Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: A Reason to Believe
AUTHOR: Diana Copland
NARRATOR: Jack LeFleur
PUBLISHER: Carina Press
RELEASE DATE: October 22, 2012
LENGTH: 10 hours, 5 minutes
BLURB:
Detective Matthew Bennett doesn’t believe in ghosts. So when the spirit of a murdered child leads him to her body, he’s shaken to the core – and taken off the case. Unable to explain his vision, or to let go of the investigation, Matthew turns to renowned medium Kiernan Fitzpatrick. Though he has doubts about Kiernan’s claims to communicate with the dead, Matt is nevertheless drawn to the handsome psychic, who awakens feelings he thought were long-buried.
Haunted by the lingering spirit of the little girl, Kiernan is compelled to aid in the search for her killer. The chance to get closer to the enigmatic Matt is an unexpected bonus. Although Kiernan’s been betrayed by people who turned out to be more interested in his fame than in himself, with Matt he’s willing to risk his heart. As the two men grow closer, Kiernan helps Matt rediscover that life offers no guarantees – but love offers a reason to believe….
REVIEW:
Even though this book is set just before Christmas, I can’t say this is a book that will get you into a holiday mood. Then again I don’t think It’s supposed to do that either, especially considering the subject matter. It all starts with a phone call in the middle of the night, a six-year old girl have gone missing and the parents are naturally distraught. Detective Matthew Bennett is called to the scene to investigate. The last thing he expected to find was the ghost of the girl leading him to her body.
As if seeing ghosts for the first time wasn’t enough, he let it slip to his superiors that it was Abby who led him to find her. Que administrative leave. Only he can’t let go of the case, and even if he could Abby wouldn’t let him. His best friend drags him to a medium; Kiernan Fitzpatrick, hoping he could gain some insight. Reluctantly Matt agrees to work with Kiernan, they were after the same thing after all – finding and stopping the man who killed Abby.
There was a sense of place to this book that I absolutely loved. You could feel the cold whenever Abby was near, and Matt’s apprehension was palpable. Then again I can only imagine how difficult it would be to wake up one day and suddenly being able to see the dead. Especially a child. The mystery was a compelling one, the listener was invested from the start, we needed to solve it quickly.
At the same time things heated up between Matt and Kiernan. In each other they found what they both needed; someone to understand. Someone that knew the value of life and how easily it could be taken away. For the most part their romance is a straight forward one, lacking of drama and this fit so well with the overall story, because as it was the listeners could enjoy both the mystery and the romance without one overshadowing the other. Well, as much as one would enjoy the murder of a child, but you know what I mean.
This is my first audiobook narrated by Jack LeFleur. I would say that he falls in the middle of performing and narrating the book. He adds a lot of feelings to Copland’s words, he takes you into the story and he makes you see this sweet six-year old girl so scared of the bad man who took her life. At the same time he does not distinguish between the different characters beyond male or female or child. Then again, he didn’t need it, the narration was that good without it. He had this gentle pacing that worked well with the story and the feel of it. He varied his intensity after the situation so it was easy to be swept away.
A Reason to Believe is a book I’d definitely recommend to anyone enjoying a bit of paranormal to their mysteries.
RATING: 
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