Monday, October 4, 2010

The Postcard Killers - James Patterson & Liza Marklund

In his latest offering - The Postcard Killers - James Patterson has teamed up with a new coauthor. Patterson has taken advantage of the surge of interest in Nordic authors and brought Swede Liza Marklund on board. Marklund is a best selling author in Europe and her talent is evident in this collaboration.

NYPD Detective Jacob Kanon is on the trail of a pair of killers on a spree in Europe. The man and woman are befriending young newlyweds, killing them and then mailing a postcard to a local reporter. Definitely out of Jacob's jurisdiction but this time it's personal. One of the couples was his daughter Kimmy.

In Sweden he teams up with reporter Dessie Larson, who has received a postcard from the pair. The two unlikely allies join forces to track the killers before they strike again.

I really enjoyed this one due in great part to the skill of the narrators. The plot line was good, although the ending came a bit abruptly for me. The locale added a great deal as well. There is of course some graphic violence and some sexual references, but that seems to be part of every Patterson novel.

I listened to this in audio format. This unabridged version featured three readers. Katherine Kellgren was an excellent choice for Dessie. Her accent was excellent, her tones soft and modulated, definitely portraying the image I had created for Dessie in my mind. This is a character I would like to see more of.

The two male readers were Eric Singer and Reg Rogers. I'm not sure which reader did the part of the killers and which did Jacob. The voice of the killers was quite evil in it's nonchalance and was very expressive. I found the narrator of Jacob's voice to be a bit flat and non expressive. Perhaps this was the intention given his circumstances?

Definitely an entertaining 'read' - have a listen to The Postcard Killers yourself. Like what you hear?

** You have until Saturday Oct 16th to enter to win one of three audio book copies of The Postcard Killers up for grabs!**

4 comments:

Linda said...

I'm always in need of good audio books for car trips to and from my daughter's home. Thanks for this giveaway.

The Many Thoughts of a Reader said...

this sounds like another hopefully good patterson! ;)

bermudaonion said...

After reading that wonderful review, I clicked over and entered your contest.

Dorte H said...

I was very fond of the first Liza Marklund novels, but I think her standard has been slipping for some time, and based on several reviews of this book, I think I would just be annoyed by what I can´t help seeing as Marklund selling out.