Executive Actions

By: Gary Grossman

Narrated by: John McLain

Length: 20 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

An assassin takes aim at a Presidential candidate during a primary stump speech. The instant he pulls the trigger, the outcome of the election is irrevocably changed. But Democrat Teddy Lodge, an upcoming media sweetheart, isn't killed. His wife is. As a result, Lodge emerges as the man to beat and the greatest threat to the incumbent President, Morgan Taylor.

Under a specific directive from the President, Special Service Agent Scott Roarke delves into the case and begins to unravel a deadly plot that incubated for more than 30 years; designed to alter America's allegiances in the Middle East. From the first few seconds, Executive Actions culls events from today's headlines intersecting with a scenario that's shockingly real: An insidious plot hatched in the old days of the Soviet Union continues to grow to fruition in the hands of a power hungry Middle East heir to the throne. At its core, a sleeper is awakened to take a prominent role in American Life. Executive Actions is a tense political thriller; an election year page-turner, where both the Presidency and the Constitution are at stake.

©2012 Gary Grossman (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The best political thriller I have read in a long time, right up there with the very best of David Baldacci." (Michael Palmer, bestselling author of The Society)

"Grossman has done a lot of research on everything from political infighting to clandestine military operations, and he manages to hold reader interest right up to the inevitable conclusion." (Publisher's Weekly)

Exciting, entertaining story, so so narration.

I loved the story. If you go into the story, without too much scrutiny and allow the author a bit of room, then its an entertaining well paced exciting story.

If you don't allow the author some licence then I think it would be easy to dislike this book, particularly toward the end. If you love well constructed plausible plot lines keep away from this book. If you are willing to let the author string you along and don't think too deeply about the plausibility of the plot and the actions of some of the characters this is a cracking book.

I have mixed thoughts about the narrator, the deepness of his voice is off the scale and at first listen he sounds totally pretentious. I have a fairly high end car stereo, I had to turn down the bass to stop the car from shaking when the narrator spoke. Seriously!

When I first starting listening to this book, I hated the narration. I considered giving up on this book and returning it. The narrator quickly started to grow on me, particularly after turning down the bass on my car stereo. As I got used to the narrator and I also think he toned down some of the pretension after the first few chapters, I actually started to enjoy the book much more. On the positive side the narrator's pacing is quite good and the main character is noted in the story as having a distinctive voice.

I am off to buy the next book in the executive series.

Great Listen

I really enjoyed this book. I read all the usual suspects in this genre (Thor, Greaney, Flynn, etc. and I thought this complex story was right up there with them. I loved the intrigue and I especially enjoyed how the author ended the book. Often an author will just leave a cliffhanger which usually ticks me off because it holds me hostage to buy another. I liked how we know there is more to come from Scott Rourke but the reader is satisfied that everything important was cleared up in this one.

I highly critical and the first to point out bad narration and I don't know what some reviews are talking about. I thought the narrator did a fine job. Off to the next in this series!!!

Difficult listen but ok

I struggled with this one as the narrator was challenging to listen to. Deep, almost nasally sound at times. He doesn't change voices well, especially to female characters.
I think I would have enjoyed the story more if the narrator was better.

It's an ok story line. Keeps your interest with the characters, but a challenge to listen to.

A thrilling thriller

This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time! The ending was nothing short of thrilling! I now know which ones are the next books I will be listening to. Thank you to the author and the reader for hours of great entertainment!

Fantastic start

Espionage and spy novels almost always reflect the politics of their authors. I'm not complaining since I happen to worship at the altar of Brad Thor, Vince Flynn and Ben Coes, but their politics come through loud and clear. Not so with this novel or its successor novels. About halfway through the second of the three novels, I figured out the author's politics (and interestingly agreed with the author's critique of the actions of talk radio hosts) and by then I was HOOKED on this story.

I refuse to give the spoilers that any sort of substantive review would reveal. The theme of the story is that the wife of a candidate for President is accidentally assassinated during a speech the candidate is giving the latter part of a primary season. As the investigation progresses, many more deaths take place, seemingly unrelated. The lead character, a specially-assigned Secret Service agent, is left to track the assassin and to link the deaths. The novel is beautifully written and I listened very late into the night to go through the story and to find out what happens. I'd call it a "page turner" if I was reading in book form.

The only minor negative was the way in which the narrator performed a couple of the female voices; really snarky and crass and not how I "hear" the character speaking. The other warning that I have to give is that the author attempts to add bold sexuality and is unsuccessful. The sex scenes almost appear to be plugged in to fill in some sort of formula and the writing of the sexual scenes is not necessary to the story. Many other authors can allude to the sex without actually writing it. I'm not a prude, but the sex scenes are such that I can't let my teenager read a book that he would otherwise LOVE.

Immediately after finishing the first novel, I downloaded the second and then the third novels in the series. I simply could not stop listening to this series and cannot wait for another addition. Love the characters. Love the story. LOVE the lack of political in-your-face opinions. This is a great book.

BAM BAM liked this story and performance.

i listen to 10 to 15 a month and put this audiobook in the top 10% for entertainement.

phenomenal and extremely well-written storyline

the narrator's voice really bothered me at first, I didn't know if I was going to be able to finish because of the Cadence of his speech, give it a little bit and you won't even notice, this is the only audiobook that I have ever had such a hard time pressing pause on

Very good summer read

A great premise that was, for the most part, very well written. There are some cringe inducing passages (I found myself laughing my head off as well) when the author describes the characters' amorous encounters and there seem to be times when the author is merely 'filling pages' with irrelevant details but overall this is a fun summer read. The only negative is the narrator whom I can only describe as the teacher from Ferris Bueller saying Bueller...Bueller over and over again. Complete monotone except when he tries to do female voices and then he's just down right bad.

Different Plot and Twists in this Genre

A bit over the top at times but not a bad story. Not your standard conspiracy story. Characters are likable and developed enough. There is a bit of 'super hero' qualities given to the President. Story generally flows. This is a good book just not great. It isn't as sharp as it could be and at times feels contrived.

Thrilling

Well written and suspenseful. The narrator is very good and easy to understand. Couldn’t stop until forced to, and then couldn’t wait to continue.