✱✱AudioBook Review✱✱ The Photographer by Mary Dixie Carter

 

The Photographer

A Novel

By: Mary Dixie Carter

Narrated by: Mary Dixie Carter

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Mary Dixie Carter's The Photographer is a slyly observed, suspenseful story of envy and obsession, told in the mesmerizing, irresistible voice of a character who will make you doubt that seeing is ever believing.

When perfect images...

As a photographer, Delta Dawn observes the seemingly perfect lives of New York City’s elite: snapping photos of their children’s birthday parties, transforming images of stiff hugs and tearstained faces into visions of pure joy, and creating moments these parents long for.

...are made of beautiful lies...

But when Delta is hired for Natalie Straub’s 11th birthday, she finds herself wishing she wasn’t behind the lens but a part of the scene - in the Straub family’s gorgeous home and elegant life.

...the truth will be exposed.

That’s when Delta puts her plan in place, by babysitting for Natalie; befriending her mother, Amelia; finding chances to listen to her father, Fritz. Soon she’s bathing in the master bathtub, drinking their expensive wine, and eyeing the beautifully finished garden apartment in their townhouse. It seems she can never get close enough, until she discovers that photos aren’t all she can manipulate.

Momma Says: 3 stars⭐⭐⭐

The Photographer is a quick listen, but at the same time, it's rather slow-moving, kind of an ambling pace. Basically, it's a story of obsession, of wanting what someone else has, but for a domestic suspense, it requires a lot more suspension of disbelief than I care for. I realize this is fiction, so some things can go over the top without causing too many eyerolls. This one goes above and beyond with the bad decisions. Okay, bad decisions might be too generous. It's more like unbelievable decisions, and that starts very early in the story. But here's the thing - something about it still held my interest. The writing has good flow despite the slow pace, and I wanted to see how things would play out with these characters. Mary Dixie Carter narrates her own story, and she does it pretty well. This isn't the first book I've listened to where the author narrates, and it doesn't always work out. but Carter voices her characters convincingly. In the end, this one did go over the top, but it's still a decent listen, a bit of escapism in this crazy old world. 

                                                          

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