The trauma after the drama from the events of Third Grave Dead Ahead has left Charley in a bit of a rut. Instead of solving cases, she’s taken up a new hobby: sitting on her couch all day, acquiring a Home Shopping Network addiction in the process. She finally finds a bit of motivation once a woman shows up who needs her help. Someone is trying to kill her, but something is amiss when all of her loved ones believe she’s paranoid.
Meanwhile, Reyes Farrow, Son of Satan and her better half, has been released from prison, making ends meet by doing what he does best: fighting. He’s been keeping his distance from Charley, but that doesn’t last long (not surprisingly) as he becomes a person of interest in an arson case.
I decided to shelf this series after the third book, but I agreed to an experiment for fellow blogger, Anne-Marie of Unwastedwords, to go the audiobook route in order to determine if my reading experience could redeem the series for me. I can say that this book was a bit more bearable. I’m not sure if it’s because I had a break from reading the books back to back or what. There were a few moments when I got annoyed with Charley’s punchlines and dialogue, but it wasn’t so bad. I thought the narrator did a pretty good job, though she sounds slightly older than how I imagine Charley would sound. I liked her voices for the supporting characters, particularly her aunt.
My biggest gripe with this series is the lack of supernatural conflict in place of the regular old murder mysteries. While I felt her grim reaper issues actually were a little better in that respect, things need to come to a head already. I recently saw that the books have been extended through Book 6. At this point, because I’ve read this far I would be willing to continue the series in the event that things end at Book 6, but not much further beyond that.
Either way, thank you, Anne-Marie, for this opportunity. If I didn’t routinely use text-to-speech I’d likely go the audiobook route much more often.
Reblogged this on UNWASTED WORDS and commented:
So sorry I’ve been so busy to reblog this. About a month ago I proposed an experiment to fellow blogger Erika over at Your Urban Fantasy. She was reading the Charley Davidson books and not feeling them. So I asked her if she would continue the series giving Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet a try if I provided an audiobook copy to see if the performance would help her experience.
Here are the factors to this experiment:
Erika is a seasoned blogger and book reviewer in the UF and PNR genres and after three books, not a fan of Charley Davidson.
Having heard all the audiobooks in the series, I know there are no issues with the production value. A poor recording can seriously detract from the story.
The narrator is excellent in both her performance and range of voices.
I know sometimes if I can’t get into a book I might try an audiobook to see if it helps. I purposefully ask Erika to listen to Fourth Grave because of her dislike of the series, because I think she would be more critical and the X-Factor becomes the actual performance.
Her review is up and I pretty much agree with her on most points.