Jason G. Cons

i am a huge fan of Smith's Renko novels. Gorkey Park is one of my favorite thrillers of all time. This was a disappointment though. it really felt like the book was being phoned in. weak on character development, weak on plot, low on surprises. Renko isn't even as cynical as we have come to expect. i'm still looking forward to the next one thought....

Okay, I enjoy Clancy despite the fact that my politics are significantly different from his, but this book is over the top. I have never downloaded a book from Audible full of so much racist claptrap. The above (Ryan's remark on finding out that lots of toys are made in China) is about as mild as it gets in this book. Where the casual racism gets really offensive is the point where Ryan visits Auschwitz and Clancy uses the detour to reflect on America's role to protect the world against racist regimes that might do the same. Given the content of the book, that borders on the unforgivably offensive. Clancy's editor must have been asleep at the wheel. Give this one a pass.

This is an absolutely great listen. I have learned a tremendous amount from this book. It is worth noting that this is a classic, liberal account which seems to work from the assumption that the great tragedy of the war is that the liberal and progressive idea of Algerie Francais was never realized. It is a bit dated in language at times. But overall, it's a riveting account.

I really enjoyed Beat the Reaper, and this was as good or better. Bazell writes at the edge of the absurd, is fast paced, and laugh-out-loud funny. My only complaint about this book is that I found it pretty hard to get anything else done until I finished it...

This one squeaked through the cracks of attempts to find the next Steig Larsson. It's written (or translated) in a fairly disjointed style. It's plot and climax are overburdened with coincidence. The author seems to acknowledge this by throwing in lines like "it seemed an unbelievable chain of coincidences." That really doesn't make up for the poorly constructed plot. I'd give this one a pass.

I'm not sure there's much to recommend this, unfortunately. The story is pretty minimal at best and the character development certainly doesn't make up for the lack of plot. Joe Pantoliano's voice is interspersed with Joe Barrett's narration. This is not only jarring, but Pantoliano overacts each of the characters to the point where this sounds like a 17 hour long ethnic joke. Your credits and money are better spent elsewhere.

It's nice to see that now Audible has listed Joe Hurley as a second reader of this book. They didn't when I purchased the book. Be warned. The book is great. Depp is great. He disappears about four hours in and is replaced by Joe Hurley, who is absolutely abysmal. Terrible cockney accent that slips at strange places. Terrible renditions of American Southern accents. Hurley succeeds in making Richards sound like an absolute idiot. I'm about 2/3rds of the way through the book and desperately hoping that Depp comes back soon. I've had pretty close to as much Hurley as I can stomach.

but entertaining. It's worth the listen, but don't expect greatness. The book drags in places, but one gets the sense that the next installment will be really fun.

This book is: gleefully racist, slow, and bad in pretty much every way you can think. Also, let us hope that those in charge of our national security are not as dumb as the central characters in this book. If so, we are all in serious trouble.

I have really enjoyed all of David Hosp's other books. This one is terrible by comparison. Boring, cheesy, predictable. Also, this narrator just does not hold a candle to George Guidall.