Gideon's Sword

By: Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child

Narrated by: John Glover

Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

Introducing Gideon Crew: trickster, prodigy, master thief....

At 12, Gideon Crew witnessed his father, a world-class mathematician, accused of treason and gunned down.

At 24, summoned to his dying mother's bedside, Gideon learned the truth: His father was framed and deliberately slaughtered. With her last breath, she begged her son to avenge him.

Now, with a new purpose in his life, Gideon crafts a one-time mission of vengeance, aimed at the perpetrator of his father's destruction. His plan is meticulous, spectacular, and successful.

But from the shadows, someone is watching. A very powerful someone, who is impressed by Gideon's special skills. Someone who has need of just such a renegade.

For Gideon, this operation may be only the beginning....

©2011 Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child (P)2011 Hachette Audio

Yet another great Preston-Child character!

I liked this audible a lot. It was easy to listen to and understand.
Gideon Crew is yet another Preston-Child likable character. Agent Pendergast will always be my favorite but Gideon is clever and interesting too.

For the most part...

For the most part, the story was full and engaging. However, some of the characters action were improbable and didn't seem to go with their development. I will be getting the next book.

Not what I expected

I love Preston and Child. Pendergast is my man!! But Crew and the plot don’t seem to be as engaging. I’ll try the rest.

Felt a bit rushed.

The story was great. However, it isn't as carefully put together as the majority of the other books. I still say it's an enjoyable read or listen.

Technologically dated and silly

Much attention is given to obsolete bogus tech.
The reader could be AI for the dullness of the performance.
The story is preposterous.

Go ahead and try this one!

I don't know what some reviewers are upset about. This is an interesting new character that has adventures of his own, responding in his own way. I really enjoyed this book. Set Pendergast aside and give this a read!

Canned action with mediocre characters

Would you try another book from Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child and/or John Glover?

Absolutely. Preston and Child are an amazing team, but I stopped listening halfway through because of the repetitive

Loved the story.

The story was well written and intriguing really capturing the attention. I have only one complaint. I found the infrequent insertion of a background musical track distracting and unnerving. I listen to audible mostly while driving, which I do a lot, and suddenly hearing background noise while immersed in a story caused me alarm several times until nearly the end of the book when I was finally used to it. If I wanted music to enforce the moment or the mood, I would watch TV. I felt it detracted from the total immersion into a great story.

What's wrong with me?

I love the Pendergast books. Flat out. This book isn't a Pendergast book but it's not supposed to be. I listened to the book in a couple of days. I enjoyed the book, and I enjoyed the characters. Someone mentioned the music between the chapters. I've never been a fan of a musical segue between chapters or sections of a book, but it's not a big deal to me. I enjoyed the book, and I look forward to Gideon's maturing as a character. Despite his "prognosis", there is definitely potential for him to grow. Maybe he'll even meet Pendergast one day-there's already an obvious connection between them.

Has potential ...

… but a considerable distance to go before this protagonist can contribute to interesting plots in the same way that Aloysius X. L. Pendergast does. While Gideon Crew certainly doesn’t have to mirror Pendergast’s traits, he doesn’t seem to have the character that can anchor a sizzling plot - much less a series. In my opinion, Gideon is not yet that likeable or even a bit admirable.

As for future Crew books, Preston and Child also haven’t introduced supporting characters that might be able to carry part of a story load. Finally, the story and Crew’s adversaries seemed a bit simplistic – yielding an experience that was not up to the authors’ previous work.

John Glover did a solid job presenting a range of characters. Occasionally, however, I thought his presentation of Crew didn’t add to his likeability factor.