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Moroni Traveler #5
The Spoken Word
When Lael Woolley, the niece of the First Prophet, the head of the Mormon church on Earth, is kidnapped, Salt Lake City private eye Moroni Traveler begins his search, uncovering a subversive feminist movement within the Mormon church.
- GenresMystery
199 pages, Hardcover
First published June 15, 1992
6 people want to read
About the author
Robert Irvine
54 books4 followersAka Val Davis, R.R. Irvine, Peter Heath, Peter H. Fine, Peter Heath Fine
Robert Ralstone Irvine studied anthropology and archaeology at the University of California at Berkeley and now lives in Northern California.
Robert Ralstone Irvine studied anthropology and archaeology at the University of California at Berkeley and now lives in Northern California.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 20, 2020
After the last book, I had to jump into the next right away. The Spoken Word takes us back to Salt Lake City. In the last book, Moroni offered his friend Willis Tanner a favor (that Willis could call in at any future time) for info to help him solve a murder. Well, now Willis is calling in that favor and Moroni isn't too happy about it. All sorts of ways for this situation to backfire and destroy him and his father and their private eye business.
Nevertheless, it's a kidnapping with a ransom demand: give women the priesthood in the LDS church. Of course, the head prophet guy can't give in (even though many people think the church and human society in general think it's a good idea). OK, so church politics aside, Moroni has to find this young lady, a grandniece of the head prophet dude. Lael Woolley is an upstanding believer and all around accomplished young lady. Everyone wants her back safe and sound.
A side plot has Moroni and Martin still trying to locate Claire's baby. Claire's friend (Sabrina? Sarena?) claims to have info on the boy's location but wants money. Moroni doesn't believe her and things escalate. I loved this one scene where Moroni broke the finger of an idiot even as he disarmed him and then offered to take the idiot to the doctor. ha!
A chunk of this story focuses on women's rights in the church and I like how Moroni struggles to stay above it and on task: his goal is to find the missing Lael. Getting caught up in church politics won't help him do his job.
The church security is pretty intimidating too! Irvine makes good use of them; they keep track of people, have a huge library of raw info on individuals, and access to weapons and well trained men. Moroni knows when to work with them and when he can push back and it's a delicate dance. I like his friend Willis, but Willis also scares me a bit. I think Willis would sacrifice Moroni to keep the church safe.... but I think Moroni would give up much to save Willis. It certainly is an interesting dynamic going on here. Looking forward to the next book. 5/5 stars.
The Narration: Jeffrey Kafer continues to give me a great Moroni. This character certainly spends a good chunk of the story holding back and that tension comes through in the narration. Kafer has a great voice for Claire's greedy friend - snotty, smug, scared, startled, angry. The one issue was on the technical side - there are several spots where the volume changes (perhaps he was recording over sections or had to do a lot of stop and start?). Not quite the polished recording I'm used to from this narrator but also not horrible. The volume didn't vary so greatly as to blast my ears. 4.5/5 stars.
Nevertheless, it's a kidnapping with a ransom demand: give women the priesthood in the LDS church. Of course, the head prophet guy can't give in (even though many people think the church and human society in general think it's a good idea). OK, so church politics aside, Moroni has to find this young lady, a grandniece of the head prophet dude. Lael Woolley is an upstanding believer and all around accomplished young lady. Everyone wants her back safe and sound.
A side plot has Moroni and Martin still trying to locate Claire's baby. Claire's friend (Sabrina? Sarena?) claims to have info on the boy's location but wants money. Moroni doesn't believe her and things escalate. I loved this one scene where Moroni broke the finger of an idiot even as he disarmed him and then offered to take the idiot to the doctor. ha!
A chunk of this story focuses on women's rights in the church and I like how Moroni struggles to stay above it and on task: his goal is to find the missing Lael. Getting caught up in church politics won't help him do his job.
The church security is pretty intimidating too! Irvine makes good use of them; they keep track of people, have a huge library of raw info on individuals, and access to weapons and well trained men. Moroni knows when to work with them and when he can push back and it's a delicate dance. I like his friend Willis, but Willis also scares me a bit. I think Willis would sacrifice Moroni to keep the church safe.... but I think Moroni would give up much to save Willis. It certainly is an interesting dynamic going on here. Looking forward to the next book. 5/5 stars.
The Narration: Jeffrey Kafer continues to give me a great Moroni. This character certainly spends a good chunk of the story holding back and that tension comes through in the narration. Kafer has a great voice for Claire's greedy friend - snotty, smug, scared, startled, angry. The one issue was on the technical side - there are several spots where the volume changes (perhaps he was recording over sections or had to do a lot of stop and start?). Not quite the polished recording I'm used to from this narrator but also not horrible. The volume didn't vary so greatly as to blast my ears. 4.5/5 stars.
Displaying 1 of 1 review