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  • A Ritual for the Dying

  • Detective Inspector Declan Walsh, Book 6
  • By: Jack Gatland
  • Narrated by: Robin Laing
  • Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (95 ratings)

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A Ritual for the Dying

By: Jack Gatland
Narrated by: Robin Laing
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Summary

Thrice cursed. Thrice bound. Thrice damned.

When the body of a famous television academic is discovered in Greenwich Park, carefully positioned beside a megalithic stone fountain and missing a hand, DI Declan Walsh and the team of the Last Chance Saloon find themselves not only involved in a case that connects to the supernatural, but one that also involves 17th-century architects, Ley Lines, nuclear reactors and a secret black market organisation that specialises in particular occult items, some that date all the way back to both Aleister Crowley and the Elizabethan Magician, Dr John Dee himself, and connected to a missing treasure.

But as the team hunt a killer, one that uses ritualistic locations and weapons to perform their murders, Declan will journey on a heretical treasure hunt through an underground pagan and spiritual subculture of witches, shamans, druids, magicians and heathens, a world of esoteric luncheons and virtual sabbats, and where curses are believed real and the dead indeed talk....

But is one of those dead voices that of his one-time love, Kendis Taylor? The sixth book in a series of procedural crime thrillers by number one New York Times best-selling writer Tony Lee writing as Jack Gatland, A Ritual For The Dying is perfect for fans of J.D Kirk, L.J Ross, Ian Rankin, Damian Boyd, Alex Smith, David Gatward and Ann Cleeves, among others.

©2022 Jack Gatland (P)2022 W F Howes
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What listeners say about A Ritual for the Dying

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not great

The previous books in this series have been great but unfortunately this one was anything but. Not the usual subject matter and to be honest it shouldn't have written.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Wow that was a convoluted tale. I'm not sure I've worked it all out now.

A conveluted story with many twists and turns. Perhaps it's because I listened to this book late at night when I should have been sleeping but I found it quite hard to follow. The narrator has really got to grips with his task now and the narration is a lot more enjoyable than the first book in the series.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

Maybe it was the subject matter - but I couldn’t get into this one the same as previous Declan Walsh books.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Love this series

This is such an interesting complicated series, I love it. The author really delves into his characters back stories, the plots are ridiculously complicated, and the relationships are always interesting. The narrator is utterly brilliant, he has a lot of characters to give voice to but you always know who’s talking. I highly recommend this series if you like learning odd, obscure, facts and love a fiendish puzzle.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Complicated!

Super narration by Robin Laing and I love the development of the main characters but the story lines have so many extra characters in them it all gets so complicated and is a real challenge to remember where they all fit in! Will try and persevere with the series though!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Great narration

This is the first of these books that I have listened to, based on my love of the narrator, if I'm honest. the storyline seemed very contrived and I'm not sure I would listen to others in the series.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Too convoluted for me

I should have liked this. I like police stories, mythology and the paranormal. However this had a dozen central characters, all intended to be quirky, and it added Mossad and nuclear weapons into the mix. The result was predictably a mess.

It passed a couple of long rail journeys and soothede quite pleasurably to sleep near Gloucester, but I shan't bother with anything else in this series.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

The first five books in the series were great which makes this one the exception. It's overly complicated with far too many plot twists and characters. The supernatural storyline with witches curses and hypnosis don't sit well in a Declan Walsh detective environment. Very disappointing not recommended.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Absolutely brilliant

The thing I most love about this series is the in-depth explanations, the entire world that Jack Gatland builds around the characters, and this book is no exception, it's amazing, Somehow though, Declan always ends up in trouble, would not be much of a story though if everything went according to plan would it?

Upshot being; This is every bit as good as it's predecessors, if you like Declan Walsh my recommendation is to buy this now.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Irritating Americanisms

Someone needs to tell the author that "gotten" is not a word in the English language. This word was used repeatedly throughout the story, which is set in London and with British characters, thus sounding completely incongruous. In addition, the Scottish character, Munro, keeps calling people "laddie". Nobody in Scotland uses the moniker "laddie" and this way. The way in which it was used in this story was demeaning and offensive. It's frequent use was deeply irritating.

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