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The Face of a Stranger

A William Monk Novel #1

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The Face of a Stranger

By: Anne Perry
Narrated by: Davina Porter
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About this listen

In this exhilarating series debut, police detective William Monk must solve the mystery of his own past.

His name, they tell him, is William Monk, and he is a London police detective. But the accident that felled him has left him with only half a life; his memory and his entire past have vanished. As he tries to hide the truth, Monk returns to work and is assigned to investigate the brutal murder of a Crimean War hero and man about town. Which makes Monk’s efforts doubly difficult, since he’s forgotten his professional skills along with everything else.

“Richly textured with the sights and sounds of London and its countryside … Solidly absorbing and Perry’s best to date.”—Kirkus Reviews

©1990 Anne Perry (P)1995 Recorded Books Historical Mystery Police Procedural Thriller & Suspense Crime Fiction Murder
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A thoroughly good listen. Good Victorian mystery with engaging characters. Several strands of story that flow through the series, yet the writer never gets bogged down in detail and keeps the reader keen to hear more. The narration is clear and the various characters are voiced well without being distracting. A gem of a book.

Excellent!

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Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Possibly , you need a great deal of patience if you are not to give up before the end .

What did you like best about this story?

The idea was very good and the characterisation well drawn in the main .

What does Davina Porter bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Davina Porter has a very professional microphone technic , she avoids sounding like a gurgling drain whenever she has to swallow , unlike a lot of narrators .

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Yes

Any additional comments?

This is not five star for me because it's too long , it's dragged out and soooo slow , the number of times the phrase " if only I could remember " is used is beyond counting , it's like toiling through treacle a lot of the time , needed better editing .

Turgid .

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My first book by this author and it wont be my last.

The descriptions of living in Victorian times, the entitlement of the upper classes and the way they treated people of all classes that they saw as inferior to them, the unfairness of society, all very clear in this wonderful story which had a twist that became clear right at the end.

Interesting to hear how hanging was accepted and police were not respected.

Great book.

The sad and unfair differences between the classes in Victorian Britain highlighted so well.

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It was interesting seeing Morse rediscovering while reevaluating his life, values and responses to others.

Engaging

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I enjoyed this book I love all the Anne Perry books however I did find this one a little drawn out, I know it is the first in the series and so I think it might be because she is setting the scene for others to come and as I have read a lot of both Monk and Pitt books this might be the reason why I found it so. Loved it anyway.

Setting the scene for further books

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