Shady Cross

I liked this book even though I didn't love it. I recently discovered that Amazon Prime members can borrow books with narration as part of their Prime Reading program. There are not a ton of options but this one sounded interesting so I thought I would give it a try. I did find it to be an entertaining story and I really liked the premise.

Stokes is a small time criminal. He is not above taking something that isn't his and tends to keep his eye out for any opportunity to to make a little money. When he is involved in an accident that takes another man's life and finds a bag full of money, he thinks that he has finally found his big payday. Then the phone in the bag rings and everything changes. When he realizes that the money in that bag was meant to save a little girl's life, he feels compelled to do the right thing and save the girl.

This book had a lot of things going for it. I love that the story features an antihero. It was kind of fun to see a character with questionable morals work so hard to save someone he has never met. The story was exciting with one roadblock blocking his path after another. There were a few surprises along the way as well.

I didn't love all aspects of the book. I started to tire of all of the problems that Stokes kept running into. It seemed that no matter what he tried thing would go wrong. It became a bit predictable and the excitement of the story suffered as a result. I also never really connected with the characters. I didn't dislike him but I didn't like him either. I never fully believed that he would really risk so much to save the girl.

This is the first time that I have listened to Bon Shaw narrated a story and I really enjoyed his performance. He handled all of the voice really well and the dialogue in the story was flawless. The cast of character in this story really cover a wide range including men, woman, older adults, and children and he did a great job with all of them. I would not hesitate to listen to his work again in the future.

I would recommend this book to fast paces mystery fans. This was an enjoyable listen that was a little different than the norm. This was the first time that I have read James Hankins work but I do plan to read more in the future.