The Binding Room

A Novel (An Inspector Anjelica Henley Thriller, Book 2)

By: Nadine Matheson

Narrated by: Diveen Henry

Length: 17 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

“Matheson’s voice is exciting, urgent… and, now more than ever, vital.”—A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

Detective Anjelica Henley confronts a series of ritualistic murders in this heart-pounding thriller about race, power and the corrupt institutions that threaten us

When Detective Anjelica Henley is called to investigate the murder of a popular preacher in his own church, she discovers a second victim, tortured and tied to a bed in an upstairs room. He is alive, but barely, and his body shows signs of a dark religious ritual.

With a revolving list of suspects and the media spotlight firmly on her, Henley is left with more questions than answers as she attempts to untangle both crimes. But when another body appears, the case takes on a new urgency. Unless she can apprehend the killer, the next victim may just be Henley herself.

Both fans of The Jigsaw Man and listeners coming to Matheson's work for the first time will get swept away in this heart-pounding thriller. Drawing on her experiences as a criminal attorney, Nadine Matheson deftly explores issues of race, class and justice through an action-packed story that will hold you captive until the last terrifying minute.

©2022 Nadine Matheson (P)2022 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Brilliant!

Nadine’s novels are amazing, and addicting! Diveen Henry brings the characters to life and just adds to the all around amazing story telling! I cannot wait for the next in this series!

Wow!

SO GOOD!!!! Intricate story and mystery with the fabulous Inspector Henley. This series includes some detail that is disturbing, so sensitive readers may want to skip. While this book could be a standalone, I’d recommend reading its precursor, “The Jigsaw Man”.

Fantastic

I love Angelica and how determined she is to seek justice for the victims of crimes. She’s a complicated black detective who must deal with the guilt of betraying other black people when they are suspects like Serena, but she stands up for herself. I love character driven novels. The plot is wonderfully complex and worth it.

Much better than expected. Smart and complex characters with real flaws

More development of the prime nemesis character. That particular could have played a more significant impact to the story line

Two stars overall

This was a major disappointment in several ways, but I must acknowledge how much I actually liked the plot of this book. What a terrible shame that this positive and important aspect of the book is completely overshadowed by several key problems. First, the author inserts weird, confusing, off-topic racial commentary and even includes a scene where one of the officers is racially profiled by the police. Why? I was actually confused and thought this was a key element in the story. Nope. Whatever the author's goal is by doing this is completely lost on the reader. Even readers of color who are absolutely in touch with these issues in society (myself included) will struggle with this book's clumsy and confusing efforts. Its just bad! This really was a turn-off for me.

Second, the book is entirely too long... I listened to it on 1.2 speed to hurry up reaching the end. I nearly stopped listening several times, but instead I just skipped ahead in some of the more painful parts. Readers should use these tips to reach the plot resolution, if you can stand it long enough to reach the end.

Finally, the narrator is TERRIBLE. I recall reviews from the first book in this series where people complained about the narrator. I didn't find her as bad in the first book, but this one is a hot mess! Her over-reading and voice inflections are completely distracting. Although I like her actual voice, the reading of this book was truly awful! This also contributed to me skipping ahead during some of the more annoying sections. I cut her some slack in the first book, but this time I agree with the negative feedback on this narrator. She makes it extremely difficult to listen to this book.

As much as I like the actual storyline and characters, there is just too much wrong with this book for me to recommend it. I was so happy to reach the end and was not at all interested in the cliff-hanger at the end, which I suppose is to make the reader curious about the next installment. Most readers are not idiots and clearly caught all of the pregnancy hints that were dropped like bricks in almost every chapter. Honestly, I don't care if she's preggers or not. I won't be back for the installment.