T's Stuff: Dark Harvest by Chris Patchell

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Dark Harvest by Chris Patchell

Author: Chris Patchell

Narrators: Lisa Stathoplos, Corey Gagne

Series: The Holt Foundation Stories, Book 2

Length: 11 hours 7 minutes

Publisher: Audible Studios

Released: Sep. 27, 2017

Genre: Suspense, Thriller

Becky Kincaid ventures out in the middle of a snowstorm to buy a car seat for her unborn baby and never makes it home. When a second pregnant woman disappears, Marissa Rooney and the team at the Holt Foundation fear a sinister motive lurks behind the crimes.

Lead investigator Seth Crawford desperately searches for the thread that binds the two cases together, knowing that if he fails, another woman will soon be gone. While Seth hunts for clues, a madman has Marissa in his sights and she carries a secret that could tear her whole world apart.

Can Seth stop the killer before he reaps his...dark harvest?

Chris Patchell is the bestselling author of In the Dark, Dark Harvest, and the Indie Reader Discovery Award winning novel Deadly Lies. Having recently left her long-time career in tech to pursue her passion for writing full-time, Chris pens gritty suspense novels set in the Pacific Northwest, where she lives with her family and two neurotic dogs.

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Lisa Stathoplos has been a professional actor working onstage, in film and commercial VO work for many years as well as narrating books and performing in Audiodramas for Audible.com and Hachette Audio. Most recently, Lisa played Nina Locke in Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’ epic multiple Audie award-winning 13-hour audio drama of their wildly popular graphic novel LOCKE AND KEY produced by Pocket Universe Productions’ AudioComics division and Finalrune Productions for Audible Studios.

Corey Gagne is an audiobook narrator, stage, and voice actor from Portland, Maine. Corey trained at Mountview Theater Conservatory (now Mountview Academy) in London, England, and has appeared on stage in London, New York, Philadelphia, Austin, and Portland. His work as an audiobook narrator includes Inci by Mike Resnick and Tina Gower, The Constable's Tale by Donald Smith, the Sin du Jour series by Matt Wallace, The Goblin Crown by Robert Hewitt Wolfe, The Twilight of the Gods Series by Christopher G. Nuttall, The Black Wolves of Boston by Wen Spencer, The Builders by Daniel Polanski, and Dark Harvest and In the Dark by Chris Patchell.

Dark Harvest is the 2nd book in Chris Patchell's Holt Foundation Stories series. The Holt Foundation is a group helping victims and families of people who have been affected by violent crimes. The foundations founder Elizabeth Holt was a victim of a violent crime in her college. Just before her death she created the foundation. Which all comes to light in "In The Dark" book one of the series. You should really read book 1 to get all the backstory to the developments in this book. This book can be read as a stand alone. There are parts that would make more since in you read book 1 though.

In this book Marissa and her daughters are still coming to terms with Brooke's kidnapping and the aftermath. But the Holt Foundation also have a new case. Young pregnant women are disappearing. A mid 40's Doctor with early onset Alzheimer's is doing stem cell experiments to cure himself and also selling off the babies of the pregnant moms to fund himself. He is taking the babies by c section of the young women he kidnaps and letting the mother's die. When young and pregnant Becky Kincaid comes up missing from the local baby store the team takes on the case. When Marissa finds out she is pregnant with Seth's Child she goes to a local Women's Clinic to help decide her options. This Women's Clinic is where the mystery starts to unfold.

This is not just a mystery but also a romance with some real life stuff thrown in. Marissa and Seth are still exploring their new relationship, but Seth is still carrying a lot of baggage and is still hung up on his dead wife and her death. He also is trying to decide whether to go back to being a cop or staying at the foundation. Brooke is dealing with the PTSD from her kidnapping and not doing a very good job of it. Marissa is in the middle of Brooke and Seth and their problems, but she discovers she has a problem of her own. A Baby!

The audiobook is dual narrated by Lisa Stathoplos, Corey Gagne as was book 1. Both of these narrators do a wonderful job with the book. They bring the story and the emotions from the pages to life extremely well. I like they they each have their own chapters.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Chris Patchell. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Chris Patchell's Picks

Seth Crawford - Mark Ruffalo because although he’s good looking, he’s not classically handsome. He’s intelligent and brooding, much like Seth.
Marissa Rooney - Kate Hudson because she’s got a brittle, vulnerable edge that mirrors Marissa’s insecurities.
Drew Matthews (From In the Dark) - Daniel Radcliffe. I know, it’s not an obvious choice, but I think that Daniel has the ability to play a darker, more nuanced character. And it’s so anti-Harry Potter.
Xander Wilcox (From Dark Harvest) - One of my all-time favorite actors, Edward Norton, because plays brilliant and flawed characters soooo well.