I’m delighted to be joining the MIMIC Audio Tour for Orion Books. I’m a huge fan of Cole’s RAGDOLL trilogy, so jumped at the chance to listen to the audiobook of Mimic. It’s read beautifully by Owusu, who captures the nuances of the storytelling well and injects Cole’s narrative humour with style. Thanks to all!

Audiobook read by Jude Owusu

The Blurb

In life she was his muse . . .

In death she’ll be his masterpiece.

1989: DS Benjamin Chambers and DC Adam Winters are on the trail of a serial killer with a twisted passion for recreating the world’s greatest works of art through the bodies of his victims. After Chambers nearly loses his life, the case goes cold due to lack of evidence. The killer lies dormant, his collection unfinished.

2006: DS Marshall has excelled through the ranks of the Metropolitan Police Service, despite being haunted by the case that defined her teenage years. Having obtained new evidence, she joins Chambers and Winters to reopen the case. However, their resurrected investigation brings about a fresh reign of terror, the team treading a fine line between delivering justice and becoming vigilantes in their pursuit of a monster far more dangerous and intelligent than any of them had anticipated…

My thoughts…

As I said earlier, I loved the RAGDOLL series, each book was contrasting in style and I really engaged with this variation and creativity. Daniel Coles books are always fun to read, despite taking you into dark places, minds and events. The thrillers are carefully plotted with both dramatic and creative deaths and crimes – so be warned, this isn’t for the faint of heart.

I listened to the audiobook which was skillfully narrated by Jude Owoso and despite a more leisurely pace to the opening, events and pace build steadily and suddenly you’re hooked in and turning the pages at a pace.

There’s a great and slightly unusual character driven team working on the central investigation: DS Ben Chambers, PC Adam Winters and the modern newbie DC Jordan Marshall. The crime investigation initially begins in 1989 shifting to the reopening in 2006 and I enjoyed the changes of both the investigation, the development and changes of the 1989 investigators.

A part of Cole’s books that add to their charm, even though it’s rather macabre at times, is the humour, which I’ve also really enjoyed in previous Cole books – so please expect a chuckle along the way, if dark humour works for you? I think it comes across really well in the audiobook, perhaps much better than the physical book – this is of course helped along by the skillful narration of Owoso.

I don’t usually listen to audiobooks first, I tend to save them for favourite reads, purely because of my attention span. However, I did get hooked into MIMIC. I wasn’t as involved as I was with the RAGDOLL reads but that’s my personal reader response, not a criticism. Cole writes great books.

With the theme of art, specifically Rodin’s ‘The Thinker’ sculpture opening this crime mystery, Cole has created an intelligent cold case crime at the heart of this thriller. The reader follows the team as they hunt the perpetrator of the sick crimes that haunt them, to find closure on the case and to seek justice.

A gruesome crime thriller based on recreating famous works of art in the most macabre way. An intelligent, absorbing and addictive listen.

The Author

Daniel Cole has worked as a paramedic, an RSPCA officer and most recently for the RNLI, driven by an intrinsic need to save people or perhaps just a guilty conscience about the number of characters he kills off in his writing. He currently lives in sunny Bournemouth and can usually be found down the beach when he ought to be writing. Daniel’s debut novel Ragdoll was a Sunday Times bestseller and has been published in over thirty-five countries.