DubaiReader

This is the third of Josephine Cox's novels (also: Lovers and Liars and Born Bad) that I have listened to in abridged audiobook format, and the third one that I have given just three stars to. I find them rather depressing and the target is always a woman who is being treated badly by a man. I wasn't taken with the narrator either, Carol Bond's voice felt patronising and enhanced how cheesy I was finding the story.

Maddy Delaney is the Songbird of the title. She sings in a London nightclub run by the sleazy crook, Steve Drayton. She has fallen for him in a big way, but it seems he is just using her until he's ready to move on to his next victim. Things go seriously wrong and she ends up on the run.

There were some lovely people who help her along the way, but she never settles long and the past has a way of catching up with her.

This is a sad story with sadness piling upon sadness, even the ending was only partly satisfying.

I always wonder what I have missed when I listen to abridged audiobooks, were the best bits missing?

I'm aware that Josephine Cox is a popular author, so this is only my own opinion of the book, but I think I will pass my JC books on and make space in my bookshelves for other authors.