Good Story/Characters But Terrible Production

Annabeth Albert is a good writer but the production on this is woeful. While there are two narrators credited, it’s not actually a duet. They just take over for each other every other chapter, sort of - but it sounds like a lot of this was re-recorded without enough of a budget to re-record the whole thing so every third chapter the narration is passable, if still flat, which works okay for the older, ex-military character if you allow that he is more stoic than the author lets on. But the rest of it sounds like a different narrator every chapter, complete with flat, halting narration that often sounds like A.I. and, for some reason, terrible British and Australian dialects. It makes it really hard to follow and engage with. I tried to stay with it for 31 chapters but could take no more. Which is a shame because I really liked the story and the character details, like the older ex-military investigator being a good dancer described as “having a spine like a Slinky”. I also liked that while Annabeth Albert provided enjoyably earthy details it wasn’t like the over-the-top detailed anatomical descriptions you often get with this genre. I am enjoying another one of her titles (Tough Luck) - which again, is well written with good, distinct characters - and thankfully better production. I can’t recommend this as audio until she gets a better producer to re-record this, which she should, because the current offering could put listeners off her other titles which are worth exploring. At the moment, I can only recommend a print version of this where your imagination will be free to bring these characters to life rather than this below par production thwarting your every effort to enjoy them.

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