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The Prayer of the Night Shepherd

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The Prayer of the Night Shepherd

By: Phil Rickman
Narrated by: Emma Powell
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About this listen

A crumbling hotel on the border of England and Wales has long been linked with the possible origins of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles and his obsession with contacting the dead.

Fascinating for young Jane Watkins, flushed with the freedom of her first weekend job. But the sinister side soon becomes apparent to her mother, Merrily, Diocesan Exorcist for Hereford. Then come memories of a child who killed. And blood in the fresh snow.

©2004 Phil Rickman (P)2007 Isis Audio Detective Horror Mystery Supernatural Thriller & Suspense Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Scary Paranormal Fiction

Critic reviews

"Few writers blend the ancient and supernatural with the modern and criminal better than Rickman." (The Guardian)

"Phil Rickman is one of my all-time favourites. I love everything he's done." (Diana Gabaldon, international best-selling author)

"Merrily has become an ever more engaging protagonist, a passionate, flawed modern women every bit as concerned with the intricacies of crime as she is with demons that go bump in the night." (Geoffrey Wansell, Daily Mail)
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I am a big fan of Phil Rickman. His Merrily Watkins series really resonates with me, so much so that we took a holiday in Herefordshire to feel for ourselves the magic of the area.
The characters are believable and plot lines well written, based on the folklore of the area. The writing is sensitive, but before you know it, you are hooked by the growing tension and fear of what comes next. I keep going back to listen again.
Books , like everything, are subjective, but I love this series. Start at the beginning - it isn't vital that you do so, but you will probably want to. Merrily, Jane, Lol and Gomer Parry (Plant Hire) will become your old friends in no time.

Great book.

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Surely it must be over soon? You’ll likely think this a lot. I did. How does the author do it? Hours and hours and hours of ramblings, inconsequential nonsense. How come Jane is so wise so young? I’m haunted. By regret, as it happens. Regret for allowing myself to be drawn into this silliness. Never again. If I get through this one I promise to choose more wisely in future.

Four hours to go and I have no idea what the story is about. Seems a load of unlikely nonsense.

Six hours to go and I’m thinking ……

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I read a few of the phil Rickman books years ago and thought I'd pick up where I left off with this one after remembering how much I enjoyed them.

I gave up a few hours in. the story seemed to be meandering along without much actually happening, but it was engaging enough.

the problem was with the performance. the narrator has a fine voice and i would happily have listened to the whole book but for one thing: the accents. they are - almost universally- distractingly awful. the locals have accents so exaggerated that they sound like they've had severe blows to the head. one character seemed to veer between scouse and Irish before we're told that he is glaswegian. there's then a soft Scottish accent for him. the worst though- and the point where it became too much to listen to - was with a character who is supposed to have a booming Caribbean accent.

there's no need for the narrator to try and do every voice perfectly. let the author describe the accent and then read it in your own natural voice. when accents are done badly it just takes you out of the world of the story.

I hate to leave a review criticising the performance, but it is the sole reason why I was unable to get through the book.

distracting performance

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