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Black Heart
- Detective Dan Riley, Book 1
- Narrated by: James Lailey
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
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Black Heart
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Summary
When Nigel Baxter, a middle-aged married banker with an unremarkable past, is found dead in the bath of a plush hotel suite, his wrists slit, it looks as if he's taken his own life. At first. But when Detective Inspector Daniel Riley is assigned to the case, he soon realises all isn't as it first appears to be. When a postmortem shows Baxter was poisoned, Riley suspects foul play. And then there's the odd addition of a teddy bear left at the crime scene....
Struggling to come to terms with the loss of his fiancée, Rachel, in a freak motorcycle accident and the baby she was carrying inside her, Riley throws himself into the case in a bid to distract himself from his grief. And his infamous intuition is telling him something is off, really off on this one. With the help of his dedicated team, Riley begins to delve into Baxter's life and soon realises that the amenable family man has been indulging in the 'services' of some dubious websites, ones where young women hook up with older men in return for 'favours', and there's one woman in particular he'd like to speak to. A woman calling herself Goldilocks....
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What listeners say about Black Heart
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- antonio jose quero pastor
- 17-08-18
Awful!
The main character is a cop , his girlfriend, Rachel, was killed by a drunk driver a while ago but, unfortunately, she is present in every page of the book, in every thought of this cop...You will grow extremely tired of the constant references to Rachel. "She has opinions....Rachel had opinions too" "She is beautiful....like Rachel was" " ..that is what Rachel used to say". Half way the book I was going bonkers and started trying to guess what would be the next Rachel related comment:
"Rachel also used to brush her teeth"...."milk was also white when Rachel was still alive...." "look a cat....it has 4 legs....Rachel also had legs"
I am so sick of Rachel that I have stopped talking to the girl in the admin department because...yes, you guessed it...her name is Rachel....
It is a very boring, amateurish, repetitive book...."Rachel used to repeat herself quite a lot"...no wonder the price was reduced to £1.99..."Rachel bought a scarf once in a charity shop that was also £1.99!"
My recommendation is: Don't buy it (Rachel wouldn't have bought it)
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138 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Simon
- 03-03-18
Riley Promises an Interesting Ride to Come
You can really settle down with this one as DI Dan Riley chats away to you throughout what I would call a character-based thriller. He's highly personable and not imbued with any super-hero like qualities. Just a good, solid detective with of course a backstory and personal life that is just a little problematic and indeed tragic. He carries the story for the most part and I certainly wouldn't describe this as a police procedural, in fact I would go as far as to say that by modern day standards the plot is a little naive in that area.
Paired against him is as twisted a lady psychopath as you're likely to imagine, this is obvious from the very opening scene and the insights into her mind are rather less comfortable. Although it likely won't appeal to everyone the chatty style was something I enjoyed, it is compact and direct writing and the story held enough suspense to make it enjoyable listening throughout.
The narration by James Lailey fits the book like a glove, he imbued a lot of personality into Riley and delivered a chillingly matter of fact Goldilocks.
So, not one I'd suggest for people who prefer detailed procedural details but a very decent story with a lead character I felt considerable empathy with. Yet another series I'd like to have the time to follow!
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71 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Linda
- 05-03-18
Good start to a new series
Liked this very much - good plot, strong characters and very well read. Like another reviewer I found it a refreshing change not to have a detective embroiled in hostility with the hierarchy back at base. As you are aware of the killer at the beginning there aren't many surprises in store but the storyline has been well thought out. I did think the ending was a little weak but don't let my view of that put you off, Dan Riley really is a good 'find' and I am very much hoping that this series will continue - when I had finished this listen I was very disappointed to find there wasn't another one ready to download!
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39 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ann D
- 21-03-18
Great story!
I found this story completely absorbing. It raced along, with richly drawn characters and scenes of violence that were perfectly pitched (gruesome and grim, but not not gratuitously so and intelligently written). The character of Dan is very engaging and his narrative talks the reader/listener through the story throughout. There are some sloppy bits (e.g. a child psychiatry inpatient unit like this would have existed in the 60s, but certainly not in the 90s) and some things were repeated as if we had not already been told. This is why it has 4 stars, rather than 5. The narration was great, apart from the occasional mispronounced word (odd, because they are words that are in common usage. Hence, again, the 4 stars.
When I looked-up this author, I was frankly surprised that she wrote something of this calibre. Lets hope she writes a sequal that is this good.
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33 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- mollyeyre
- 08-03-18
AWFUL book, AWFUL language
I am about 1/3 of the way through I am fed up with hearing F*** words, C***, B****rd. Why is it necessary, people don't usually use profanities to this extent in normal everyday speech.
The characters are not at all likeable.
NO MORE - I cannot read any further.
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28 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Nuggly
- 08-09-18
Detective Dan Riley???
When I began listening to this audio book I liked the sound of it,
as it went on however..I got so annoyed, as if a detective would be as stupid as he turned out to be...and so up himself!
I just lost all interest in it but listened to the bitter end...
Bored me almost to tears!
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19 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- rohini
- 21-08-18
Stupid book. Shouldn’t have bought this.
Such a terrible book. No character development. Predictable. The main character is so so so infuriatingly predictable. Honestly. I don’t understand how these authors get published.
Also I’m beginning to distrust amazons review system or are readers just so easily pleased???
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12 people found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Marie V.
- 16-08-18
Stopped listening
Very very drawn out, an hour in still waiting for story to get going... lots of promise if condensed to 6 hours might be a corker.
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Caroline Munday
- 10-03-18
Great Story x
i couldn't stop listening. i like Dan's honest character and that he's 'real'. i can't wait for the next book.
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9 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Liz E.
- 06-03-18
Superb!!!!
I liked it all ..... couldn’t stop listening!!! Predicted some parts but the intrigue was captivating......
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9 people found this helpful