Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Audiobook review:

I don’t own a tv myself but when I’m at my parents� place I’m known to watch Investigation Discovery all day. I love true crime programs and Homicide Hunter is one of my favorite shows especially with Lt. Joe Kenda dead panning just about everything.

So when I came across this book on Audible I couldn’t have been happier. I was expecting Kenda to tell a couple of crime stories from beginning to end and have the listener go on a chase with him as a sort of anecdotal whodunit. So when the first chapter started about his mom and dad and the fact that he didn’t grow up in a loving household I was a bit baffled. But my initial surprise turnend into appreciation. Kenda tells you a lot about his crimes but also about himself, how his job has affected him, what it cost him- and what it cost his family.
Years of working as a homicide detective, to be confronted day in and day out with the things people do each other out of greed, jealousy, anger and sometimes sheer stupidity takes a toll.

Kenda (as some other reviewers point out) can sometimes come across as surly, righteous, prejudiced, insensitive and distant, but I guess that’s what happens after years as a homicide detective.
Having Kenda explain this, together with the sheer dedication he had to finding the bad guy is very interesting.

And so it turned out the crime parts (and some bits are very gruesome and stick with you, be warned) and the personal parts turned out to be equally engaging.

Other than that: Joe Kenda is a great narrator and (together with his ghostwriter D. Wesley Smith, whom he talks about in the acknowledgements) a good story teller.

(*note: The book isn’t very tightly structured; it’s anecdotal, sometimes repetitive (at times literal repetitions- editor slip up I guess) which I can imagine could be a bit annoying in book form. I’d definitely advice audio.)