This book has been a great listening experience. Thanks to the author and the publisher for bringing this book to life.

Sorry I couldn't get into this storyline at all and I am still not sure what happened , Maybe the book reads better as I found the Audio book male narrator really annoying his different characters all sounded drone like
The special sound affects were terrible I don't need to hear a car starting , someone dialling a phone or a phone ringing, Gun shots amongst other terrible sounds to improve my audio experience

I honestly lost all interest what I read I enjoyed what I read but I lost interest in this and many more books

Great storyline although at times a little hard to follow. With some great character arcs and growth. The narrator was easy to listen to and follow along with.

Not for me. I felt the book was confusing, overly detailed (no one cares what brand of phone a person pulls out of their pocket) and needs editing. The plot was hard to follow and everyone had the same personality making it impossible to differentiate between characters, especially in an audiobook.

I quite enjoyed this audiobook but it does need speeding up. The story itself reminds of Dan Brown and it is quite fast paced.

I had to DNF this book. It was hard to follow. The narration was slow even on 2x speed. Maybe I would have been able to finish this physically, but I'm not sure either.

Enjoyable enough but found to be rather predictable. Needed to be longer and more descriptive in my opinion

This book was far outside my usual reading choices. I think Abdulilah Hamadi made a brave choice to explore the subject of religion and the political and world-hold it attempts to wield. This is a mystery/thriller that feels fresh in its style and design. It touches on the cultist nature of some religions without condemning the whole.

The audiobook version has an almost, 'old radio show' vibe to it, with its broad use of sound effects and narration. It most definitely lent itself to the intrigue of the story.

This story may have a more limited appeal- but it reveals Hamadi as a potentially promising voice in the future of fiction. Particularly as it pertains to our current world.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I did not enjoy my read of this story. It had an odd tone that made me think it was nonfiction. I also did not like how the author was spelling everything out for the reader, i.e., CSI- Crime Scene Investigator. It lacked the suspense needed to sustain my interest. It also was not thrilling at all.

3.5 stars
If you are looking for a story about an author (David Lipton) with secret societies (he Temple of Scribes) combined with hitmen and some romance (Professor Sofie Parker) this is your book!
The plot is fast paced and gripping.
What I enjoyed about the audible version is that multiple POVs are easily to distinguish. However I had some troubles with the sounds or rather the sound effects. Personally I am not such a big fan of that.
Thanks #Netgalley #BooksGoSocial Audio for the audio version of this story

This is Dan Brown but without a serious editor, the storyline is not particularly new or original and there are way too much unnecessary details and descriptions. Sorry,this just didn't work for me.

“The Holy Truth” includes conspiracies, secret societies, hit men, and religion. The genres it covers are Science Fiction and Thriller, with a dash of Romance just because. There are multiple POVs that bring the characters together.
This was the first audio book I listened to with sound effects. Some were appropriate and added to the story, but I found most to be random, distracting, and annoying. I felt that could have been done better, with more subtlety. Some were unnecessary, like how the single mention of a basketball game brought about the squeaking of sneakers on a court, with a buzzer to boot. Another distraction: The author either got paid to do product placement or is a really big fan of certain products, because he made sure to mention the brand every single time he has a character touch or use one.
My rating is two stars. A lot in this audio book annoyed me. The narrators did fine, but the sound effects were too much. Coupled with a plot that was not very original, the book tried too hard to do too much.
Thanks to Hamadi via NetGalley..

The book reminded me of ones written by Dan Brown.

The audio was fine but I didn't really gel with the main narrator so every time there was a sound effect it threw me out of the book.

To each their own. I enjoyed the sound effects in the audiobook The Holy Truth. I was not distracted by them and found them to be a clever addition. The story itself was just okay.

There are two narrating performers. Carol Carpenter is going on my favorites list. She was really good. Matthew Welding was okay. I found his portions were not seamlessly instituted. Carpenter did have a large portion of the book. When Welding came in it was awkward and broke my concentration.

Thank you NetGalley and Books Go Social Audio for accepting my request to read and review The Holy Truth.

#NetGalley
#BooksGoSocialAudio
#TheHolyTruth
#NarratorCarolCarpenter
#NarratorMatthewWelding
#AbdulilahHamadi

After the success of his novella “Not For You To Know”, which won a Bronze IPPY awards earlier this year, it’s clear that the author tried to pull out all the stops for his first novel: inventing a new religion, a secret society, several subplots and even a burgeoning romance. Undoubtedly this is an ambitious project with subplots including neurotoxins, hypnotic drugs, scientifically induced immortality and even the Arc of the Covenant.
There are two adages in writing that I wish the author had been more mindful of. The first is “write what you know”; the second is “show, don’t tell”.
The author has researched those areas that interest him though, bizarrely, did not establish that there is no night train from Stockholm to Wales or that there is no Welsh Ministry of Defence.
Not only does the author never show when he could opt to tell, he has several different characters tell us the same information and not even from a slightly different perspective. Indeed all of Chapter 3 is a re-enactment of things we were told by characters in the first two chapters. And told again several other times throughout the book. It was frustrating.
Despite all the repetition of the main plot points by several characters, I found the novel confusing. Sometimes because the author seemed to be confused himself between the Secret Society and the religion he invented; sometimes because the author got confused between character POVs; and sometimes because I just couldn’t suspend belief enough to get into the world the author was trying to create.
Why create a whole new religion that almost seems like Catholicism but uses phrases like Grand Priest and Senior Priest; and has an open coffin at a graveside? Why have several murders happen that go entirely un-investigated? Why randomly include a scene about a bridge in Glasgow where dogs are drawn to commit suicide? Why have a backstory for a character in Chapter 2 and then push him into obscurity for most of the rest of the novel?
I believe the author would have benefited from an editor. Not only to correct the several instances of misused English words (grovelled [in violence] instead of revelled, convicted [of God's existence] instead of convinced, propagated [through a building] instead of... I can’t tell!) and mistakes in grammar and idioms (holding [items] *on* the hand; to pay his respect; to shake person vs shake their hands) but also to weed out the plot repetition and clunky character interactions.
Ultimately, a professional editor would have kept in mind a target audience. The use of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch as a destination; the description of someone speaking English with a Glaswegian accent as speaking a distinct other language called Scottish; and the male reader’s choice to use an (awful) Irish accent to voice a character who was born & reared in the US, alienates any intelligent & well-read consumers of the British Isles. Or it should - please understand, those of you whose curiosity might be piqued by this review - this is not even one of those books that is “so bad, it’s good!”
I should probably say more about this as an audiobook. I found the sound effects distracting. The female reader was excellent and could convincingly do the various accents that were required of her. The male reader often sounded like Severus Snape if he had been acted by Jimmy Nail.
Goodreads updates: https://www.goodreads.com/user_status/book/59373969-the-holy-truth

Thank you NetGalley for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review. I couldn't get into this one, the narrator spoke oddly, and there seemed to be a lot of disjointed things going on.

After about 5 chapters, I had to give up. The audio on this book is bad. The narrator is abysmally slow. I had it cranked up to 1.75x with no distortion at all. The sound effects added often fall at weird times and are a distraction rather than an enhancement to the story. You shouldnt be adding sounds that aren't immediately surrounding the characters in the moment. It's weird.

The writing was dry and boring. The author adds a lot of unnecessary information and technical details into the telling which causes the story to drag and the point to become lost. Unfortunately, those extra details are also often glaringly wrong details which distract from the readers ability to concentrate on the story in the moment. The story bounces around through time and tells the same information from multiple characters' view, often using the exact same wording verbatim that you read a chapter earlier.

Conceptually the story might be good. The idea might be a good one, unfortunately it is so lost and bogged down by the format of the telling that I can't really tell.

This was a Netgalley ARC provided by the publishers

For an audiobook it’s a great listen. As I go to sleep listening to audiobooks which helps me to keep a calm mind from wool gathering, listening to negative thoughts and emotions including childhood traumatic memories which can lead to nightmares. So if I wake during the night I can hear the book and it’s very important for the times of sleeplessness. So listening to one audiobook is something that takes a number of nights until I understand and have knowledge of the entire story. The Holy Truth was certainly an interesting, unique and unexpected listen; even though I felt that the story at times felt backwards going forward as you listen to the characters different views and reflection of what has occurred and happenings. I liked the way they had gotten together to solve the criminal and dangerous situations and mysteries that they embarked on.

#THEHOLYTRUTH #NetGalley.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from BooksGoSocial Audio via NetGalley for my honest review of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own thoughts, feelings and viewpoints of the book.

This was definitely a different read for me.
The audio was very interesting. The narrators: Matthew Welding and Carol Carpenter both did a great job performing the characters. I am not positive if I would have stuck with this one if not for such a well done audio.
I do like mystery/thrillers. This story has several murders. There is a lot going on besides the murders; adventure, religion and politics. There is a Secret Society surrounding the Temple of Scribes.
Hmm I was curious ~ I was sure everything is connected.

Want to thank NetGalley and BooksGoSocial Audio for this audio eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date was September 15, 2021