Hell’s Kitchen by Jeffery Deaver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
There is something about a mystery novel that can be either entertaining or dreary. Ultimately you want the mystery and suspense; but not too much. If the mystery is too simple, then *yawn*. If it is too complicated then you start to think it is all too hard or that the author had finished the mystery and realised they had another 200 pages to fill.
This is my first outing with Jeffery Deaver and I can see why he is so highly regarded with his mystery writing. He treads that fine line between too much and too little with a cool hand. There was much more to this story of catching a fire-bug for hire, with the climax really pulling me in.
Part of the balance came from Jeff’s use of Hell’s Kitchen as the setting and the local residents as layers of story. For the most part the exposition felt necessary and served the larger mystery.
The version I listened to was read by Paul Birchard who did as many accents as an American can in his reading.
Tyson Adams 
Hi Tyson!
Thanks for your kind review – to wit:
“Paul Birchard…did as many accents as an American can in his reading.”
If you’d like to discover an audiobook of a forgotten classic American novel from the 1930’s, download “ADAM CARGO” by Upton Terrell, which I’ve just produced and spoken, and released under a very open Creative Commons license for all to enjoy and share.
You can find “ADAM CARGO” on Bandcamp[dot]com and at Archive[dot]org –
Enjoy!
(It’s three hours and thirteen minutes long – one more book toward your annual Reading Challenge goal ! )
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Thanks Paul.
I’ll also add that during the climax of the book you managed to keep a tension to your reading that is sometimes lacking in audiobooks.
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Thanks, again, Tyson!
“ADAM CARGO” is available on a “Name Your Price!” basis at Bandcamp –
Anyone is free to name any price – even £0.00! – The main thing is for this wonderful book, written by my old friend Upton Terrell when he was a young man, is heard afresh by one and all!
It’s also freely downloadable at Archive[dot]org…!
“Onward!”
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