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

Hard to put down.

This books has accompanied me on many dog walks and the creation of 12 ceramic soap dishes! Loved every moment. Thank you

Pendergast fans beware

i bought extra credits in order to be able to buy this the minute it came out, which i did with enormous excitement. it bears absolutely no resemblance to the quirky, arcane books i've come to love from the authors, being a perfectly fine but rather formulaic --- to be honest, extremely formulaic --- ex thief goes on a spy job kind of thing. i understand that authors want to blaze new territory but i feel as if not only my favorite characters, pendergast et al, but my favorite authors, are gone...if you are looking for anything resembling the pendergast books or even the earlier preston/child books, this isn't it. john glover is a wonderful narrator, by the way. try THE SHERLOCKIAN, which is just grand

Gideon simply doesn't rise to his potential

the character Gideon was full of promise. Brilliant revenge can make for a sharp, page turning, uplifting story. But i think the authors fell short of their abilities. Certainly it's fun but the reader often has to suspend their intelligence. Gideon engages in highly risky and uncertain actions, when vastly simpler methods exist to achieve the same objective. UsuallyLee and Child's craft scenarios that have realistic contraints forcing the protaganist into difficult and critical situations. But in Gideon's Sword, the pretext for the contraints are weak at best. Usually just a request by Gideon's employer. But Gideon's uniqueness and strength is that abides by no rule but follows a higher moral code. I feel like the book was rushed to market and needed another major re-write so that most of the action sequences could be justified through a more thoughtful plot foundation.

A weak and helpless child watches as his father is killed and family name ruined; at his mother tells him on her death bed that his father was a patriot, honest, courageous and his alleged treason plus shooting was really a murder all created to provide a certain U.S. general with a scapegoat for a bad decision.

Gideon spends the next 10 years mastering his independence of people and entanglements earning his doctorate in applied physics while also secretly engaging in 2nd tier art museum theft for the his own appreciation needs and to fund his education and revenge expense, After graduating he gets a job as a junior scientist at Los Alamos helping make the next generation of nuclear bombs; he pursues trout fishing and planning to avenge his father's scapegoating and murders. Early in the book, he gets an information break with his 24/7 homemade, survelilance and hacking software- pursues and executes his revenge plan which with only one hiccup that is resolved in his favor due to the integrity of maybe his newest friend is completed successfully and he's back fishing.

Gideon's revenge is not the focus of the book, but really the calling card that gets him recruited into an alleged, private think tank and operations group run by its founder and enigmatic, mysterious man. The group allegedly provides contract services for U.S. federal agencies. the plot would be of interest to a multitude of federal agencies, but supposely it's all been contracted to this private company. There's no foundation for why this group is undertaking the assignment which become's the novel's primary plot. Gideon is clearly manipulated, by carrot, stick and everything between to pursue, versus turning down, his chosen assignment but he verfiy's his employer's legitamacy with nothing but a phone call- which is completely out-of-character for Gideon who is something of a "chestmaster" of field operations, That makes no sense. The nation's, perhaps world's balance of power is now in jeopardy, but rather than use official channels to recover some evidence in the evidence locker, Gideon must use his cunning to secret himself in and recover the information. There are lots of these small things that make the story less enjoyable. He's not to tell his mission to anyone. But he knows a certain person is at risk. Despite is brilliant and proven street smarts that let's him handle himself in the worst slums, and burned out buildings of Harlem, and his rocket scientist I.Q...is doesn't dawn on him to invent an altternative story that could equally communicate the danger. Moreover, the level of deception and intrigue in the novel makes his phone call verification a trivial effort at best. The author's had time to build a character team around Gideon, but I think dropped the ball. He leave's his first book with one technogeek friend, whose character is only a 1/4 as interesting as others that I can't discuss for giving too much away.

Overall the obsurdity of Gideon's stupidity deflates his character. Even so, Preston and Child's collaboration still makes for a fun, page turner that I am glad I read (listened to).

loved the story, HATED the sound effects

the narrator was good and the story was very engaging. it’s the kind of story you can’t put down. i look forward to more gideon crew. the only negative was the very annoying sound effects. the music and sound effects broke up the rhythm, mood and involvement in the story. it’s like being in a dark theatre, swept up in a movie. and bam, bright lights are on. you’re stunned, annoyed and you lose your place in the story. then the story re-starts but your immersion and enjoyment is lost for awhile. so please, no more sound effects or music, they ruin a story.

so-so book

this story requires a very large suspension of disbelief. that said, it's a lively, somewhat enjoyable story with lots of cliches.

Not their Best...

But pretty good nonetheless. The new character, Gideon, has potential but he is no Pendergast.

I liked it starting the next book now

Thought it was a pretty good story. I liked the narrator. going to start the 2nd book now!

What a change

I have loved all the Preston & Child books I have read. I was under impressed with the characters in this book - flawed characters with no redeeming qualities. Will give another listen based on the strength of the writers history.

I quite liked this one

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The author managed to turn a geek science lab technician into a almost

Crew is the perfect accidental hero!

Good character development and masterfully told. Could not put it down throughout. Thanks for a great story.