In the Cold Dark Ground by Stuart MacBride [BWF] - 2 stars

[Jen]

I wanted to enjoy this one so much more than I did. It had a lot of elements that I usually like: a complex character, a mix of humor and darkness, ties to a series without necessarily having to start at the very beginning, a mystery that keeps me guessing. For some reason, though (and I am fully acknowledging that it was me and not the book itself), I had such a hard time staying focused with this one. It felt excessively long, and since I was listening to the audiobook, I occasionally had to backtrack because I found myself zoning out and missing sections.

Some of this was due to the audio on the audiobook. The Scottish brogue and the character voice shifts were fun, but even on the loudest setting it was difficult to hear while I was driving on the freeway, and with my primary use of audiobooks being during my commute, this was a bit of a struggle and made it easier for my mind to wander. By the end of the book, while I had enough of the general main plot points of the story, there are elements of how we got to certain points that I know I missed, but also didn't care enough to backtrack and relisten to.

I would probably give this series another try at a later time to determine if this was a one-off experience, but I definitely want to give it a little break before I do.