AMOK

A Dox Thriller

By: Barry Eisler

Narrated by: Barry Eisler

Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

When the government offers a twenty-six-year-old former Marine a five-figure payday, there’s only one question: Who does he have to kill?

1991. A restless young man called Dox is back home in Texas. His friends have missed him, and his mother and sisters need him. But after four years as a Marine and another two as a CIA contractor fighting the Soviet Union alongside the Afghan mujahideen, small-town life in Abilene is a suffocating dead end.

Another secret war, this one in Southeast Asia, offers a big payday and the solution to his family’s troubles. But secret wars are never what they’re billed to be, and Dox is about to get the education of his young life. Among the lessons—the only thing more dangerous than war is falling in love with your enemy.

©2022 Barry Eisler (P)2022 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Last seen in 2021’s The Chaos Kind, former Marine sniper Dox, a supporting character in bestseller Eisler’s John Rain and Livia Lone franchises, takes center stage…The speedy pace and skillful scene-setting remain Eisler trademarks.”—Publishers Weekly

“The heart and soul of Amok make it much more than a simple story of guns and violence and transcends it to an emotional tale packing quite a punch.”—Best Thriller Books

Was hard to get interested in.

I almost sent the book back twice. The first part of this book took way to long to get to the really story. It finally kept my interest by chapter 20. It ended up be a pretty good book and I liked the author being the narrator.

Fantastic book!!

I loved the narration and all the characters. Very good listen. Great ending and hopefully more to come of Dox.

Impactful and beautiful

Very captivating backstory on Dox. Loved every moment!

The narration is superb as always, bringing a character to life! Emotional, funny and passionate!

Great

I loved the story of Dox. I hope he continues to write a Dox series.

A Nice Insight into Dox

Mr. Eisler has done it again and this time he gives us some insight on who Dox is. I really enjoyed listening to the story as it played out to us through the author. I really love the John Rain series and this is no exception

Fantastic book

Book was fantastic! Great backstory on dox although you don’t have to be familiar with the series to pick up the book and run with it!

Dox was always the best character…

from the original series. I am glad to see he has his own backstory now.

PLEASE do more on Dox!

A look at a younger Dox....

This book was a look back in time to a time period in the younger Dox's life. The time period of this book is set in 1991 and it gave us a very slight view of his prior family life - along with some insight into his father and the situation that precipitated his father's incarceration. We also got to understand a bit about his relationship with his sister and mother - who apparently had a very hard life before their husband and father was sent away to prison. Dox was only 10 years old when that occurred, and this book did a really good job of helping the reader to understand his confusing mixture of feelings. The love for the father that he remembered as a young boy, while also trying to understand that his father did awful, awful things to the women in his family. Roy - his father - is up for parole, and Dox is being asked by the women in his family to testify on behalf of the family to oppose the release of his father.

It becomes very apparent, very quickly that his father is not a nice man. Roy has learned not only to survive during his time in prison, but to thrive. He did this by not only killing the leader of a rival prison gang, but doing it in a way that made him a prisoner to be afraid of. Dox, who is not sure what the right response is supposed to be, ends up taking a job from the Company in Asia to escape the situation.

As a reader who has read every single book in the John Rain series, as well as in all of the spin offs, Dox is a truly beloved character. I adore him and he has always been one of my favorite characters. I have had the pleasure of watching Dox grow and mature and have watched him handle many difficult and trying situations. He is a man who wears his heart on his sleeve while at the same time being an amazing sniper with amazing skills.

This was interesting because this is a younger Dox, and not as hardened - at least in the beginning of this book. We can see how the events in this book serve as a catalyst - unfortunately - and take away some of the innocence that makes him so unique and endearing.

Without going into spoilers, this is truly just a side story of events that happen to him during this assignment. Of course, what he was told about the job and what ended up happening were completely at odds, but isn't that how it usually ends up? Even with everything going on, we still see his personality and his beliefs shine through. Those are constants that have not changed throughout the time that we have known him.

This was an in depth look at a young Dox and I ended up enjoying it for what it was. It also made me realize that I miss this series and am looking forward to seeing more from this world - with either more from John Rain or from Livia Lone.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. The opinions above are mine and mine alone.

Loved the Dox backstory, told by Eisler

We have met Dox in the John Rain books and found him interesting. Learning about where he came from and how he got his start makes me want to go back and read those books again. This is a terrific story on its own. Barry Eisler is a fantastic performer as well as author.

Barry Eisler at his best.

One of Barry Eisler's best. The story The characters the performance are all top notch.