Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Beware This Boy

By: Maureen Jennings
Narrated by: Roger Clark
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £14.99

Buy Now for £14.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

November, 1940. Tom Tyler, Detective Inspector of the small Shropshire town of Whitchurch, is a troubled man. The preceding summer had been a dark one for Britain, and even darker for Tom's own family and personal life. So he jumps at the opportunity to help out in the nearby city of Birmingham, where an explosion in a munitions factory has killed or badly injured several of the young women who have taken on dangerous work in support of the war effort.

At first, it seems more than likely the explosion was an accident, and Tom has only been called in because the forces are stretched thin. But as he talks to the employees of the factory, inner divisions - between the owner and his employees, between unionists and workers who fear communist infiltration - begin to appear. Put that together with an AWOL young soldier who unwittingly puts all those he loves at risk and a charming American documentary filmmaker who may be much more than he seems, and you have a pause-register novel that bears all the hallmarks of Maureen Jennings' extraordinary talent: a multi-faceted mystery, vivid characters, snappy dialogue, and a pitch-perfect sense of the era of the Blitz, when the English were pushed to their limits and responded with a courage and resilience that still inspires.

©2012 Maureen Jennings (P)2015 Audible Inc.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Season of Darkness cover art
The Blitz Detective cover art
At Long Last Love cover art
City of Women cover art
Past Encounters cover art
The District Nurses of Victory Walk cover art
Brighton Belle cover art
The Ferry Girls cover art
Sing Them Home cover art
A Sister's Bond cover art
Bleeding Heart Square cover art
An Orphan in the Snow cover art
The Nightingale Girls cover art
Lights Out Liverpool cover art
There'll Be Blue Skies cover art
The Girls from the Local cover art

What listeners say about Beware This Boy

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    14
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    6
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    3
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    11
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    7
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A lot of detail making an interesting story

Narrative very good and easy to follow.
Storyline very realistic the sort of thing that no doubt went on in war time Britain.
Looking forward to reading another of the books

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Narrator ruined it.

If only the narrator from book 1 had been used for this book. This narrator's voice is not quite as bad as Dick van Dyke's infamous attempt at Cockney, but it's not good either. His regional accents travelled around the country from vaguely rustic to an attempt at Brummie which kept slipping into vague Liverpudlian. From "noo" for "new" to "d" for "t" in the middle of words he committed all the mistakes that an American trying to sound "English" almost invariably makes. Just find someone English, or preferably use the previous narrator instead of fobbing us off with an ersatz (good wartime word, that) British accent.

The story - well, it's WWII, so everything is very grim. Very very grim, in fact, what with the factory explosion and the policeman who is unhappy in his marriage. Very grim.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The mastery that is Ms Jennings

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to everyone

Any additional comments?

I enjoy Ms Jennings' writing , this is another great story, set in an era that is of interest to many...what is not to like?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story shame about the accents

This is a well constructed story, telling a different side of the war effort during WW2. The characters are interesting, the plot well thought out and kept me listening despite the truly terrible accents ascribed by the narrator to the Brummie characters. The narrator has a pleasant voice but his North American twang is not appropriate for this very English story. You dont have to l

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Where do I start?

The story itself is fine and the characters are interesting (although the trope of men in unhappy marriages unable to keep it in their trousers is becoming too prevalent). What struck me about the book was that although it’s set in Britain it’s author probably isn’t and some phrasing jarred. Who the hell ever called it a ‘mail slot’?
But no, what destroyed it for me was the narrator. There are a lot of accents in the book and he was pretty much terrible at all of them! The book is set in Birmingham and people are described as having a strong brummie accent. Most of these sounded like Dick Van Dyke cockneys with a few straying towards Merseyside 🤦🏼‍♀️

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful