfying

This is a moving and unique story beautifully read by Dame Penelope Keith. Love the idea that we are all a puzzle we need to solve ourselves. Also the combination of well drawn older characters with a young man finding himself. Bravo!

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Thoroughly enjoyed

Beautifully written and read. Quirky, uplifting and absorbing. It's perfectly possible to enjoy the story without getting hung up on the puzzle aspect.

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Enjoyable read

Spotted this book in a review when it said that the audible would be narrated in part by Penelope Keith, a favourite of mine, so I thought I’d give it a go. Glad I did. Russell Tovey the other narrator was good as well. As with many narrators some of the voices of different characters are better than others but not enough to ruin it. The story was well crafted with the character of Clayton well developed . I really enjoyed being along side him as he tracks the clues. I think it worked well as an audiobook with the alternating chapters being read by each of them. There is a pdf of the puzzles included but not essential to the book.

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Great in every way

Such a wonderfully involving story that lifted me at a time when I needed it most.

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Gentle, unfolding plot.

The ‘then’ and ‘now’ style with their separate and very appropriately cast narrators culminated in a satisfying conclusion. The sense of period comes across well, the style is formal and a tad old fashioned, but in a good way. Think Agatha Christie or similar.

Burr’s style is sometimes a little over-descriptive for me, but the word pictures build a tangible sense of place and characters.

Some of the voice acting helps with the large cast of characters, but the narrators occasionally took this to extreme. The puzzles within the book might have been better written down, so be prepared to write the occasional note.

Overall, this book was enthralling because it wasn’t like anything else. The story had the qualities of an old sofa, familiar if not always comfortable, but well worth sitting on nonetheless. Lovely to hear Penelope Keith’s RP accent, little changed from her 70’s ‘Good Life’. Russell Tovey read with huge empathy and understanding of his main character and was an excellent choice for the part. Occasionally, edits in the performance were noticeable, but overall sound quality superb.

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Unusual storyline, well narrated

Excellent and unusual storyline that I really enjoyed. I couldn't stop listening as I just wanted to hear more!

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Recommended!

A delightful, whimsical story in the vein of The Thursday Murder Club; slightly far-fetched but utterly enjoyable! I really enjoyed this book and was sad when it finished! Great story and great narration.

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The characters are fantastic

This book is brilliant. The storyline is unique and interesting. Absolutely Loved it! Narrators are really good too and easy to listen to.

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Quirky, interesting book

I thought Penelope Keith was a fabulous narrator and it's a nice story. I found listening to them spell out the clues really tiresome though, it's impossible to follow without looking at it written down so they might have been better just skipping it. I was listening to it while driving so couldn't look at the PDF. Also if it's going to annoy you that the male narrator says haitch for aitch then that will make the letter clues even worse!

Overall though a nice book which wasn't a dramatic plot twist ending, more like a gradual reveal. you know from about halfway through what the end will be but it's nice to watch Clayton find himself through the story. I think Penelope Keith's narration really elevated the whole book. She is just wonderful to listen to. So clear and compelling and she really brought the character to life. Definitely an enjoyable book well worth a listen, although maybe it would be a trade off with the printed book. the audiobook gives you Penelope Keith and the printed book gives you the puzzles. I'm not sure which would be worth more.

There might be a spoiler alert in this next bit, so don't read this if you haven't listened yet.

I also found there were several bits of the book that felt like they hadn't been proofread properly. Like where we learned from Pip that the portrait was of the dead son and then cutting back to Clayton, he somehow knew that now as well, despite never having been told. Also small things like him carrying the 5000 piece jigsaw and then stopping to buy a bottle of port and some snacks and then arriving at the boat and standing with one foot on the boat and running his hands through his hair and them putting them in his pockets. What happened to all the stuff he was holding?! Or when Neil described his shoes as brogues and he thinks "obviously they're Oxford's", which was a detail I liked. Then twice we heard about him putting on his brogues. Many very small inconsistencies which are very minor but would be easy to iron out with some editing.

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1 person found this helpful