Simon Vance is a master voice actor, preternaturally skilled with accents, whether from Stockholm or Kabul, upper class or gutter thug. He's an ideal fit with David Lagercrantz, the Swedish thriller writer who presents here a Sherlock Holmes simulacrum for a new and global century. Hans Rekke is a brilliantly deductive psychology professor, musically gifted eccentric, and world-class pillhead. Micaela, his Watson, is a Chilean-Swedish policewoman. In their first collaboration, Rekke helps Micaela prove that a refugee Afghan footballer was not murdered, as her bosses insist, by a drunken soccer dad. She in turn helps Rekke crawl out of the prescription cornucopia in his medicine cabinet. The plot intrigues, and Vance's portrayals of these richly varied characters is virtuosic. More, please.
Pub Date: Aug. 23, 2022
Duration: 11 hrs
DD ISBN: 9780593633205
Publisher: Random House 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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