-
Illegal
- A Novel
- Narrated by: Chris Andrew Ciulla
- Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Editorial reviews
Paul Levine’s thriller follows lawyer Jimmy "Royal" Payne as he flees painful memories as well as angry men looking to inflict real physical pain. Bad luck and poor decisions have led him to this dark place when he meets Tino Perez, a 12-year-old Mexican illegal immigrant whose mother has gone missing while crossing the border. To help young Tino, Payne must enter a world of human trafficking, rape, and murder in this hard-boiled edge-of-your-seat audiobook. Chris Ciulla lends the story a hard and fast performance with a touch of cynicism that Royal wears like badge. This is a modern thriller whose sordid backdrop is described in great detail and which you won't want to pause.
Publisher's summary
Trial lawyer Jimmy “Royal” Payne was his own worst enemy - until now. Haunted by personal tragedy and wanted by the cops, Payne needs to skip town. What he doesn’t need is Tino Perez, a gutsy twelve-year-old Mexican boy in search of his missing - and undocumented - mother. But Payne’s ex-wife, an L.A.P.D. detective he still loves, makes him a deal: help the boy or go to jail. Soon Payne is following Tino into the darker side of the American dream. From bloody Mexicali to the bullet-ridden San Joaquin Valley, Payne is be swept into the dark current of illegal immigration, human trafficking, and sexual slavery - all the while, navigating the twisted border between justice and revenge.
More from the same
Related to this topic
-
To Speak for the Dead
- Jake Lassiter Legal Thrillers, Book 1
- By: Paul Levine
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Defending a surgeon in a malpractice case, Jake Lassiter begins to suspect that his client is innocent of negligence...but guilty of murder. Add a sexy widow, a deadly drug, and a grave robbery to the stew, and you have Miami's trial of the century.
-
-
Jake Lassiter is not your typical hero...
- By shelley on 03-30-17
By: Paul Levine
-
Fourth of July Creek
- A Novel
- By: Smith Henderson
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews, Jenna Lamia
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After trying to help Benjamin Pearl, an undernourished, nearly feral 11-year-old boy living in the Montana wilderness, social worker Pete Snow comes face-to-face with the boy's profoundly disturbed father, Jeremiah. With courage and caution, Pete slowly earns a measure of trust from this paranoid survivalist itching for a final conflict that will signal the coming End Times. But as Pete's own family spins out of control, Pearl's activities spark the full-blown interest of the FBI, putting Pete at the center of a massive manhunt from which no one will emerge unscathed.
-
-
The Ghost of Tom Joad & the Wrath of Grapes
- By Mel on 06-30-14
By: Smith Henderson
-
The Neon Rain
- A Dave Robicheaux Novel
- By: James Lee Burke
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times best-selling author James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux novels began with this first hard-hitting entry in the series. In The Neon Rain, Detective Robicheaux fishes a prostitute's corpse from a New Orleans bayou and finds that no one, not even the law, cares about a dead hooker.
-
-
Where it all began.
- By 9S on 12-06-09
By: James Lee Burke
-
Coyote Blue
- By: Christopher Moore
- Narrated by: James Jenner
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With New York Times best-sellers like Bloodsucking Fiends to his credit, Christopher Moore has developed a devoted cult following. Coyote Blue introduces Samuel Hunter, a young man who's running from his past while being tormented by an ancient Crow God with a talent for mischief.
-
-
ehhhh...
- By Michelle on 08-17-09
-
A False Dawn
- By: Tom Lowe
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before the death of his wife, Sean O'Brien makes a promise to her that he has no plans to break - until he starts building a new life in an old cabin on a remote stretch of a tropical river in the heart of Florida. It's there that he discovers an injured young woman who whispers a cryptic message into his ear.
-
-
Wonderful first novel in the Sean O'Brien series
- By Wayne on 05-07-17
By: Tom Lowe
-
The Hundredth Man
- Carson Ryder/Harry Nautilus #1
- By: Jack Kerley
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When bizarre and cryptic messages are found on a pair of corpses in Mobile, Alabama, junior police detective Carson Ryder and veteran cop Harry Nautilus find themselves in a mysterious public-relations quagmire pitting public safety against office politics. With the body count growing, Ryder must confront his family's terrifying past by seeking advice from his brother, a violent psychopath convicted of similarly heinous crimes.
-
-
Definitely a case for Matthew McConnaghey
- By Cheryl on 08-19-14
By: Jack Kerley
-
To Speak for the Dead
- Jake Lassiter Legal Thrillers, Book 1
- By: Paul Levine
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Defending a surgeon in a malpractice case, Jake Lassiter begins to suspect that his client is innocent of negligence...but guilty of murder. Add a sexy widow, a deadly drug, and a grave robbery to the stew, and you have Miami's trial of the century.
-
-
Jake Lassiter is not your typical hero...
- By shelley on 03-30-17
By: Paul Levine
-
Fourth of July Creek
- A Novel
- By: Smith Henderson
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews, Jenna Lamia
- Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After trying to help Benjamin Pearl, an undernourished, nearly feral 11-year-old boy living in the Montana wilderness, social worker Pete Snow comes face-to-face with the boy's profoundly disturbed father, Jeremiah. With courage and caution, Pete slowly earns a measure of trust from this paranoid survivalist itching for a final conflict that will signal the coming End Times. But as Pete's own family spins out of control, Pearl's activities spark the full-blown interest of the FBI, putting Pete at the center of a massive manhunt from which no one will emerge unscathed.
-
-
The Ghost of Tom Joad & the Wrath of Grapes
- By Mel on 06-30-14
By: Smith Henderson
-
The Neon Rain
- A Dave Robicheaux Novel
- By: James Lee Burke
- Narrated by: Will Patton
- Length: 8 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York Times best-selling author James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux novels began with this first hard-hitting entry in the series. In The Neon Rain, Detective Robicheaux fishes a prostitute's corpse from a New Orleans bayou and finds that no one, not even the law, cares about a dead hooker.
-
-
Where it all began.
- By 9S on 12-06-09
By: James Lee Burke
-
Coyote Blue
- By: Christopher Moore
- Narrated by: James Jenner
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With New York Times best-sellers like Bloodsucking Fiends to his credit, Christopher Moore has developed a devoted cult following. Coyote Blue introduces Samuel Hunter, a young man who's running from his past while being tormented by an ancient Crow God with a talent for mischief.
-
-
ehhhh...
- By Michelle on 08-17-09
-
A False Dawn
- By: Tom Lowe
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Before the death of his wife, Sean O'Brien makes a promise to her that he has no plans to break - until he starts building a new life in an old cabin on a remote stretch of a tropical river in the heart of Florida. It's there that he discovers an injured young woman who whispers a cryptic message into his ear.
-
-
Wonderful first novel in the Sean O'Brien series
- By Wayne on 05-07-17
By: Tom Lowe
-
The Hundredth Man
- Carson Ryder/Harry Nautilus #1
- By: Jack Kerley
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When bizarre and cryptic messages are found on a pair of corpses in Mobile, Alabama, junior police detective Carson Ryder and veteran cop Harry Nautilus find themselves in a mysterious public-relations quagmire pitting public safety against office politics. With the body count growing, Ryder must confront his family's terrifying past by seeking advice from his brother, a violent psychopath convicted of similarly heinous crimes.
-
-
Definitely a case for Matthew McConnaghey
- By Cheryl on 08-19-14
By: Jack Kerley
-
Practical Demonkeeping
- By: Christopher Moore
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Christopher Moore's ingenious debut novel, we meet one of the most memorably mismatched pairs in the annals of literature. The good-looking one is one-hundred-year-old ex-seminarian and "roads" scholar Travis O'Hearn. The green one is Catch, a demon with a nasty habit of eating most of the people he meets.
-
-
I named my cat after the demon Catch
- By colleen on 08-24-11
-
A Drink Before the War
- By: Dennis Lehane
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With novels like Mystic River and Shutter Island, Dennis Lehane has dramatically altered the landscape of the crime thriller—while boldly overstepping the boundaries that have long separated mystery from literature. Now two of his sensational early novels have been combined in a single volume—two gritty and mesmerizing masterworks of suspense featuring the private eye duo of Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro.
-
-
White Bread
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 06-30-12
By: Dennis Lehane
-
Blackbirds
- Miriam Black, Book 1
- By: Chuck Wendig
- Narrated by: Emily Beresford
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Miriam Black knows when you will die. Still in her early twenties, she’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, suicides, and slow deaths by cancer. But when Miriam hitches a ride with truck driver Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days he will be gruesomely murdered while he calls her name. Miriam has given up trying to save people; that only makes their deaths happen. No matter what she does, she can’t save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she’ll have to try.
-
-
Not for the faint of heart or kids but exciting
- By Steph on 04-07-14
By: Chuck Wendig
-
Playing Dead
- A Novel
- By: Julia Heaberlin
- Narrated by: Madeleine Lambert
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The perfume-scented letter that turns Tommie McCloud’s world upside down arrives from a stranger only days after her father’s death. The woman who wrote it claims that Tommie is her daughter—and that she was kidnapped as a baby thirty-one years ago. Tommie wants to believe it’s all a hoax, but suddenly a girl who grew up on a Texas ranch finds herself inextricably linked to a horrific past: the slaughter of a family in Chicago, the murder of an Oklahoma beauty queen, and the kidnapping of a little girl named Adriana.
-
-
I tried but I just couldn't
- By Kathryn on 09-17-12
By: Julia Heaberlin
-
Brighton
- A Novel
- By: Michael Harvey
- Narrated by: Stephen Mendel
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Kevin Pearce - baseball star, honor student, the pride of Brighton - was 15 when he left town in the back of his uncle's cab. He and his buddy, Bobby Scales, had just committed heinous violence for what they thought were the best of reasons. Kevin didn't want a pass, but he was getting it anyway. Bobby would stay and face the music; Kevin's future would remain as bright as ever. At least that was the way things were supposed to work, except in Brighton things never work the way they're supposed to.
-
-
Mystery gets no better.
- By William H. Harrington on 10-27-18
By: Michael Harvey
-
The Brotherhood of the Wheel
- By: R. S. Belcher
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 14 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In AD 1119, a group of nine crusaders became known as the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon - a militant monastic order charged with protecting pilgrims and caravans traveling on the roads to and from the Holy Land. In time, the Knights Templar would grow in power and, ultimately, be laid low. But a small offshoot of the Templars endure and have returned to the order's original mission: to defend the roads of the world and guard those who travel on them.
-
-
Epic Battle Brewing
- By Doug D. Eigsti on 03-29-16
By: R. S. Belcher
-
Niceville
- By: Carsten Stroud
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
- Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A boy literally disappears from Main Street. A security camera captures the moment of his instant, inexplicable vanishing. An audacious bank robbery goes seriously wrong: Four cops are gunned down; a TV news helicopter is shot and spins crazily out of the sky, triggering a disastrous cascade of events that ricochet across twenty different lives over the course of just 36 hours. Nick Kavanaugh, a cop with a dark side, investigates. Soon he and his wife, Kate, a distinguished lawyer from an old Niceville family, find themselves struggling to make sense of it all.
-
-
Good Story- Wrong Reader
- By Stacy on 06-28-14
By: Carsten Stroud
-
Crimes in Southern Indiana
- Stories
- By: Frank Bill
- Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With this critically acclaimed debut collection, Frank Bill announces himself as an author of fiercely defined vision. In these vivid tales, Bill’s southern Indiana proves a literary destination of immense nuance, even as his mostly working-class characters cry out in voices that cannot be denied.
By: Frank Bill
-
Ransom River
- By: Meg Gardiner
- Narrated by: Angela Dawe
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rory Mackenzie is juror number seven on a high-profile murder case in her hometown of Ransom River, California. It's a place she vowed never to visit again, after leaving behind its surfeit of regret and misfortune and the specter of a troubled past that threatened to disturb the town's peaceful façade. Brilliant yet guarded, Rory has always felt like an outsider. She retreated into herself when both her career aspirations and her love affair with a childhood friend, undercover cop Seth Colder, were destroyed in a tragic accident.
-
-
"Betrayal and Justice For All"
- By Empress Karen on 06-19-15
By: Meg Gardiner
-
The Blue Edge of Midnight
- By: Jonathon King
- Narrated by: Nick Sullivan
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Max Freeman's old life ended on a night that will haunt him forever. The night he killed a twelve-year-old child in self-defense in a Philadelphia shootout. The night he stopped being a cop. Now he lives a solitary existence on the edge of the Florida Everglades, where he answers to no one but the demons that eat away at his conscience. When he finds the corpse of a child beside an ancient river and another child goes missing, all eyes turn to Freeman.
-
-
Florida swamp thriller
- By Donald on 12-23-10
By: Jonathon King
-
The Watchman
- An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel, Book 11
- By: Robert Crais
- Narrated by: James Daniels
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At last, the enigmatic partner of Elvis Cole (The Two Minute Rule) takes center stage in this pulse-racing thriller. When Joe Pike is charged with safeguarding a wealthy heiress, he discovers protecting the sole witness to a crime is nothing compared to protecting an LA party girl from her own self-destruction.... Larkin Conner Barkley lives like the City of Angels is hers for the taking. Then suddenly she sees another car’s metal-on-metal explosion of a terrible accident and, dazed, finds herself the single witness in a secret federal investigation.
-
-
Joe Pike is a real person: no longer a cartoon.
- By Richard Delman on 05-05-17
By: Robert Crais
-
Dangerous Refuge
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Lowell
- Narrated by: Betsy Zajko
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beautiful, sweet Shay and dark, dangerous Tanner don′t have a lot in common. He′s a suspicious big city cop come home to his family′s ranch and she′s a bleeding heart who works for a group that seeks out ranches to conserve after the owners have passed away. But the suspicious death of Tanner′s uncle at his ranch throws the two opposites together and sparks fly.
-
-
SADLY, IT'S NOT UP TO HER USUAL STANDARDS
- By CAROLYN 🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹 on 04-12-13
By: Elizabeth Lowell
What listeners say about Illegal
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amy
- 04-28-14
A Great first book to listen to on Audible
Who was your favorite character and why?
Tino. I grew to love his responses to situations.
What about Chris Andrew Ciulla’s performance did you like?
I couldn't believe it was just him. I felt like there were many different people performing this story for me.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
The ending made me cry because I got so invested in the relationship between Tino and his mother.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- OAB
- 06-03-21
Hard to stop listening to .
Went to bed listening to the book.. Fell asleep,woke up,rewinded,listened repeated until finished. Great story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- LA Bos
- 03-26-14
Nice Legal Thriller
Would you consider the audio edition of Illegal to be better than the print version?
Yeah, I think so. The narrator did a great job with the tension, the situations, and the different people. It added a lot to the story, where your imagination may not take you there otherwise.
Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?
Yes. I didn't know what the outcome was going to be for Tino, for Jimmy, Marisol, etc. It had a really good mix of suspense and violence. Paul Levine is a good author.
Which character – as performed by Chris Andrew Ciulla – was your favorite?
Loved Jimmy Payne as the lead. Also liked Chitwood, and Simeon Rutledge.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Sad story about human trafficking and a scumbag rancher. But it's fiction. I'm cool with it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bon Wilhelm
- 08-02-22
Satisfiying
I love thrillers. . This 1 has very engaging characters that is to say the characters that I liked. The antagonists were as evil as the protagonists we're likable. The story maintains an allegro pace. This was my 1st book by Levine and I can't wai to download my next. Narrator was excellent too.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Evan Makovsky
- 03-31-14
Great listen and what an intense ride
Where does Illegal rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Second
Who was your favorite character and why?
Jimmy Payne. The intensity and cadence in the narrator's voice really portrayed Jimmy's internal straggle.
What about Chris Andrew Ciulla’s performance did you like?
He was completely dialed in to the performance. You could get on board with the listen because the narrator was so passionate.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
No it was too long, but sad to end each session.
Any additional comments?
I look forward to more work from the narrator.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nane
- 02-24-20
didn't finish
language ruins the story. Couldn't find the story for the profanity. so tired of author who cant express themselves without foul language
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Wayne
- 01-31-16
Great opening chapters; very vivid characters!
There is a lot to like about Illegal. The book starts off with a great scene and the characters are vivid. Although the protagonist is a lawyer, the novel is really an action thriller rather than a legal thriller. One the negative side the novel gets repetitive and boring in the middle chapters of the book; nevertheless, based on the strength of the opening and closing chapters Illegal earns a solid 4 star rating.
RECOMMENDED!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- TH
- 07-12-16
Not one of the best stories, but not terrible
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
It was okay. It didn't have the same wit and humor as Jake Lassiter and Solomon & Lord books, and the pace was a lot slower.
Would you be willing to try another book from Paul Levine? Why or why not?
of course, I've enjoyed several of his books.
What three words best describe Chris Andrew Ciulla’s voice?
He would be a great narrator for one of those crime shows on Investigation Discovery.
Could you see Illegal being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
probably Timonthy Olyphant as Payne...Mirielle Enos as his estranged wife....Ian McShane as Rutledge...not sure on the others.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Book Bug!
- 04-14-21
Great Read!
Once again the author delivers a book with a lot of twists and turns! An Exceptional story, as it has you examine how we would behave if the story was our own and we had such a loss was our own.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- happyjo
- 12-02-17
Where's mama?
Fast moving with lots of crooked characters. Enjoyable rowdy romp to save a missing woman.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!