The Good Thief's Guides are… OK

OK, time to play catch up on blog postings.

I think I found this series of books by British author, Chris Ewan, when I was searching for audiobooks read by Simon Vance. These came up on Library to Go and even though I hadn’t heard of them, I thought I’d give them a try. The series features Charlie Howard, a moderately successful mystery novelist who supplements his income with a secondary career as a more than moderately successful thief. Old-style burglary is his crime of choice.

Not willing to stay in one place for too long, Charlie moves from city to city, avoiding most of the trappings of long term relationships and settling instead for a pattern consisting of: write a novel, commit some heists, and then move on. Oh, and there’s the fact that he usually gets the crap beat out of him at least once in every book, double crosses some bad guys, and is encouraged by local authorities (who can’t convict him of anything because he’s usually helping them) to move along at the end.

The first book, The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam, was published in 2007. Paris, Vegas, and Venice followed. It looks like AudioGo picked up the audio rights in 2011. I don’t think these are the best books I’ve ever listened to – not by a longshot, but they have all been irritatingly intriguing – maybe this time he won’t get the crap beat out of him???? The mysteries have been pretty good, too.

As always, Simon Vance is an outstanding reader, and will more often than not sway me toward listening to a book that he narrates just for the simple reason that I’m pretty sure he won’t disappoint me.

I don’t think I would ever lose sleep waiting for the next edition of the series to come out, but at the same time, I just noticed that The Good Thief’s Guide to Berlin has just been released. I’ll have to go download it. Maybe this time he won’t get the crap beat out of him!

It seems I'm unable to embed or link directly to the soundbite  of the reliable Mr. Vance reading from a Good Thief's Guide so you'll have to click here and click on the sample button when you get to the page for the audiobook.
 

 Listen Up!

The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam, (7 hrs, 16 mins), AudioGo, 2011

The Good Thief’s Guide to Paris, (8 hrs, 20 mins), AudioGo, 2011
The Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas, (8 hrs, 9 mins), AudioGo, 2011
The Good Thief’s Guide to Venice, (8 hrs, 47 mins), AudioGo, 2011
The Good Thief’s Guide to Berlin, (8 hrs, 30 mins), AudioGo, 2013

 

The Millennium Trilogy - Lisbeth Salander is like an addiction

Apparently I am at my blogging prime in the summer and at Christmas – when freelancing slows down. Catching up on audiobooks I've listened to in the past few months and I can't not post about a trilogy that I've listened to twice, an addiction that still has me wanting to listen again - and together all three books add up to a formidable 55.5 hours. I avoided the enormously successful Millennium Trilogy (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest) for a long time because sometimes I resist things when everyone is telling me I should do (or read) them. I can be a bit stubborn that way. I'm oh so glad I relented.

Written by the late Stieg Larsson, a writer who died too early of a heart attack without being able to enjoy the success of his books, these books are a compulsion for many lovers of mystery and suspense, or just plain good books. They are harsh - there is no way around that. There is a graphic rape scene in the first book that sets much of the tone for the series. I'm not usually one for graphic sexual violence, but I actually believe this was necessary for the story. I do warn my patrons who I already know may not be OK with reading it, however, but I also reassure them that it is told briefly, in a matter of fact way, and that it is important to the story – but it's by no means all of the story. It's really a series about very smart, strong-willed characters who each, in their own way, refuse to let wrong win over right. Lisbeth Salander, a brilliant, tortured, and socially dysfunctional hacker, and journalist Michael Blomkvist, are both intense characters, and both absolutely compelling.

Award-winning reader Simon Vance does an outstanding job bringing these stories to life for the reader. I have listened to a number of things he's read, and they are all excellent. His female characters do sound a bit breathless and more similar to each other than his male voices, but I can let him get away with it because his voice is like British honey and apparently that works for me.

As with my previous post (Colin Cotterill's Dr. Siri Mysteries) about audiobooks being particularly pleasing when it comes to foreign place and character names, this series also lends itself to audio very well. My mom, who read the books, enjoyed listening to them with me (my second time) because her eyes had jumped around trying to figure out the Swedish pronunciations when she was reading. I've recommended the series to a number of my patrons, and they have all come back to the library thrilled with the stories and devastated that Larsson is no longer around.

I listened to these books on CD as they were not available from the library for download... grrrr! 55 hours means a lot of disc changing!

Simon Vance read the unabridged versions while Martin Wenner reads the abridged version. If you know me you know I NEVER choose the abridged version. That will be another blog post someday.

***I just discovered that Random House Audio is having some issues with their sound clips, and at Audible you get a completely different reader - why would they do this???? They have the perfect reader already!

If the sound sample gods are with me right now, you can listen to a sample of Simon Vance's reading here.

Listen Up!

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, (16.5 hrs), Random House Audio, 2008

The Girl Who Played With Fire, (18.5 hrs), Random House Audio, 2009

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, (20.5 hrs), Random House Audio, 2010