Kill the Messenger

By: Tami Hoag

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

At the end of a long day battling street traffic, bike messenger Jace Damon has one last drop to make. But en route to delivering a package for one of L.A.'s sleaziest defense attorneys, he's nearly run down by a car, chased through back alleys, and shot at. Only the instincts acquired while growing up on the streets of L.A. allow him to escape with his life, and with the package someone wants badly enough to kill for.

Jace returns to Lenny Lowell's office only to find the cops there, the lawyer dead, and Jace himself considered the prime suspect in the savage murder. Suddenly he's on the run from both the cops and a killer, and the key to saving himself and his 10-year-old brother is the envelope he still has, which holds a message no one wants delivered: the truth.

In a city fueled by money, celebrity, and sensationalism, the murder of a bottom-feeding mouthpiece like Lenny Lowell won't make the headlines. So when detectives from the LAPD's elite robbery/homicide division show up, homicide detective Kev Parker wants to know why.

Robbery/Homicide has no reason to be looking at a dead small-time scumbag lawyer or chasing a bike messenger...unless there's something in it for them. Maybe Lenny Lowell had a connection to something big enough to be killed for. Parker begins a search for answers that will lead him to a killer, or the end of his career. Because if there's one lesson he's learned over the years, it's that in a town built on fantasy and fame, delivering the truth can be deadly.

©2004 Indelible Ink, Inc. (P)2004 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Hoag's success, evidenced once again in this engaging new thriller, is the triumph of substance over style. In a genre overrun with self-conscious jargon, brooding descriptions and fragments masquerading as sentences, her clean, measured prose - full, balanced sentences delivered at a steady pace - doesn't so much create an ominous mood as draw the reader into the worlds of her characters." (Publishers Weekly)

Great story

Another great Tami Hoag story. Narration was excellent. For me personally though I found some of the character background stories a bit long and detailed. I highly recommend this book to all mystery buffs. I certainly did not see the ending coming.

Grabbed you and kept you there.

This book was awesome. One of her best. With so many twists and turns, and what an ending. The narrator is one of my favorites too.

Loved this book!

Edge of your seat listening....great characters and storyline. I enjoyed this thoroughly.

Better than expected

Would you consider the audio edition of Kill the Messenger to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the print version

What did you like best about this story?

Once I got past the narrator, it was a really good story. I started to play this book in my car but my mind couldn't stick with it. The narrator's acting of characters was too similar and monotone for me. I got through the first hour of it and didn't remember one thing that happened. So I went back to the beginning to start over, to really focus on the story and found that this is a really good book. I liked the twists and turns.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Scott Brick?

His voice is clear and easy to understand, but he doesn't make a lot of changes for characters. Parts of the book were hard to follow due to not knowing which character he was in.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Any additional comments?

Good story, good characters, narrator made it hard to follow sometimes, but in typical Tami Hoag fashion, I was not disappointed.

Excellent!

Love Tami Hoag novels. This one was very well written and kept my interest from start to finish. Excellent performance by Scott Brock. There’s just something about when he is narrating that makes the story that much more enjoyable. Everything was tied in and tied up very well. Definitely worth the credit and the time spent listening.

Great thriller - grabs you from the start

This is an excellent LA cop story full of typical LA characters and details. Yet the story is fresh and the characters compelling. I finished I’d in a weekend and it was time well spent.

As always - Scott Brick totally nails the narration!

Difficult to

What do you get when you have an honest, well plotted story filled with people you like (and people you hate), an excellent writer and a superior narrator? You get an extraordinary audible book.

The production is crisp and Scott Brick is a pleasure to listen to. He does not intrude on the text of the book.

I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

Excellent

A thrilling plot, excellent character development, and terrific narration make for a superb "read."

I've enjoyed the other Tami Hoag books available on Audible, but this was even better because it was unabridged (and read by Scott Brick who always does a wonderful job).

If you like fast-paced mysteries, you won't go wrong with this one.

Kill the Messenger

A fast paced, well written, thrilling story with pathos and charm.
Read by my favorite reader, Scott Brick. A must for the thrill seekers out there.

Good story - disappointing end

The book was fast paced but had a poor ending
Probably won’t read anymore by this author