Lethal Circuit

A Michael Chase Spy Thriller, Book 1

By: Lars Guignard

Narrated by: Ben Sullivan

Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

WARNING: You will not be able to let it go until you listen to the very last minute.

From Best-selling Amazon author Lars Guignard comes the number-one turbo-charged, action spy thriller Lethal Circuit.





A Chinese satellite is on a crash course with Earth. It contains enough plutonium to irradiate a large city. 
And that's the good news.... 


Michael Chase is a 26-year-old backpacker, a recent college graduate, an amateur. He flew to Hong Kong to find his missing father. Four hours later, he's running for his life. The Chinese secret police want him dead. The Conspiracy wants him dead. And the one person who he thinks is on his side, may want him dead too. If Michael is going to live, he'll need to find a hidden piece of Nazi technology lost since World War II. And he'll have to do it before anyone else. Because if he doesn't, a little plutonium is going to be the least of his problems. Can Michael Chase team up with a beautiful but deadly MI6 agent to locate a lethal piece of Nazi technology that will save the world? 



If you can't get enough of the action of Lee Child and Vince Flynn, the intrigue of Robert Ludlum, and the adventure of Clive Cussler and James Rollins, you are going to love Lethal Circuit!

©2011, 2012 Lars Guignard (P)2013 Lars Guignard

Excellent techno-thriller

Would you consider the audio edition of Lethal Circuit to be better than the print version?

No. There are definitely editing problems. The narrator has a very pleasant voice and does well at differentiating between the various characters, but the editing issues take away from the listening experience.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Lethal Circuit?

The ending was a surprise.

What didn’t you like about Ben Sullivan’s performance?

I enjoyed his performance. I don't see the editing problems as his fault.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not one in particular. I liked how Michael took everything his dad taught him over the years and used it all to survive.

Any additional comments?

If a different studio is used for book 2, Blown Circuit I would listen to it. Otherwise, I'll stick with reading.

Intense adventure full of mystery and action.

The thing that stands out the most to me is definitely the writing and how this book was written. I love how the author decided to include flashback chapters. They really brought the story to life with all the extra background. There were lots of metaphors and other fancy writing techniques that strengthened the writing.

There were stories within stories and everything was woven together really nicely. The story lines maximized the effect of the cliffhangers. The suspense build up was totally crazy and awesome. I just love how action packed this story was and how there was always something going on. At least for me, the book never really slowed down and just kept a moderate-fast pace.

My only issues include the beginning being a little confusing. I wasn't really sure what was happening but after about a chapter or two, I got a hold of the situation. And about the audiobook itself, I felt like the reading was a bit slow. It's okay though because I just listened to the whole thing on 1.25x. Overall it was nice reading.

Great thrill ride!

I received a code for this audiobook for free in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, what a rush! Lethal Circuit by Lars Guignard is an intense ride that never stops. The mystery and the thrill of the story kept me on the edge of my seat. Since I was listening to the story, rather than actually holding a book or my Kindle, my hands were anxious to be busy. :) I was urging the narrator to read faster, to get me to the next part! I enjoyed the story…there was a lot going on and I just wanted things to work out for Michael. It felt like I was watching a TV show~there was so much action and excitement! For lovers of mysteries, thrillers, and spy stories, you shouldn’t miss Lethal Circuit by Lars Guignard!

Narration Recorded on a Dell in a Bathroom

This might be a competently crafted book. It's hard to tell. The amateurish narration and nightmarishly bad audio quality completely overwhelm the author's words. I applaud the fact that the author was able to get this do-it-yourself project on Audible. It does, however, make you appreciate the expensive professional actors, sound engineers, and editors that publishers provide.

Great Story, Mediocre Narrator

It didn’t start off with a bang, nor did it crawl at the beginning. Instead I simply settled in a listened carefully to everything that was happening. The pace throughout the book was very solid. Yes there was a few slow spots however these were always followed up with something unexpected happening that propelled the story forward once more and made me suddenly forget that the slow spot ever happened. Along the way I found that clues were expertly woven into the story, so much so that I actually missed a number of them initially and it wasn’t until something happened as a result of that clue that I realized what I had missed and it made me wonder what other subtleties I have overlooked along the way.

Though I never felt a full connection to any of the characters in this book I wasn’t bothered by this fact. Normally if I don’t have a connection to the characters than the story is harder to get into. However in the case of Lethal Circuit I found that the story itself was more important to me than the characters, they were simply there to propel things forward and to add some insight to events. There were some characters that stood out, especially among the minor roles, but with how well things were hidden within the story I couldn’t guess how important their roles would become or what their connections to events would be.

There comes a time when every reader finds that one book that takes them by surprise. Lethal Circuit was that book to me. When I started listening to it I found that it was good, not great, but good. Interesting? Yes. Intriguing? Absolutely! But it hadn’t blown me away instantly. However I wasn’t fooled. I could feel that things were building up, it might take a little while, but at some point I would suddenly be blown away by what was happening in the story. I am happy to say that that is exactly what happened.

Really the only thing I can say that I didn’t one hundred percent care about with this book was the narrator, Ben Sullivan. Overall he was pretty good. What bothered me was how he would use different voices to describe things such as what a certain character was seeing, their thoughts, describing certain events and especially when he spoke of things from Michael’s past, such as what his father had taught him as a child. I would have preferred to have him stick to his regular voice at these times and only use different voices when dealing with narrative from the various characters. In fact it was this that made me give the book four and a half stars instead of five stars.

Because of the way the story progresses I feel that I can’t go into much detail about what I truly liked with this book without giving away too much. The ending caught me somewhat by surprise and afterwards I wanted to listen to the audiobook again so that I could catch all the little things I had missed along the way. This was a truly well written and thought out book. The way that things were presented, clues hidden while others were put out in the open, characters playing varied roles while often keeping their true intentions locked away and most importantly the ending the sneaks up on the reader and proves that even if all the clues are caught that the answer may not be as easy or as obvious as it had seemed.

I would certainly recommend this book not just to those that enjoy audiobooks but also to those who enjoy mysteries and thrillers and those who are looking to get into that genre.
I will definitely be checking out the second book in the series, Blown Circuit, as I am looking forward to what adventures Michael has next.

A Rough Start, But A Strong Ending

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend this to friends who enjoy thrillers, especially those who get through books very quickly.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Ben Sullivan?

Yes. Ben Sullivan has a deep voice that is perfect for this type of book.

Any additional comments?

The book started out so quickly that I had a hard time getting my bearings and connecting to the characters. Once I understood what was going on, I began to enjoy the story. While there were a few story lines that left me puzzled at the end, the book concluded in a way that left me satisfied overall.

Exciting, politically charged spy thriller

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This was an exciting, politically charged spy thriller. There were lots of twists and turns and surprises that I never saw coming. It made for a very thrilling story, although I did find the political and historical parts a bit hard to follow.

The narration itself was okay. The voice fit the character, and while there wasn’t a lot of variation between the characters, it did feel authentic. The production of the audiobook was quite another thing; it was not well done at all. There were obvious starts and stops, and the quality was not consistent.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

There were a lot of secrets revealed at the end, so the next book in series should be completely different from this one. This story was fairly well wrapped up although there were quite a few things left open.

Great thriller

If you could sum up Lethal Circuit in three words, what would they be?

After Michael’s father went missing, he made it his mission to fly to China and try to find him. After arriving to China, he is suddenly mistaken for a spy and is being haunted by Chinese police. But after locating the video of his father just few months earlier, he has hope and it’s up to him to solve the puzzle. Even after learning the truth about his father makes him question everything.

On top of that, he needs to located a hidden piece of Nazi technology lost since World War II. But people surrounding him might not be who they say they are and Michael Chase needs to remember all of the lessons that his father taught him.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

This was very entertaining audiobook. The action, the characters, and the story was very well developed. Even when you read the summary of the book and know what to expect – there are still enough twists to keep the story refreshing and interesting. The narrator was perfect for the story, although there was some changes with the voice which made me very confused. It’s like for 10 seconds you get another guy starting to talk in the middle of the sentence. Overall, it’s awesome book for anyone who enjoys thrillers.