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Big Bad: A Novel

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Big Bad: A Novel

By: Christian Galacar
Narrated by: Kevin Clay
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About this listen

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo meets the small-town atmosphere of Stephen King...

From the twisted imagination of best-selling author Christian Galacar comes a dark mystery thriller about the difference between living the stories we’re given and living the stories we dare to make for ourselves.

At the height of a blizzard, Molly Rifkin goes missing in her small New England community of Rockcliffe Island. But when she is found dead of an apparent suicide, the story doesn’t add up. There are more questions than answers. And there are those who would like to see the whole thing just go away.

But it won’t be that easy...

Molly’s sister is FBI agent Emma Shane, who has been hanging on to her career by a thread. But when her sister turns up dead under suspicious circumstances, she is forced to confront the horrific past they once shared in order to discover the truth of her death - and the course of her own future.

As Emma digs deeper into the mystery on Rockcliffe Island, she finds herself coming face-to-face with corruption, murder, and two of the island's most powerful and dangerous families.

©2019 Christian Galacar (P)2019 Christian Galacar Horror Mystery Psychological Thriller & Suspense Scary Fiction Emotionally Gripping Suspense Psychological Horror
All stars
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Buried deep in the country and never answering her cell phone, Emma doesn't learn of her sister Molly's death for several days, finally arriving at the small island town of Rockcliffe, off New England, the day before her funeral. Molly's death, which had occurred in one of the biggest blizzards for years, had been named a suicide but, strangely, there had been no autopsy - in fact, the medical advisor never even attended the scene, no follow up of a witness report that Molly had been seen running in a panic through the snow just hours before her death, and her body had already been cremated despite her desire for burial. Although now estranged, Molly and Emma shared an horrendous childhood period, and Emma was convinced that her sister would never have committed suicide and she begins to find others who agreed with her.

Although the final chapters of Big Bad then into a much more mundane action thriller, the first two thirds. (at least) of the book are riveting with the combined mysteries of what actually happened with Molly on the night she died, what was the traumatic ordeal that the sisters endured as children and what, if anything, is hiring in this apparently quite and very pleasant little coastal town? The author expertly switches between past and present without causing the interruption feeling which this approach can engender in a novel and all of the protagonists are given decent background personalities, including Molly, her husband Jim, son Ben, Emma herself and the taxi driver she hires for the duration, a great character in his own right. All are expertly voiced by narrator, Kevin Clay, each sounding appropriately different and individually recognisable, especially the taxi driver who reminded this reader of the TV.detective, Columbo. Well paced and read with clarity and good adherence to the emotion inherent in the text, his is a very fine performance.

My thanks to the rights holder of Big Bad, who, at my request via Audiobook Boom, freely gifted me with a complimentary copy. It exceeded my expectations and, we're it not for the more conventional ending, I would have put it into the very rare 'bonus star extra' personal rating. As it is, the combination of good writing and unexpected storyline coupled with cleverly portrayed living characters and find narration, the book thoroughly deserves five stars and is a recommended read for all who enjoy well crafted mystery thrillers.

Death leaves a wake.

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hinges on a big coincidence but otherwise a good, sometimes brutal, thriller, very well read.

big bad

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Took a good while to get going. Not as good as some other books in the same genre.

A slow burn

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