Three star review, originally posted here on September 13th, 2024.
I hesitate to even rate this because it’s not even a book. Audible pitched it to me, it was free and short, it had Joseph Fiennes, and the story looked super interesting. Only after starting it did I realize this is just an old-timey radio show. The entire thing is dialogue. So if you’re expecting a book about a historic event, this is not it.
That being said, I went ahead and listened to it, and found it entertaining enough. It was a little slow to start, but once we got into the investigation I found myself surprisingly invested. I especially enjoyed following along with Kathryn Wombacher, because she was such a badass. “Wow, did she really do all this investigating herself?” I wondered. Then just now, I Googled her name, and all I’m finding are articles saying that she hired the PI, whose staff searched Bleubeard’s briefcase the next day, immediately found a giant pile of evidence, and alerted the cops, who then showed up and arrested him. Pretty dang anticlimactic, and absolutely nothing like what happens in this Audiobook. So if you’re looking for historical accuracy, this is not it.
But look, if all you want is a couple hours of audio entertainment (whether loosely based on real characters or not), then this is great! It had me thinking about the days before TV, when folks sat around their giant radios listening to adventure tales. It made me understand just how entertaining these audio-only stories can be. Honestly, I was just as entranced as I am with most TV shows. I mean, there was a really exciting action scene where they follow the bad guy in a car, and I was honestly on the edge of my seat. There was a very light love story that actually had me a little giddy; that is impressive, because the entire thing was maybe 3 half-sentences peppered through the whole story where one character seems slightly shy around the other. So all in all, this thing had great acting (though I almost wish I hadn’t noticed that Joseph Fiennes played the husband, because I couldn’t un-picture him in the role), great production, and an entertaining script. Just a couple of hours of light fun about a domestic abuser and mass murderer!
Helga without the H 