Holy Island

Listener Reviews

1. 5.0(1)

   New to Me!

   Ms Ross is a new to me author and I’m so glad this series was recommended to me. DCI Ryan is a brooding dreamy hunk. I enjoyed the undercurrent and subplots to the mystery. Bring on book two!

   Carrie Hahn · August 9, 2024

2. 3.0(1)

   To much romance stuff

   To much emotional romantic stuff. I definitely do not care for that in my murder mystery books. I’ll give the next one a shot.

   Carina Bennett · August 6, 2024

3. 3.0(1)

   Maybe the first few since they are free....

   So I started this series because a couple of my other authors have mentioned that LJ Ross was inspirational to them and the first few books were free. So I gave it a go, and I ended up liking the characters enough that I kept going but then stopped because I wasn't going to spend a whole credit for a mediocre series with books under 6 hours. Then there was a huge sale and I could buy all of the rest of the books in the series for about the cost of one credit so I did. Turns out that I should have just stopped when I did. The series gets progressively worse as it goes and I don't understand how any other author could find these books inspiring in any way. There is no mystery in any of the books. The MC just suddenly has a revelation and knows the answer. All of the characters are constantly doing stupid things to get themselves in trouble or to get captured by the bad guy. I paid for the books so I couldn't return them, so I listened.... At the end of book 20 now. So wish I hadn't seen that sale....

   Keeble takes some getting used to, and he does speak very fast but after a while it's ok.

   Arielle Fink · December 29, 2023

4. 4.0(1)

   Felt a Disconnect with Narrator

   I enjoyed the storyline but felt a disconnect with the narrator. His voice is soothing and calming but for me it didn’t match DCI Ryan. I kept listening because I did want to see how this ended but I feel like I missed a lot because of the disconnect I had with the narrator. Again, his voice is wonderful but to me it made me think Ryan was older than he is supposed to be so when the attraction started between him and Anna it felt weird to listen to.

   Maria T · August 11, 2023

5. 3.0(1)

   Written like a romance novel...

   Disappointed. Had hoped for a British detective series similar to Peter Grainger’s excellent DC Smith novels. This reads more like a romance novel. “His eyes screamed intelligence.” “He plundered her mouth.” Embarrassing. I gave up on it. Sorry I wasted a credit.

   Alisa Cross · August 9, 2020

6. 3.0(1)

   Long drawn out story. Okay narration.

   Geez this book was long. Seemed to last forever before anything at all was resolved. A lot of words and descriptions filling the pages for sure. The story line and plot was okay. Not the best, not the worst. I felt like so many things were being randomly thrown in to the story to make up the page count. Crazy religious ritual psycho killers for sure. There was a little romance in the story between Ryan and Anna, but it seemed forced and not very genuine. There is no descriptive sex just the attraction and them waking up together. So if your'e worried about that don't be. There is lots of dialogue, so there is that. I like lots of dialogue. I don't think I will continue on with this series, the epilogue was basically this story just with different characters. The last line says "The cycle began again", As for the narration, it was okay. I liked his reading voice and the voice for the main character Ryan, but the female voice needs work. It was an okay narration at best.

   Silvia Denton · November 28, 2019

7. 3.0(1)

   good not great

   I've read better but this book is a good start of a series looking forward to book 2

   BTaylor · October 2, 2019

8. 4.0(1)

   A nicely twisted mystery

   DCI Ryan is on a not entirely voluntary three-month sabbatical from the police force, due to the horrific ending of the last serial killer case he investigated. He's spending this sabbatical on Lindisfarne, a.k.a. "Holy Island." Ryan is living very quietly, but the total population of the island is somewhere around 200, so he's gotten to know, at least slightly, a good proportion of that population. So one morning, when one of the local women, out walking her dog in the early morning, stumbles upon a dead body, with no police force on the island, she goes directly to DCI Ryan. Ryan acts immediately to protect the crime scene, get the one local doctor to do a preliminary examination of the dead body, and successfully lobbies his boss to get his sabbatical revoked and put him in charge of the case. Because the dead young woman, Lucy Matheson, was killed sometime during the five hours of the night when Lindisfarne was completely cut off from the mainland, the pool of potential suspects is limited to the local residents. That's a mixed blessing, because it means that at least initially, Ryan can't rule out anyone capable of being of use in the investigation. That includes the tiny Coast Guard force that are otherwise the first responders to anything on-island that needs police-like action. It's worse that Lucy's death looks like a ritual killing. As Ryan pulls together a team from his off-island colleagues, and starts serious investigation, he discovers a web of secrets, private scandal, pagan religious activity of varying degrees of seriousness, and complicated relationships that will make this about as difficult as it can be. And then a second body is found, another woman, killed in a similar ritual way.. Ryan is facing another serial killer. This is a nicely complex tale, with characters who have real depth and substance. And there's a twist at the end, after you are sure you know the whole thing, that really took me by surprise, and sets up some interesting possibilities for future books in the series. Recommended. I bought this book.

   D.Smith · June 15, 2019