Red Cell

A Novel

By: Mark Henshaw

Narrated by: Rob Patterson

Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Red Cell follows Kyra Stryker and Jonathan Burke, two outcasts in the Agency who are brought together in the Red Cell, the agency’s out-of-the-box think tank. Stryker is a young and beautiful agent who’s struggling to recover from a job gone bad during her first assignment in Venezuela, while Burke is a straight-laced analyst who’s pissed off all his colleagues with his knack for always being right, political consequences be damned.

When a raid on Chinese spies in Taiwan ends in a shootout, CIA Director Cooke turns to the Red Cell to figure out why China is ready to invade the island nation without any fear of reprisal from the U.S. Navy. Stryker and Burke’s only lead is the top CIA informant in China, codenamed Pioneer, and they’re tasked with extracting him before the Chinese can get to him.

From the White House to a Navy battleship in the South China Sea, Henshaw takes listeners on a whirlwind race against time as Stryker and Burke try to save Pioneer and discover the hidden threat to America’s power and keeping the peace: China’s top secret weapon, the Assassin’s Mace.

©2012 Mark Henshaw (P)2012 Simon & Schuster

Story is great. Narrator is terrible.

They really ought to consider re-recording this with someone who knows how to narrate. The narrator took away from the story. I only finished this knowing the next books use a different narrator. Great story however, and totally believable.

Engaging Story, Robotic Narration

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

Yes - An engaging story with interesting characters that are satisfying my Alias, La Femme Nikita, Person Of Interest withdrawls.

But I'd also give them a heads up about the narration style.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I almost put down the book several times due to the narrator's stilted, robotic reading. Really distracting. However, the story hooked me; every time I was ready to put it down, I just gritted my teeth (or sped up the recording to 'chipmunk mode') because I wanted to hear more about Kyra and Jon.

Good Storyline

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a good spy novel.

Did Rob Patterson do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Rob did a fair job at differntiating the characters.

Any additional comments?

I think the editing needed improving. Repeated sentences and words were noticed of couple of times during the narration.

Great Read

One of the reasons I like to read book in this category is that some inner knowledge of
our government agencies is gained, since the author recently retired from the CIA there is probably about 100X more knowledge packed in to his book than any Flynn, Clancy, or Berenson novel. Of course "The Company" was excellent but that was the CIA from long ago. His characters were very interesting and likable and after finishing I was ready to download the next one but unfortunately he has not written it yet, so please Mark get to work!

Great story

All too often a good story is ruined due to a lack of understanding, not so with this one. Not only is the story plausible, the author took the time to research his facts. You won't want to pause this one!

Henshaw Puts the Reader In The CIA

Henshaw crafts a masterful story. Using his experience at the Red Cell and understanding of geopolitical dynamics he makes the story live and breathe.

You won’t be disappointed in this action packed thriller. The reader gets the actual feel of life as an agent and analyst at the CIA!

Loved it!!!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I loved the drama. Wasn't sure what to expect since I'd never read anything else by this author, but he sucked me right in in the first chapter. Hard to put down. I loved the fact that he told a gripping story without the foul language and sex that is so commonly found in 'adult' fiction. Kudos to Mark Henshaw for an excellent book that I can wholehearted recommend to my friends and family.

Good Book, Bad Narrator

This is one occasion when I would probably recommend the print book over the audio book.

I was not fond of the narrator of this book. He often sounded distant and uninterested in the material he was reading. There did not seem to be any enjoyment, warmth or character to his reading of the book. The conversation between the characters felt flat, emotionless and distant. The whole performance was more like listening to a court reporter and less like a well written novel.

I really enjoyed the book and think a better narrator would have only made it more enjoyable.

5 star story. 0 star narrator.

First, as a parent who likes to play audiobooks on regular speakers or in the car, I cannot overstate my appreciation for this author not using foul language. Imagine a writer who knows how to make an impression of stress or gruffness without f-bombs. Much better writing than using foul language as a crutch. Thank you so much.

The narration wad as poor as the writing was good. That I tolerated this awful narrator to the end is a testament to what a good book this is. If I had it to do again, I'd let Alexa read the Kindle book to me.

Excellent book!

This had me hooked from the first chapter! My only disappointment was there were serious vocal tone changes in random places in the narration which sounded like poor editing by the sound engineer.