Ian Rankin

Steven Pacey has read two of Ian Rankin’s Jack Harvey novels onto unabridged audiobook.

Author, Ian Rankin

Image from Ian Rankin.net;
used without permission

Born in the Kingdom of Fife in 1960, Ian Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982, and then spent three years writing novels when he was supposed to be working towards a PhD in Scottish Literature. His first Rebus novel was published in 1987, and the Rebus books are now translated into twenty-two languages and are bestsellers on several continents.

Ian Rankin has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award. He is the recipient of four Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards including the prestigious Diamond Dagger in 2005. In 2004, Ian won America’s celebrated Edgar Award for ‘Resurrection Men’. He has also been shortlisted for the Edgar and Anthony Awards in the USA, and won Denmark’s Palle Rosenkrantz Prize, the French Grand Prix du Roman Noir and the Deutscher Krimipreis.

Ian Rankin is also the recipient of honorary degrees from the universities of Abertay, St Andrews and Edinburgh.

A contributor to BBC2’s ‘Newsnight Review’, he also presented his own TV series, ‘Ian Rankin’s Evil Thoughts’. He recently received the OBE for services to literature, opting to receive the prize in his home city of Edinburgh, where he lives with his partner and two sons.

Text from Ian Rankin’s Website

Blood Hunt

Title: Blood Hunt
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group

Synopsis:
It begins with a phone call. Gordon Reeve’s brother has been found dead in his car in San Diego. The car was locked from the inside; a gun was in his hand. In the US to identify the body, Gordon realises that his brother has been murdered. What’s more, it’s soon obvious that his own life is in danger. Once back in Scotland he finds out his home has been bugged by professionals. But Reeve is a professional too. Ex-SAS, he was half of a two-man unit with someone he came to fear, then to hate. It looks like his nemesis is back…

Text courtesy of Orion Books

IMAGE	FORMAT	RELEASE DATE	LENGTH
	Digital Download	20 May 2011	Unabridged 13 hours and 10 minutes
	Audio CD	22 September 2011

Orion Books have kindly sent us a sample of Steven reading Blood Hunt to include on this website (click play below).

Bleeding Hearts

Title: Bleeding Hearts
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group

Synopsis:

The death of a journalist from a single bullet to the heart makes for a dramatic story – but the twist in the tale is that this time, it’s the man who fired the gun who’s asking all the questions… The assassin, Michael Weston, knows he has carried out his assignment successfully. One mistake was enough, a long time ago, when a young girl had accidentally received the fatal bullet. Her father hired a PI named Hoffer to track him down. Every time Weston completed a job, Hoffer was not far behind. But why had the police been on the scene so quickly? Weston has to find out – even if it means coming face to face with Hoffer…

Text courtesy of Orion Books

IMAGE	FORMAT	RELEASE DATE	LENGTH
	Digital Download.	20 May 2011	Unabridged 12 hours and 52 minutes
	Audio CD	22 September 2011

For completeness, two previous editions that are no longer available are included.
Previous edition published by Sound Library (out of print):

IMAGE	FORMAT	RELEASE DATE	LENGTH
	Audio CD Download Sample	December 2006
	MP3 CD
	Audio Cassette

Previous edition published by Chivers Audio (out of print):

IMAGE	FORMAT	RELEASE DATE	LENGTH
	Audio CD	July 2002	Unabridged
	Audio Cassette	29 June 2002

Praise for Steven Pacey’s reading of Bleeding Hearts

“Steven Pacey has great fun with this early Rankin work … Pacey plays every role confidently and at full throttle—a one-man complete international cast. Between conversations, the pacing is quick and clear, and the voice, very pleasant. As in any thriller, however well written, some of the action isn’t believable, but in this rendition, the voices always are. A remarkable performance.”

Audiofile Magazine, 2007
AudioFile Earphones Award Winner (April/May 2007)

“Police officers present their own opinions about the murder investigation in a series of realistic conversations, expressed by Pacey through subtle changes in cadence and tone. Weston’s cold, impersonal voice is rendered well, as are the tones of an American private investigator, whose overly gruff manner hits the mark. Pacey excels with accents, including upper-crust British, East Indian, and varying American dialects—from a slow southern drawl to brusque East Coast. The reader’s smooth lyrical voice never falters, keeping a steady pace and maintaining intense emotion until the riveting conclusion.”

Sheri Melnick, Booklist, May 1, 2007.

“Steven Pacey is the reader who does it great justice, including “getting” various UK and USA accents – nicely done.”

Review from Goodreads.com

The reading by Stephen [sic] Pacey is excellent. Stephen [sic] is best known for the character of Tarrant in the last two seasons of Blake’s Seven, and his upper-crust officer’s voice is employed throughout for narration and the voice of the story’s lead character, an assassin. He deploys a variety of alternative voices and accents for the other characters, most of which are really effective. He only falls down with the one Jamaican accent, which thankfully isn’t heard for long. The rest, American and English regional accents are enjoyable and prevent the novel from falling into the trap of being a mere reading.

Review from Amazon.com

Reviews Updated: November 25, 2012