Fucking crazy story

I’m kind of tired of reading because everything so predictable not this book. This book will get you so sucked in but don’t fall asleep while you listen to it because you will miss a bunch of important stuff and have to reread it like I did.

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Ambitious. Falls Juuuuuust Short.

Don't get me wrong.. '20/20' is a well-scripted, well-executed, brilliantly-paced British Police Procedural/Crime Thriller. Carl Goodman's plot is sinuous, his characters are interesting, and his descriptions are mind's-eye vivid.
Unfortunately, there is too much going on in this novel. Surrey PD Detective-Inspector Eva Harris simultaneously works to capture a devious Serial Killer (or two?) while trying to uncover dirty cops and deal with a secretive personal crisis and numerous assassination attempts. Goodman does a decent job with each of those plotlines - but allows them to overwhelm each other. He compounds the errors by making his protagonist an implausible "know-it-all".. in her twenties but versed in everything from Japanese martial arts to computer hacking to obscure film & art to forensic chemistry. C. Auguste Dupin was at least a believable multidisciplinary genius - I just don't buy the oddly insecure/vulnerable Harris in that role.

More fortuitously, the narration by Louise Brealey is superior. She reads a little too slowly (this book is best consumed at a playback speed of 1.10X), but her diction, cadence, and timbre are creditable, her emotive & serious tone fits the text perfectly, and her voice-acting is spot-on. I would listen to more from Brealey any day.

This 8/10 star recording is far from perfect, but easily good enough to prompt me to want to hear more from Mr. Goodman (and I got it for free with my subscription).
On to Book Two in the 'DI Harris' series..

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Great read

This was a great read with a lively story and well developed characters. I sort of guessed the issue early on, but that could also be my observation skills as based on other peoples reviews, it was not as obvious. Nonetheless, really enjoyed it. Great accents as well!

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A Little Too Much

20/20 is packed a little too full with the protagonist facing 3 major cases to solve at once, a "mysterious" backstory and secret and multiple attempts on her life.
The author tends to digress in attempts to paint a picture with over descriptive points that add very little to the story. This makes the book feel long and tedious to get through at points.

His attempts to create Eva as a complex character fall short.
Eva is supposed to be young DCI, out of her element and unsure of her surroundings. His version of "she knew very little about..." means she studied it in college and you should be wow'd by her more than average knowledge on every subject. The fact she has very little field experience as a detective yet harnesses the instincts and knowhow of a seasoned officer disconnected me from her roll almost immediately. Between that and her superhuman ability to heal and progress despite rather serious injuries was too much to make the characters and story feel grounded.

The story needed a heavy edit. There are times the same point is stated multiple times on the same page, but with different context. As if the author was having multiple go's at the same sentiment and instead of choosing the best one, they were all left in.
The lack of enthusiasm from the narration did not help.

Overall, it was okay background entertainment.

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1 person found this helpful