Download PDF Inspector Hobbes and the Blood Unhuman Book 1 Audible Audio Edition Wilkie Martin Tim Campbell The Witcherley Book Company Books

Product details Audible Audiobook Listening Length 10 hours and 27 minutes Program Type Audiobook Version Unabridged Publisher The Witcherley Book Company Audible.com Release Date October 24, 2017 Whispersync for Voice Ready Language English, English ASIN B076ZS93L3

Inspector Hobbes and the Blood Unhuman Book 1 Audible Audio Edition Wilkie Martin Tim Campbell The Witcherley Book Company Books Reviews

• Five stars for everything . . . EXCEPT the narrator. He gets a zero . . . & there's so much of him. As another reviewer noted, these books are less about Inspector Hobbes & more, much more, about Andy. And I really, really regret that, as the rest of Inspector Hobbes is very good to excellent, with good writing, intriguing characters, quite a lot of humor, imaginative (though not very frequent) action scenes & acceptable mysteries. So sad.
  
  Inspector Hobbes & his housekeeper are wonderful characters & I loved everything about these books . . . except the narrator, Andy. As a Watson to Hobbes' Holmes he can be forgiven his cluelessness & as an Arthur Dent (who I quite sympathize with) to Hobbes' Ford Prefect, he can be forgiven his 'nervous nature'. But he is also a slacker, an ingrate & a freeloader. And he's "accident prone" mostly because he's careless, lazy & takes no responsibility for himself. He could contribute quite a bit to the household in which he finds himself, but even when he makes the rare attempt, it is usually abortive thru lack of preparation or inattention.
  
  I almost gave up on this book, but figuring that he seemed such a young man he might improve with exposure to the upstanding & compassionate Hobbes, I stuck it out to the end. And he did rise to the occasion when absolutely necessary. But I was mightily shocked when I found that he is supposed to be 37 years old! The scattering of references to his smothering mother, verbally abusive father & one single line about "what happened to [his] sister" (presumably tragic) weren't sufficient, for me, to counterbalance his unlikeability. Perhaps if more of his background had been interspersed in the beginning . . .
  
  With the indications towards the end of book 1 that Andy could improve, I was hopeful when I began book 2. But though "mostly harmless" he continues to be pretty thoroughly selfish & whining. And altho thots of better behavior occasionally cross his mind, he rarely acts on even the smallest, like thanking the housekeeper. I became rather adept at skimming the pages of his "oh pity me & when's my supper going to be". But it's still irritating enough that I will not be continuing the series.
• I don’t remember how I happened on Wilkie Martin’s Inspector Hobbes series but I noticed “Inspector Hobbes and the Blood” on my kindle and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. A light, urban fantasy was exactly what I needed.
  
  There are so many variations of “urban fantasy” it is difficult to know what to expect. I would call this “Rivers of London” meets Scott Meyer ) Like “Rivers”, this focuses on police work/mystery with an, um, “unusual” detective and a very human side kick in world populated by fantastic creatures. But it also has the silly humor, pratfalls of Meyer’s “The Authorities”. As you might expect, the mystery isn’t that mysterious- the fun is in the journey.
  
  Although I’m a big fan of Aaronovitch and Meyer, I’m a little surprised that I found this so addictive because the sidekick narrator, Alan, really isn’t very likeable. In addition to seeming more cursed than merely accident prone, he is often petty, cowardly, and mean spirited. But he does show an awareness of his failings. (I probably would have been more comfortable if he were a twenty year old rather than 37.) But addictive it is. I’ve already read the second in the series and started the third. Spoiler Alert- Alan improves with each book )
• This is a fun mystery. One is never sure how much is supernatural till close to the end. That makes it sound like a serious, frightening book, but it's actually very light-hearted, with a lot of humor. Much of the humor seems to just miss the mark, (which, judging from other reviews, may just be my taste. )
  Somewhat slow moving at first, and, as others have remarked, with the narrator being rather obnoxious (though he gets better as the book proceeds), it had me wondering if one of the villains was supernatural up until the end. The mystery itself is somewhat rambling, the author concentrating more upon the characters.
  
  I'd say this is a fun read, though slow in places. I'm going to buy the next one, because I think this series has a lot of potential, and with a slight bit of polishing, some of the jokes could be laugh out loud on the subway funny.
  
  My other reason for buying the book (and planning to go through the series) is that there are hints of an interesting backstory for some of the main characters, and I'm curious enough to keep reading to find out their true history.
  
  For a first novel (as far as I know, at least the first of a series), it held my attention, though I had to push through a few spots, and deal with my annoyance at the narrator. It certainly did make me want to buy the next book in the series.
  
  I can't really think of what to compare it to. It's sort of an urban fantasy combined with a British police procedural.
• This particular series is like Port wine - it's an acquired taste. When I bought this first book in the series, I only managed to get through the first score or two of pages. I so disliked the chief character Andy Caplet that I almost stopped. Perhaps it's the English thing - - they like milk toast protagonists who come through in a pinch. I really disliked the guy...and still do (four books in); however, the rest of the characters are amazing and wonderful, from Inspector Hobbes (apparently a were of some sort) to Mrs. Goodfellow, to the rest of the cast. It's really difficult, however, to get over one's complete contempt for the principle character and so the four stars instead of five. E-gads, Mr. Martin, at least give Andy a pretend spine at some point in the series. Yes, I bough them all. They're addicting. They're like Pralines and Cream ice cream or Blanton's bourbon. Neither is good for you, but you enjoy yourself so much it doesn't really matter. In this first book we find out that vampires aren't real - - they just think they are.