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  • Silent Scream

  • Detective Kim Stone Crime Thriller, Book 1
  • By: Angela Marsons
  • Narrated by: Jan Cramer
  • Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (1,399 ratings)
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Silent Scream cover art

Silent Scream

By: Angela Marsons
Narrated by: Jan Cramer
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Summary

Even the darkest secrets can't stay buried forever.

Five figures gather 'round a shallow grave. They had all taken turns to dig. An adult-sized hole would have taken longer. An innocent life had been taken, but the pact had been made. Their secrets would be buried, bound in blood.

Years later a headmistress is found brutally strangled, the first in a spate of gruesome murders that shock the Black Country.

But when human remains are discovered at a former children's home, disturbing secrets are also unearthed. DI Kim Stone fast realizes she's on the hunt for a twisted individual whose killing spree spans decades.

As the body count rises, Kim needs to stop the murderer before they strike again. But to catch the killer, can Kim confront the demons of her own past before it's too late?

Fans of Rachel Abbott, Val McDermid ,and Mark Billingham will be gripped by this exceptional new voice in British crime fiction.

A detective hiding dark secrets, Kim Stone will stop at nothing to protect the innocent. Silent Scream is the first book in the series. Watch out for Evil Games, coming soon.

©2015 Bookouture (P)2015 Bookouture

Critic reviews

"A superb debut by an assured new writer. Blending sharp wit with emotion, I thoroughly enjoyed the ride alongside DI Kim Stone and look forward to the next outing." (Mel Sherratt)
"I absolutely loved it!.... This one is one of the best crime thrillers I've read in a long time, and that includes mainstream authors such as James Patterson! I would seriously put this book in the same league." ( Fiona's Book Reviews)

What listeners say about Silent Scream

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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Performance
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Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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  • 1 Stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, dreadful narrator.

What did you like best about this story?

The story was well written and exciting. It held my interest and as I am familiar with the area in which the novel is set this added another aspect for me.

How could the performance have been better?

Unfortunately I found this the worst professional narration to which I have ever listened. It was read too quickly in places and without inflection. The accents were inconsistent and at times poor. A further minor annoyance was the mispronunciation of place names. I would avoid Jan Cramer in future if at all possible.

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39 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Disappointment

What made the experience of listening to Silent Scream the most enjoyable?

I did not read this book for long. I found I started to silently scream with the narrators voice! So sorry, not read, story seems ok but completely spoilt for me by her voice

Would you be willing to try another one of Jan Cramer’s performances?

No

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Awful narration

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Such a shame this excellent book was read by such a dreadful narrator, I kept wanting to read it for her, the inflection and stresses were completely out of sync with the mood of the story, it was as if she was reading without understanding the content. I gave up listening after an hour and bought the kindle book to read myself.

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16 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story

I enjoyed this book despite the very annoying reader! If the next book is narrated by her I doubt I will buy it.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fabulous story but the narrator ruined it

An intriguing mystery with a good smattering of humour. I like the way the plot unfolds - I usually guess the villain, but not this time!
Unfortunately I really didn't like the narration. It was as if she were reading the book without any punctuation. She started new paragraphs without drawing breath and this made it very difficult to follow. I'd certainly listen to another book by this author but sadly not if it were narrated by Jan Cramer.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Silent Scream

This was a fantastic crime thriller full stop. There is just one problem. The narrator. I will avoid her at all costs in the future.

The short clip I listened to before downloading seemed ok-ish. As the booked progressed the narrators lack of skill became all too apparent. I have yet to hear a more one dimensional narration. Impossible at times to tell one character from another. There were no voice inflections to speak of and times she would read at break neck speed (had to slow to .75 speed). Needless to say I always quit listening with a headache.

My advice: Get this book, but get it on Kindle.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Sort out the narrator!

I do all sorts of crime thrillers - especially the Scandi ones - but always endeavour to try out and support home-grown talent. Silent Scream might possibly be far better NOT as an audio book (or perhaps a better narrator)! As stories go, it has all the elements of a disturbing and unsettling crime.

Detective Kim Stone is an uneasy person to like. She's rude, impatient, bossy (to name a few), but like all good police characters, these flaws are rather endearing. She's not very feminine, rides a motorbike, has a troubled and sad background, and is single (aren't they all?). The sidekick is, as ever, a perfect foil to her foibles, and inevitably, the head of department is irascible. The story line is a tad simple - bodies found, tracking down the suspects, fitting the puzzle together, get into some bother, and Bob's your Uncle.

It's not great, but not bad either. The structure is good, the flow works and the main characters are forming into believable people. I'm not too sure I want to listen to another - but might try and read the next one instead, as I suspect the author's confidence might've grown. As for the narrator - in the most part she was too quick. It felt like it needed to be slowed down a bit, putting more emphasis on important areas of the story. She sounded like a translator, without any emotion or inflection. She was good at the different accents - as its not always easy for a woman to 'man up', she handled the male characters well - but lesson here - slow down and inject some feeling into the narration.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent debut

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me hooked and guessing right till the end. Can't believe this is a debut, as it's written extremely well and the story is captivating. I like how there were no loose ends and everything was tied up. I also like the fact the ending wasn't an anti climax like other crime/thriller books I've read. Only criticism: the narrator made every character sound like they were shouting/angry/annoyed, even during the 'banter' scenes. During the dialogue, I found the narrator to speak quickly and had to keep rewinding to fully catch the dialogue (this wasn't down to the speed settings as during the rest of the book, she went at nice pace).
I would recommend this book!

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Awful narrator

Unfortunately I bought several books at the same time by this author. Not bad if you like this genre. However, the narration is terrible and ruins it.

Ms Cramer has a lovely voice, however, her "voices" in this series of books are dreadful. Hard, cold and demanding for the main character which makes you doubt she could possibly have a loyal team or command any sort of respect. Others have a peculiar sing song voice with the stresses in the wrong places. All in all distracted me far too much from the story itself. Normally an avid listener I kept switching to radio to break from the narrator.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Terrible narrator

I struggled to listen to this. Couldn't get past a few chapters as the narrator is the worst I've ever listened to. She gabbles on at a mile a minute with barely any pause between sentences and barely any pause or change in voice for characters. I understand narrator's have to read from a script but this is the first book I've come across where that's exactly what it sounds like. Someone reading from a script. I'm told by others that it's a very good story but I just can't listen to this narrator.. I've listened to hundreds of audibooks and this is the first one I've not been able to listen to.

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5 people found this helpful