I was offered a copy of this book in audio format from the narrator in exchange for an honest review.
Sent in a post Katrina New Orleans, there has been a series of recent murders. The targets have been street people, and the modus operandi the same in all of them. Cop Tony Nicosia asks Thomas Wyatt for help, since it seems a voodoo deity is responsible for these crimes. Ex-Lawer Wyatt knows everybody in New Orleans and he will count with Mambo Mama Mulate to try to find the culprit.
The atmosphere of New Orleans is surprisingly well created in this book, and since Wyatt, the main character knows all the interesting places in New Orleans, the reader will have the pleasure of visiting them with him. There are also quite some voodoo terms in the story, which I suppose are correct but I did not check them for myself. I am not into voodoo myself, but it adds something different to the story.
There are many characters in the book, being Wyatt the main one, but sadly I was not able to connect to any of them. We know that Wyatt is an ex-lawyer and lives with a cat. I think the cat was added to the story to give Wyatt a bit more depth, but in some cases it just seemed a literary device to let us feel the pulse of the story and if something was going to happen to Wyatt. There was something that disturbed me, and that despite the story is written in first person, Wyatt does not feel most of the time as the main character, and in some occasions there are mentions to him in third person, which feels odd.
I usually do not read murder mystery stories, but I enjoy when I read a good one. I think this story was really good, but I had issues with the execution. The fact that we know the murder from very early in the book makes the story less compelling. It could also be because, as I have said, I was not able to connect to any of the characters.
The narration by Joe Hempel was excellent, and the reason why I picked this book. Given the above points I am not sure I would have enjoyed this book with a different narrator, but I know that Hempel will give to the listener an improved final product. One can perfectly differentiate all the characters and enjoy a high quality narration.
Available at Amazon/Audible
My name is Elena. Since I was a little child I loved science fiction and fantasy, and I can’t resist a good novel. In 2015, while wait I started to listen to audiobooks and I discovered the pleasure in being able to read while doing my daily tasks, so there’s always an audiobook playing on my phone. If you see me with my Bluetooth headphones on, please be gentle, I get easily startled.
I live with my boyfriend, which I met during my six-year stay in Belgium, four cockatiels, eight lovebirds, and a hamster in Madrid, Spain; and I like to spend my free time knitting and sewing while listening to audiobooks.
