Unspeakable by Laura Griffin

by Talmadge Ragan

Laura Griffin is one of my go-to authors for thrillers and romantic suspense. Unspeakable is second in her Tracers series, with balanced – though not necessarily equal – portions of dark suspense, law enforcement procedural, romance, and sexy hero. While part of a series, Unspeakable does stand on its own.

Elaina McCord is out to prove herself. An ambitious fresh graduate from Quantico, she is frustrated with her assignment to a remote FBI outpost in South Texas doing routine work. She adopts a serious (aka uptight) mien to counter the misogynistic b.s. from her male colleagues, who either hit on her because she’s hot, talk down to her because she’s young and female, or ignore her because of all that. Part of Elaina’s ambition stems from wanting Dad’s approval; her father is an FBI legend who wrote the textbook on criminal profiling. Elaina thinks she’s finally caught a break when she’s sent to help out in a murder investigation on Lito Island, Texas.

Local authorities were expecting a seasoned FBI profiler, however. Elaina quickly finds resident true-crime writer Troy Stockton is the only one willing to take her seriously. That acceptance is a mixed bag, though. While their immediate sexual attraction is mutual, their professional goals seemingly clash. Elaina’s theory that the serial killer killed his first victim a decade ago blows apart one of Troy’s novels, which helped convict a man currently serving time.

There are a bunch of wonderful secondary characters including a few who get their own books in this series or others. A reader doesn’t get the sense of being set up into buying a series, however, and one has to commend Griffin’s skill in weaving multiple characters so they are all real and necessary to advance a tight mystery plot. We get just enough character background that we root for the good guys. As Elaina, Troy, law enforcement, and the Tracers investigate, bodies pile up and the serial killer turns his attention on Elaina.

Laura Griffin’s novels are consistent and overall well-crafted. I’ve stayed up late to finish her books, heart beating fast, just to find out “whodunit.” The romantic relationship is not the usual focus of Griffin’s books, and Troy and Elaina’s is no exception. Instead, we get the sick vicious killer, the chase by a crew of good guys (some of whom we suspect as bad), the frustrations and minutiae work of real crime-fighting, and to tie it off with a bow – an HEA for Troy and Elaina.

And thus it is with disappointment that I report the narration itself is sub-par. This is my first listen to Talmadge Ragan, and I will have to wait to be convinced to give her a second try.

Ms. Ragan’s distinct tones to separate various male and female characters were done well enough. She portrays the no-nonsense Elaina with a self-possessed voice, and uses a huskier tone for Troy. Southern accents and all the y’alls roll off naturally.

However, I found myself occasionally jarred out of the story by Ms. Ragan’s speech pattern. Certain passages would be slurred and then conversely, some syllables enunciated. Her delivery was jarring when words ended up mispronounced or sentences got chopped as a result. For instance, Troy’s Ferrari was slurred so it sounded like a “free-ra-ri.” The “s” and “sh” sounds were especially problematic: “police unit” sometimes sounded like “poli-shu-nit”; “she snatched” came out “she shnatched.” Then some past tense “-ed” and t’s would be enunciated so that “leaned against the truck.[period]” came out “lean-duh againstttt[long “t” then short pause=period?] the truck.”

While I found the narrator’s style of slurring/enunciation distracting, I was still able to follow the story and enjoy Ms. Griffin’s work. Other listeners may not find my auditory concerns an issue; still others may find the delivery too annoying to enjoy the unfolding mystery. My complaints are perhaps a mark of the growing talent among voice actors. If so, take my grade of “C” as coming from a spoiled audiobook listener!

Megan

Narration:  C

Book Content:  B+

Steam Factor:  You can play it out loud

Violence:  Graphic

Genre:  Romantic Suspense

Publisher:  Tantor Audio

Unspeakable was provided to AudioGals for review by Tantor Audio.