Narrator Sophie Amoss offers her best take on the hard-boiled detective in this police procedural about a serial killer who is targeting young, female violinists. While the premise seems like an intriguing setup for an audiobook, Amoss has the deck stacked against her. For instance, she convincingly portrays an exhausted young detective who suffers from a combination of grief, PTSD, and a string of sleepless nights. As a result of this accuracy, though, listeners may find themselves zoning out right alongside the detective. Perhaps more difficult for Amoss, however, is a slow-building plot that delivers too few returns for the listener's patience. Those who are not big fans of the genre may want to pass on this.
Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
Duration: 10 hrs
DD ISBN: 9781250772497
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
For someone whose vocal palette contains so few colors, Edward Asner is a surprisingly effective narrator. His familiar, pleasant growl compels attention and bespeaks authority. He has his faults though. As an audiobook performer, he has but one personality, whatever the narrative voice of his text. One gets the impression that he enters the studio underprepared, taking his time to discover the book as he reads it. Thus it is with An Isolated Incident, a taut, suspenseful murder mystery set in Puget Sound. Other readers could better explore all the beats of this rich page-turner, but few could hold an audience as effortlessly.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 3 hrs
Publisher: Time Warner AudioBooks
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
Kay Scarpetta takes on more than routine investigations as her job of medical examiner involves her once again in a search for an unknown killer. The story is riveting from the opening chapters, and Sheila Hart never lets the intrigue subside. However Hart doesn't use enough vocal range, and male voices sound tinny and high-pitched. The dialogues with tough yet, endearing, Lt. Pete Marino have perfect cadence, accent and speech pattern, but sound somewhat thin and insubstantial. Telephone conversations and flashbacks are set off by effective sound enhancement, a useful addition. The overall presentation is very good driven strongly by the author's contribution.
Pub Date: N/A
Duration: 9 hrs
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2026
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