"R" is for Ricochet (Kinsey Millhone #18) (audiobook) by Sue Grafton




Should have been titled "S is for Slow" or "T is for Tedious"

Published in 2004 by Random House Audio
Read by Judy Kaye
Duration: 11 hours, 33 minutes

"Occasionally I'm simply a minor character in someone else's play." -Kinsey Millhone.

 "R is for Ricochet" really is an appropriate title for this one since, like a misfired bullet that bounces around and hits uninvolved bystanders, Kinsey gets caught up in a client's mess and nearly gets herself killed.
Set in July of 1987, this is one really slow-developing book. Lots of detailed descriptions of Kinsey's clothing, her client's clothing, the bad guy's clothing, Kinsey's thought processes about her clothing choices, the clothing of the IRS agent in the story, the clothing of a witchy rich lady, the clothing of Kinsey's love interest, the clothing a stripper wears to work, shopping malls, the clothing they look at in the shopping mall, hotel hallways, hotel lobbies, streets, and two separate descriptions of the same office hallway all make it one boring audiobook experience.

 Now, don't get me wrong - the reader (Judy Kaye) does a tremendous job of giving each individual character a distinct voice and she captures Kinsey's wisecracking side perfectly, but this story cannot be saved by a great presentation. It is too slow and it should have been about one-half as long. I listen to audiobooks as a diversion as I drive. Many times I had to turn this "diversion" off so I would not fall asleep and careen off the road. It is not saved by the fact that the book does pick up the pace at the end - all that did was make me wonder why we had to lollygag through the first 80% of the book.

 I rate this audiobook 2 stars out of 5.

 This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: R is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton.

 Reviewed on September 22, 2007.

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