Great narration and fantastic characters

I love this series - the characters are so rounded and believable - few are all good or all bad - and I love that the women aren’t just passive victims. It is funny and manages to be warm despite the grim subject matter. I think Denise Mina is a great writer who uses her stories to explore individual’s motivations in a nuanced way. I also love Katy Anderson’s witty narration- she really captures the spirit of the characters. I found the plot pacing slightly off towards the end but that’s a small point - I’ve so enjoyed listening to this series and will miss Maureen!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Resolution

The final installment of Denise Mina's wonderful Garnethill trilogy; I thought it was a great ending and I'm sad it's over. More generally though I would urge anyone who's thinking of reading/listening to one of DM's novels to just take the plunge. She's a brilliant writer and I find it odd that she doesn't seem to attract the big numbers of readers/reviewers that Val Mcdermid does (apols if I've spelled Val's surname wrong - if I leave this page to Google her I'm convinced that everything I've written here will vanish into Android-limbo) especially as Val cites Denise as being her ultimate crime writer.
Katy Anderson's narration is absolutely sublime. For some reason she can take a while to get warmed up; and some of the excerpts that Audible has provided are rather plodding. Please please give her a chance: I thought she was awful at first but once you're about ten minutes into the book, she's on fire! She's more like a full-cast reading than a narrator: the richness she brings to all the different characters is hugely impressive. She also brings DM's ready humour to life to an extent whereby she doesn't just leave the listener laughing, she actually makes herself chuckle as she reads, which - to me at least - makes the whole thing even more hilarious.
Initially I was gutted to find that DM's earlier novels weren't narrated by the same actor who does the Alex Morrow series (sorry but I can't recall her name right now - is it Catherine Mc-something...?) because she's so utterly brilliant and seemed to me to be unmatchable. I now feel that she and Katy A are just different, and I'd struggle to rate one over the other. But I would say that Katy A is *at least* the equal of the later narrator, and is arguably even more skilled in terms of how she crafts the narration.
Highly recommended.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

Great writing spoiled by the narration

This is the second Denise Mina that I've read in quick succession. I love her writing and this is a great story but I wish I'd bought a written version rather than the audio one. The narrator's own voice is actually fine but when she voices the characters talking, she affects annoying voices, all of which are either irritating or plain ridiculous.
There are characters that are permanently shouty, apparently speak while holding their nose, have had a stroke and now have difficulty stringing a sentence together or sound like a girl putting on a man's voice for comic effect. Really detracts from the story. Buy the paperback or kindle version.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Fabulous

I’m currently listening to the third book in the Gartnethill trilogy by Denise Mina and I cannot tell you how good they are. Experiencing them on audiobook brings an lifelike edge to the characters added to the fact it’s based in Glasgow just makes it more appealing. The narrator (Katy Anderson) is very talented with a wonderful earthy Glaswegian accent It’s like listening to your pal talking to you! All that being said the books are gritty and at times brutal, covering difficult but important topics like alcoholism, mental illness, murder and abuse, but not in an overly obscene way. I would recommend 100%!

*side note- there is quite a bit of shouting and swearing which didn’t go down well at the traffic lights when the window was down lol*

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!