Killing Season, by Faye Kellerman
HarperAudio 2017
Thriller
Audiobook
Narrated by Charlie Thurston
Thriller
Audiobook
Narrated by Charlie Thurston
19 Hours, 05 Minutes
My Rating (out of 5)
⭐⭐⭐1/2
When Ellen Vicksburg went missing, her family yearned to know what happened to her. A year after she vanished, her younger brother Ben found her in a shallow grave. The loss of his older sister and the circumstances of her death deeply affected young Ben, and he dedicated his life to finding out who was responsible, and protecting his younger sister from the predators in our world.
Ben Vicksburg is a math prodigy. He has an intensely analytical mind. He is very good at recognizing patterns. He scrutinizes and studies any information he can find on his sister's case and other missing and murdered girls. While the police suspect a serial killer known as "the Demon", Ben disagrees and suspects another serial killer. When the new girl in school "Ro" starts to show interest in Ben, she gets pulled into his obsession. With Ben licking at his heels, the killer has his sights set on someone else close to Ben.
I loved Ben's character. While he was incredibly mature in general intelligence, but still showed the emotional intelligence of a typical boy his age. Somewhat impulsive, and constantly pushing boundaries. He had the know-how and intelligence to investigate and to solve his sister's murder, but not the emotional restraint that comes with maturity. In my opinion, this contrast is what I would expect from a teenager of unusually high intelligence, which made his character more believable.
In a book this long, it would be easy for a thriller to lose its edge, but I the story line was very good and easily kept me engaged. There were no crazy plot twists, but plenty of suspense to keep me happily listening every chance I had.
One aspect of this book that did not do well in my personal opinion, was the relationships between the teens. I found some of the general dynamics between them less than believable. Of more note, I found the dialogue around some of the more intimate scenes awkward and well...cringe-worthy. I would have no issue with these scenes if I felt they were necessary to the story or the characters, but in this case it just felt gratuitous, and being between teens who are awkward at that...ugh. Oh well, that's just my (probably unpopular) opinion.
Narration by Charlie Thurston was very good. Clear with pleasant cadence and tone, well distinguished characters and good emotional range. A good match to the story.
A taut and suspenseful read that kept an edge in spite of its length!
Ben Vicksburg is a math prodigy. He has an intensely analytical mind. He is very good at recognizing patterns. He scrutinizes and studies any information he can find on his sister's case and other missing and murdered girls. While the police suspect a serial killer known as "the Demon", Ben disagrees and suspects another serial killer. When the new girl in school "Ro" starts to show interest in Ben, she gets pulled into his obsession. With Ben licking at his heels, the killer has his sights set on someone else close to Ben.
I loved Ben's character. While he was incredibly mature in general intelligence, but still showed the emotional intelligence of a typical boy his age. Somewhat impulsive, and constantly pushing boundaries. He had the know-how and intelligence to investigate and to solve his sister's murder, but not the emotional restraint that comes with maturity. In my opinion, this contrast is what I would expect from a teenager of unusually high intelligence, which made his character more believable.
In a book this long, it would be easy for a thriller to lose its edge, but I the story line was very good and easily kept me engaged. There were no crazy plot twists, but plenty of suspense to keep me happily listening every chance I had.
One aspect of this book that did not do well in my personal opinion, was the relationships between the teens. I found some of the general dynamics between them less than believable. Of more note, I found the dialogue around some of the more intimate scenes awkward and well...cringe-worthy. I would have no issue with these scenes if I felt they were necessary to the story or the characters, but in this case it just felt gratuitous, and being between teens who are awkward at that...ugh. Oh well, that's just my (probably unpopular) opinion.
Narration by Charlie Thurston was very good. Clear with pleasant cadence and tone, well distinguished characters and good emotional range. A good match to the story.
A taut and suspenseful read that kept an edge in spite of its length!
Happy Reading,
Christine
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