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The First Deadly Sin

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The First Deadly Sin

By: Lawrence Sanders
Narrated by: Marc Vietor
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About this listen

One of the most popular suspense novels of all time. A well-dressed man stalks the high-class neighborhoods of New York City. He is armed with an ice axe. His victims are strangers. And one cop, Captain Ed Delaney must solve a series of bizarre, gruesome murders that defy logic or method. This shocking story has captured the imaginations of millions like no other modern thriller.

©1973 Lawrence Sanders (P)2011 Audible, Inc. Espionage Mystery Police Procedural Spies & Politics Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction

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Critic reviews

"Breathtakingly exciting." ( Rolling Stone)
All stars
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Excellent, good pacey narrative, wordy in descriptions at times, very enjoyable listening, would definitely recommend.

Great experience.

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Some of this was a bit full on with sex and I fumbled to turn down the volume while doing the ironing incase folk wondered what I was listening to, but the rest of the story was very gritty and detailed from a detective standpoint.

A respected captain is devastated to learn his wife is ill and toys with the idea of retiring so he can care for her; meanwhile a serial killer is on the loose, the violence and frequency of his murders escalating at an alarming rate. With no official help, the captain takes matters into his own hands.

Psychological Trip

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This has some uncomfortable content but it is so well written with good characters you can't help but be carried along.

Compelling

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An excellent listen I will be getting the others in the series Worth the listen.

Brilliant story and a must listen to Audiobook..

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a good read, i little bit too dark for me, although looked forward to the next installment i had time to hear.

dark

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This book is a good for looking into the mind of a killer and the author has very interesting and gripping way of telling it.
The story is split between two people, and I'd say the side of the captain is much stronger and more interesting, I often found myself waiting for his bit of the story whilst listening to that of the killer.
Still a good listen.

Grippingly Told

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Well, if it's Lawrence Sanders, it's a must. The reader of this audiobook is superb. I was there in the hospital, East End Avenue, my old street. I have to say get this audiobook!

Lawrence Sanders

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story not going fast. too long winded wish I had not used my credit thanks

not my kind of book too much detail and story not

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This is a very weird book; I didn't really like it but was completely fascinated by it. It was described as a modern thriller and maybe it was cutting edge when it was written in 1973 but it hasn't aged well. In it we can glimpse a world where hairy, sweaty, white men ruled the planet; its casual racism, sexism and homophobia are at times quite breathtaking. Herein lies part of it's fascination for me plus a certain amount of amusement at the thought of where all these hairy, sweaty, white men were heading. The book is full of long and for me boring internal dialogues where the two lead characters muse over their motivations and philosophies. The cop, I think, was meant to be a sympathetic character but if anything I found him to be more amoral and a lot scarier that the killer. The book is somewhat reminiscent of Ed Mc Bain's work but without the humor, charm and basic decency of his characters.
The other cause of fascination was the examination of detection methods before forensics, computers or profiling. It left me wondering how they ever caught anyone. Having said all that I may listen to this book again; whenever political correctness gets on my nerves or the world seems hostile and violent I think it would be reassuring to listen to and realize how far we've come. Plus the soporific delivery of the narrator has done wonders curing my occasional bouts of insomnia.

"modern thriller" ha ha ha!

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I read and thoroughly enjoyed Sanders' dark work when it was first published nearly 40 years ago and was greatly looking forward to listening to its audio equivalent.



Sadly, my perception of the story has clearly changed over the years as it quickly became a bore.

An unanticipated disappointment ...

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