A rogue agent has come in from the cold and wants to spill his secrets. The Organisation wants Ishmael to find out if Frank Parker is who he says he is, what he really knows, and why he has emerged from the shadows after all this time. Ishmael heads to Ringstone Lodge in Yorkshire where Parker is being held to find that an atmosphere of fear and suspicion prevails. As he and his fellow residents are menaced by a series of alarming and inexplicable incidents, Ishmael sets out to prove that it s human trickery rather than any supernatural being behind the seemingly ghostly goings-on. But matters take an unexpected turn when one of their number is brutally murdered, and once again Ishmael must turn detective in order to entrap a twisted killer before they strike again.
Dead Man Walking by Simon R. Green. Book # 2 in the Ishmael Jones series. Audiobook narrated by Gildart Jackson. Published by Tantor Media, Inc., Jan 2019. First published in Sept. 2016.
Oh my. Well… That was a frustrating read…
Dead Man Walking starts off really well. There is a great amount of mystery surrounding this rogue agent and what secrets he has. The location was remote and interesting. Then a murder happens. Well sadly the fun stops here. I had a lot of problems with this book. -.-
The biggest problem is that it was basically the exact same book as the first book in the series. A few minor changes but, seriously, almost the same exact book. You have a group of people in a remote manor who get trapped inside and then someone turns in to a killer picking off everyone, one by one. The motive behind the murder was even basically the same as the big last page twist in the first book! WTF. I really, really wanted to like this book, but I just couldn’t get over how much of a repeat the whole plot was. Very disappointing! I know Simon can do better then this. Is this whole series going to be on autopilot? 
Another huge problem with Dead Man Walking is that the killer is glaringly obvious from the moment the first crime is committed. I mean… plain as flipping day. Yet somehow nobody thinks about all the connections to this one character and what is going on? How is that even possible?? It was right in front of everyone’s face!! And then at the end Ishmael is like “I don’t trust anyone, especially not _______” … ok, so you suspected this person as the killer, yet you didn’t say anything when that character started trying to separate people from the group, ending up in those poor characters getting killed? Ok, that kinda makes you a terrible guy, Ismael. I remember back when Simon had books that were so hard to predict and you never saw the end coming. Again, this book was just disappointing. š¦
Gildart did an alright job narrating the book. It took me a little bit to warm up to him though. He definitely accomplishes the snooty, arrogant personality very well. At first it was a little hard for me to distinguish the different character voices, but over time it became easier.
AGGGGGHHHH!!!! That’s basically how I would sum up Dead Man Walking. You had this great mystery of the agent and then everything just fell apart. FAST. I don’t understand why? Simon R. Green is a better writer then what this series is starting out with. I just really hope the next book in the series is better.
Creature From The Book Lagoon 