Melanie
Written on Sep 12, 2017
4.5 stars
This is a collection of short stories set in the Original Sinners series. Well, it is two short stories and an author interview. This is a MUST read for any fan of the series, but probably wouldn’t be much interest for people who haven’t read at least one of The Original Sinner books (Red or White years wouldn’t matter). It has confessions of the series two most notorious Catholics, Søren (aka Marcus Sterns) and Nora Sutherland (aka Eleanor Schreiber). This is a quick listen at 2 hours 49 minutes, but so worth the time.
Father Stuart Ballard has been Marcus’ confessor for many, many years. He is well aware of Marcus’ extracurricular activities. There is nothing that he hasn’t heard from Marcus in the past. This confession might be the toughest yet. This story takes place not long after he meets his Eleanor, when she was just fourteen years old. You can really hear the difficulty Marcus is having with Eleanor. I love how Father Ballard didn’t judge, but listened and offered heartfelt advice to Marcus.
Nora’s confession (also to Father Ballard) takes place many years later (I can’t remember exact Nora’s age, probably mid-thirties). Søren is her normal confessor, but she has something she needs to talk about that involves him, so she sought out his confessor. Nora was her typical self. She doesn’t care what people think and says exactly what is on her mind. She has no problem admitting that she has several lovers. She has no regrets. I love back and forth between these two as they try to find a sin that Nora can confess to. He also helps her come to terms with her issue with Søren.
There is also a great interview with Tiffany Reisz. They talk about the characters in the Original Sinners. It is great insight into these characters that might not make it onto the page. She talks about when her editor has had to pull her back. Tiffany really likes to push the envelope with her writing. I love the way she does it. She writes these scenes so well, that I think she really makes you think about these things. It isn’t just for the shock value. I met Tiffany Reisz at RT15 in Dallas. She is a sweety. I highly recommend you look her up if you ever go to a con that she’s attending.
Narration
This is my first book with Matthew Lloyd Davies narration. I have to say that I really liked him. I thought he did a really great job with Nora. He really got her attitude down perfect. I also really liked his voice for Father Ballard. I wasn’t as big of fan of Søren’s voice. He is this big, bad sadist who can scare people with just a look. His voice didn’t quite fit for me. But overall, I really enjoyed his narration of this book.
**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
