Thoroughly enjoyable.

I have never read anything by Helen Black before, but shall certainly do so again... From the start I could tell it was a good buy & I love Robert Glennister narrating anything. I was convinced I knew 'who dunnit' but got a shock when I actually found out, as it wasnt who I had thought!
I listened to the whole book in just over a day !!
Well worth a listen !!!

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Engaging story, well narrated

What made the experience of listening to Dark Spaces the most enjoyable?

The narrator made the characters come alive, and this added to the enjoyment of the book. It was easy to identify with the main character. The story is thrilling and also warm and funny in places, making it compulsive listening.

What other book might you compare Dark Spaces to, and why?

I felt this book was similar to The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood, as both have strong female characters who are easy to believe in.

Which character – as performed by Imogen Church – was your favourite?

Lily, the main character, was my favourite - I found her easy to understand and identified with her emotionally.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I would definitely have like to listen to this book all in one sittting - I listened to it almost comnstantly throughout.

Any additional comments?

Great characters with an excellent plot - I thoroughly enjoyed this book

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An exciting twist!

Would you listen to Dark Spaces again? Why?

I would listen to it again. It was a more complex plot than I expected, so I am sure it would benefit from a second listen.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the building tension as the list of suspects was narrowed, and although you could see it coming, the end was still enthralling.

Have you listened to any of Imogen Church’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I'm not aware of any of her other performances.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Trust no-one.

Any additional comments?

A great story- kept me intrigued all the way through.

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Worth a listen

I enjoyed both the narration and the story which made you empathise with the character and want to help find out the perpetrator. You can understand and associate with the frustration in getting to the answer always a good thing in detective fiction.

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Good stuff - a lot of padding

This was a gripping story with believable characters. That's the starry bit.

There was, IMHO, far too much padding. What did we need to know about Lilly Valentine's first marriage for? Or her son? Or her country cottage? None of it was relevant to the story and all of it was written about far too much. It was dull and just a way of adding unnecessary minutes. After all, if I wanted a soap opera, there are other books I could read.

The other negative was that we have two criminals here with no motive whatsoever except that they are equally charismatic and equally insane. How very annoying!

One gets the impression that even the author found this something of a highly-convenient coincidence. If Helen Black had got rid of the unnecessary stuffing and worked at giving back stories to these two, the book would have been FAR better and almost certainly have deserved five stars.

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Lily finally uses her brain!

From the first time a certain character (don't want to spoil the story) was introduced, I knew it was him. I was constantly wanting lily to wise up-for someone who is supposed to be intelligent, she proved to be remarkably dense!
I don't know about you, but when I receive important letters I do not wait or go to sleep before opening them.! Also, she was trained in self defence yet when being attacked she was amazingly helpless.
The book, though, was engaging enough to keep listening. If I had been reading it, however, I would have skimmed it to the end as Lily's lack of imagination and curiosity was irksome, to say the least.

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Worth listening to

I found this a good "listen". Some silliness and not sure I would put the author on my "must have" list. Nevertheless okay distraction!

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Enjoyable & strangely addictive!

What did you like best about this story?

It's a long story but has lots going on that keeps you interested, and whilst it could be seen as a bit obvious in places, the plot is interesting and varied and there were quite a few parts of the story that I wasn't expecting at all. Well worth a listen.

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

I enjoyed her narration, different character voices and her own voice is pleasing, not irritating!

Any additional comments?

I haven't read/listened to any of this author's books before so it was a stab in the dark but I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others.

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Psychology aspects good, police procedure awful

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

I did listen to this book all the way to the end, because I found many characters engaging and complex, and I was curious to see how all the threads came together, but as a 'whodunnit' I found it a monumental failure.

The description of how the police work is bizarrely naive and confused. I don't believe for a moment that a veteran detective would allow a possible murder suspect to be present during interviews of another suspect. Once that happened, fairly early on, I was battling an inclination to stop listening out of sheer annoyance. This isn't the only time the detective does things I, as a layperson, can see are inappropriate for a police officer.

I can't imagine why the author persists in anachronistically referring to a 'WPC' when female Police Officers are now just called Police Officers. I would understand but the book was published in 2013, and the 'W' prefix was dropped a long time ago (April 1999, apparently). I know this as a layperson and would've expected the author to know that too. Every use grated on me.

I was also a little irritated (and, in truth, offended) by constant derogatory reference to how fat a couple of the characters were. I did think the weight of one of the younger characters (Phoebe) makes her (please excuse the play on words) a well-rounded character, but although many of the references to her weight made sense, the detailed revulsion the main character (Lilly) describes seemed a bit heavy-handed. I'd have expected we'd hear a little more about Phoebe's facial expressions and non-verbal behaviour - surely Lilly isn't so overwhelmed by Phoebe's fatness she loses all her ability to see anything else?

While describing Phoebe's obesity makes sense, the constant harping on about the fact one of the less sympathetic characters _used to be fat_ came across as a bit unnecessary and weird. I think the word choice and frequency of the references felt more like hints about the author's point of view on these matters, rather than giving a voice to her characters. I'd need to read more by the author to be sure, but are all the unsympathetic characters described as physically unappealing?

All that being said, if you aren't annoyed by implausible police procedures, and aren't on the fat side yourself, you may really enjoy the well-drawn character and otherwise believable scenarios. The author has a real talent for imagining people, and describing how they act and behave in relationships.

Would you be willing to try another book from Helen Black? Why or why not?

Unlikely. All the books are crime drama so I expect there are idiotic police characters in all of them.

Do you think Dark Spaces needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I think the author is very talented and the characters were engaging. I'm pleased to see she's written a series, although I wish this were the first one, so I could hold out hope her police characters get less ridiculous.

Any additional comments?

Excellent narration.

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Good but harrowing themes

the story was gripping and well performed, with well rounded characters, dispite the harrowing themes.

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