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  • The Birthday

  • Detective Natalie Ward, Book 1
  • By: Carol Wyer
  • Narrated by: Diana Croft
  • Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (417 ratings)
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The Birthday cover art

The Birthday

By: Carol Wyer
Narrated by: Diana Croft
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Summary

One hot summer’s afternoon, five-year-old Ava Sawyer went to a party. She never came home....

When five-year-old Ava Sawyer goes missing from a birthday party at a local garden center, the police are bewildered by the lack of leads. That is, until two years later, when Ava’s body is found and another little girl, Audrey Briggs, goes missing. Audrey also attended that party....

Leading the investigation is Detective Natalie Ward. A mother of two teenagers, this case chills her to the bone and is a disturbing reminder of the last job she worked on. One that still keeps her awake at night....

Natalie soon discovers that Ava’s mother has some worrying gaps in her alibi, and as she digs deeper, she’s sure Ava’s father is not telling the full story. And what did the owner of the garden center Elsa see that day? Something that she’s not telling Natalie....

Just as Natalie is facing up to the grim possibility that Ava and Audrey were killed by someone close to home, another little girl from the party doesn’t come home from her ballet lesson. Can Natalie find a way to stop this killer before more innocent lives are taken?

Gripping, fast-paced, and nail-bitingly tense, this book will keep you listening long into the night. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott, and Karin Slaughter.

©2018 Carol Wyer (P)2018 Bookouture

What listeners say about The Birthday

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  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Intense and chilling

This is a procedural crime thriller, the first in a new series featuring Detective Natalie Ward.
The detective is a multi-dimensional character and doesn’t fall into the common cliché categories I tend to expect in a police procedural novel – she isn’t a maverick, she isn’t better at her job than everyone else and she isn’t an angsty character with a dark past and a drinking problem.
What she is, is a woman trying her best to balance her incredibly stressful and important job with her home life. It’s hard to imagine what it must be like, trying to find a killer who targets children while making sure your son gets the cool new trainers he really wants in time for his birthday.

The story itself is heart breaking, being about the abduction and murder of little girls, but somehow the procedural side of the writing takes the edge off and stops it getting too dark. There are no graphic details about the crimes, but we do get some insight into the past of the killer and what drives him – eventually tying in with the main storyline and coming to a solid conclusion. The author’s writing style is excellent, making the main character very easy to relate to and the mystery compelling, without dropping deliberate red herrings to put you off.

The narration of this book was out of this world, Croft covers a range of different accents and character voices; from little girls to old men and everything in between. Every single one is distinct, which is ideal because there’s a lot of dialogue in this book and could easily become confusing in audio. I would particularly recommend picking up the audio of this book if you have a chance, it’s hella intense.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyed

Enjoyed this story kept me interested from start to finish the character's were believable maybe a little corny.the narrator was very good so give it ago.😉😉😉

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • S
  • 30-01-19

excellent 'who done it "

kept me guessing ! love the pyschological twist throught the story .Just enough of Detectives personal life ...too much drowns story out

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Mediocre

Bought on the strength of reviews... next time I'll use Fakespot analyser for a true idea, as the story is far from 'gripping.' If you like a fluffy detective story, buy it, but be warned... it has as much grit as a tarmac road... and is twice as boring.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A good read but not brilliant

Enjoyed this book but I've read better. The ending though is unpredictable so keep going!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Just ok

The story was a bit long winded and technically not very good
It was ok but not great

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Dragged on

The premise of the book sounds good, the first in a new set of books "DI Natalie Ward" I usually love these sort of things.
A young girl goes missing some years ago, as more girls start going missing it is up to DI Natalie Ward to solve the case.

A whodunit, but oh so boring, I found it hard to listen and it wasn’t gripping at all, I carried on to find out what happened but even that was a let down.

I did enjoy the narrator who had a lovely relaxing voice. But I wont be continuing with the series.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

First time reading this authors book and I was extremely impressed a most read. You will not be able to put it down A****

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • SW
  • 13-01-19

A Gripping story

I had already read this book as I have of most of Carol Wyer’, but found it more compelling by listening to it. It became very believable almost as though it was really happening. The narrator did an excellent job with the different characters bringing them to life. I’ve aleady ordered the next audible book.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

excellent listen

a really good who is it with loads of could be's, enjoyed the plot and social side of the novel.
Found the narration really enjoyable with an excellent black country dialect thrown in for good measure

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1 person found this helpful