Black Coke

By: James Grenton

Narrated by: Jim Hickey

Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

Deep in the jungles of Colombia, a brutal and fast-growing drugs cartel has genetically-modified cocaine to make it 10 times more powerful and addictive than any other drug. They call it: BLACK COKE.

Nathan Kershner is an agent with the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency and a former Special Forces operative. Often working undercover, he has single-handedly brought down some of the most wanted criminals in the world.

But when he clashes with the drugs cartel and tries to stem the flow of Black Coke into Europe and the US, he finds himself up against his most difficult assignment yet.

On a mission that takes him from the crack houses of North London to the underground drug labs of southern Colombia, Nathan enters the darkest regions of the war on drugs, where treachery, greed, and violence reign.

With the drugs cartel growing in power by the day, Nathan has to decide just how far he is prepared to go to avert disaster.

Warning: This book contains scenes of violence that may upset some listeners.

About the author: After 15 years in the international development sector, James burst onto the writing scene in 2011 with his debut novel, The Somali Doctrine, which tells the story of an Interpol agent's mission to stop the two madmen who have taken control of the world's largest NGO. Black Coke is his second novel.

©2011 Nicolas Sireau (P)2015 Nicolas Sireau

THe Worst Ever...

What would have made Black Coke better?

Plot, character development, better reader.

Has Black Coke turned you off from other books in this genre?

No, but I will be more discriminating.

How could the performance have been better?

Reader's female voice portrayal is horrible.

just read it

the narration is bad. I am going to have to read this book myself. it is starting off interesting but I cannot handle listen I g to the narrator trying to do different voices. it is terrible.

Predictable

What disappointed you about Black Coke?

Story line rather predictable, very few surprises. Main evil character's characteristics didn't add up. Large bulky person, yet when physically fighting very fast and agile almost inhumanly indestructible. Love story within the story barely hinted at, which wouldn't care if the mushy stuff was skipped altogether, but than all of a sudden they are in love. Maybe was more interesting if reading. I listened to the story and narrator was irritating at best, so I'm sure that deflected from the story.

What was most disappointing about James Grenton’s story?

See above answer.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Voice sounded like he was a robot. No smoothness to the voice, over dramatic at places. Just read the story with some emotion, but shouldn't sound like he is acting in a play. Sometimes wasn't sure which character was speaking, but some of that would be because of not the best writing.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Black Coke?

I would cut out most of the times the narrator spoke the date, which was the same date repeated over and over for the same day, but not the time, so it wasn't worth noting. Maybe skip dates read at beginning of chapter except when the it is a new day.

Any additional comments?

Wanted to quit listening in first chapter, but kept hoping it would get more interesting and parts of the book did. But, the narrator took a lot to adjust to.