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I did not enjoy the characters, the plot, or the narrator. I wanted it to be over.

Gunshots are heard. Neighbors call the police who surround the house. Inside Jimmy is pointing a gun at his wife Catherine. Bobby is a sniper and member of the police SWAT team. He sees Jimmy’s face change, and he believes Jimmy will shoot, so Bobby shoots and kills Jimmy. Now Jimmy’s father James is suing Bobby. If James wins Bobby goes to jail. If James loses, he will repeatedly appeal because he is wealthy. He can afford to. The problem is that the city and union will not pay Bobby’s legal fees because James is filing suit through a clerk magistrate which is not the normal process. Bobby did what he was trained to do. If he didn’t shoot Jimmy, then he believed Jimmy would have killed Catherine. Now Bobby has to pay $5000 to a defense attorney. I was furious. Policemen should not be forced to pay their own legal feels for following orders and doing their job. I don’t know if this exists in real life, but if it does, then something is very wrong. This part of the plot made me so angry that I had a hard time enjoying the rest. This legal-issue-stress hangs over Bobby until the last few pages of the book.

Was the rest of the story good? Parts of it maybe. Catherine was kidnaped and raped by Richard when she was twelve. When her only child Nathan was born, Catherine had some mental problems and did not appear to be a good mother. The child has been raised by nannies. Nathan is frequently sick and the doctors don’t know why. Some fear it is Münchausen syndrome by proxy, which means the mother is purposely doing things to make the child sick to get attention for herself. For most of the book, the reader wonders if Catherine is good or bad for her son. James is also suing Catherine for custody of Nathan.

Richard has been in jail for twenty-five years. James uses his influence to get Richard released on parole. Someone is now paying Richard to murder people connected to Catherine or the case.

I did not enjoy the characters. I felt anxiety and depression rather than sympathy. I didn’t feel fun anticipation rooting for someone. We don’t know if Catherine is good or bad, but she’s not likeable. James and Richard are too one-dimensional, powerful, and evil. Bobby spends too much time suffering and second guessing himself, wondering if he did the right thing. He was having problems with the concept of killing someone. He talks to a psychiatrist several times about this as well as troubles from his early life. Some of this was ok, but it seemed a bit much. He also did some illogical and stupid things which made him less sympathetic. Regarding the plot, I had questions unanswered at the end. But maybe part of those were necessary. I understand Catherine has some kind of role in the sequel “Hide� which I have not read.

NARRATOR:
I did not like the narrator Anna Fields. The voice she used for Bobby and some of the men was so deep that it sounded like a mentally slow person who is groggy and slurring his words. Some of her general third party narration was too sharp and hurried, almost like she was reading a report and not thinking about what she was reading. When talking about a sniper she said “he breathed in, he breathed out.� That phrase should have been read slowly and calmly, yet the narrator’s voice was sharp, staccato, and fast.

DATA:
Unabridged audiobook reading time: 10 hrs and 12 mins. Swearing language: strong, including religious swear words. Sexual content: some references to sexual activity but no details shown. References include the rape of Catherine when she was 12. Setting: current day Boston, Massachusetts. Copyright: 2005. Genre: mystery suspense thriller. Ending: Good guys win.

OTHER BOOKS:
This is the first book in the D.D. Warren series. D.D. is a female cop. She has a small part in this book. In the sequels I believe she and Bobby work together as a team.