Terror Comes Knocking

By: Aaron Paul Lazar

Narrated by: Robert King Ross

Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Just before the American president is scheduled to appear in Sam Moore's hometown of East Goodland, Sam's retirement plans are delayed when his daughter, Beth, goes missing. Newly reunited with the spirit of his younger brother, Billy, who died 50 years ago, Sam is guided by an unusual talisman - a small green marble - that reveals a perplexing link between Beth and her mysterious roommate, Zafina Azziz.

Who is the real Zafina? Med student, loving friend, Egyptian royal - or a keeper of deadly secrets? Is she involved with a group of suspicious students from the Middle East? And what about that phantom boyfriend she keeps mentioning?

Does Zafina know where Beth is?

That's when Sam discovers that someone is plotting to murder the president of the United States - and that someone is hiding in East Goodland.

Can Sam, his daughter, and Billy's ghost avert a catastrophe that could rival September 11?

©2011 Aaron Paul Lazar (P)2012 Aaron Paul Lazar

A must read . Smart and Suspenseful..

This is the first Aaron Paul Lazar novel, but it will not be my last .. This is the 2nd book in the series , now I must go and read the first , then the rest.. it is defiantly wort it .. great novel The action accelerates in the last fifty pages of the novel. A warning: turn off your phone, hide in your bedroom, don’t plan on anything else but finishing the book. The pieces to the puzzle fit together and the final picture is one of absolute terror. Be prepared for a sort of roller coaster ride and don’t plan on doing anything else until you reach the end.

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review

Gardening loving retired Doctor foils terror plot.

What did you love best about Terror Comes Knocking?

It was a good contemporary setting of a terrorist plot in upstate NY. The technology details were generally good, although I thought a weakness was when Zafina searches her handbag looking for her address book to find a phone number. Since she has a cell phone, any normal person nowadays would just look through the recently called numbers.

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

To some extent, although it was pretty obvious where the plot was leading from fairly early on. It did have some nice twists.

What three words best describe Robert King Ross’s performance?

I didn't particularly care for the narrator. His voice was too deep for this particular novel, especially for the female parts.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Retired doctor foils upstate NY terror plot, while tending his garden and his invalid wife.

Any additional comments?

While overall I liked the book, it felt like it was not quite sure what it wanted to be. Part YA novel, part action thriller, part romance novel with steamy sexual innuendos, part Martha Stewart telling us about gardening.

Haunting Nightmare

Once again Sam has his tailsman the green marble. When the nightmare of his daughter is missing. Her roommate Zafina who is she really, and what about the suspicious groups on campus. Sam uncovers plans that affect the President. When all Sam wants is his loving wife, his garden and grandson. The author’s books and audio are filled with emotion and tension, along with twists and turns.all have been a winner. Given audio for my voluntary review and my honest opinion

Terror comes knocking

This is a continuation of the Sam Moore Mysteries.It is fun catching up with what is going on with this family,well,maybe not fun,but it's always interesting!Narrated by Robert King Ross,we start out slowly,but he picks up speed.Sams daughter has dissapeared.Her roommate comes to see Sam and Rachel but there are more questions than answers and OH,the President is coming to town!How does this all fit together?Read it and find out!
I was gifted this book for an honest review.

Terror as in Terrorist

Sam's daughter Beth is missing, his son is MIA in Afghanistan and his wife just dislocated both shoulders after a fall from her wheelchair. He thinks it's a good thing when her roommate Zafina and her brother offer to help out and help in the search for Beth. What Sam doesn't know is that his daughter is keeping secrets from him and Zafina is definitely not what she appears to be.

I did not enjoy this book quite as well as I did Lazar's first Green Marble mystery. It took too long for Sam to realize his daughter is missing. He missed too many of the clues Billy supplied and left Rachel alone way too much to chase after clues. For me, the story moved along too slowly and Sam did not piece it together quickly enough. I would have liked more backstory on Zafina as well. In the end, this book was not as compelling as the first in this series which is not to be missed.

The narration was good except that Ross kept whispering. This made the listen hard to listen to in my car during my commute.

I received this audiobook for free through Audiobook Boom! in exchange for an honest review.

Skillful Writing with Some Story Flaws

I really liked this book. Lazar’s writing style has an earthy richness, similar to author William Kent Kruger, and in particular his work called “Ordinary Grace.” The writers’ genre preferences differ, but their respective approaches to writing, straight forward with lots of depth, a nice variety of pacing, and solid character development are very similar.

In Lazar’s Terror Comes knocking, a third person telling unfolds several concurrently running mysteries in which family members with relatively quiet lives confront questionable people and events. I also appreciate the rather unusual backdrop of an upstate New York farm town. Most character attributes are believable and, again, the writing is good. Despite thoroughly enjoying the book, and planning to check out the next installment, I’m going with 3 stars because of reservations explained below.

I understand that one unspoken agreement in reading fiction is to suspend belief. This was easy enough to do with the “helping dead brother” theme. Still, I think it’s cheating to make protagonists suddenly and conveniently become “slow.” For example when a dying character tries to tell Sam that “they” did something to him. The first question for most folks would be “who”. Also Sam completely forgets to tell an FBI agent that it is impossible for his daughter to be on vacation because she had not notified her manager job that she would be out of the office. One more sample of cheating: My daughter was a Medic in Afghanistan: the military does not call to say that someone is missing and they “think” that person has been killed in a blast. Who would do that to a family? The military confirms details within their respective organization first, and then someone visits the surviving family to deliver the bad news. There are several more examples of cheating, but sharing them risks spoiling the book.

Narrator Robert King Ross has a voice perfect for telling stories— and skills to match. Think Michael Kramer (Wheel of Time Series; Stormlight Archive series; etc.). I will definitely look for more books with his voice.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks AudioBlast.

Another success for Aaron Paul Lazar!

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

Yes, I love the twists and turns throughout the book.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Sam's determination to find his daughter and stop the terrorists leads us on a wild journey.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Sam commandeers the truck with the bomb and puts his life in peril in order to save the president and the towns people.

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

I loved when Sam tells Beth how much he loves her after he finds out that she is pregnant. Her happiness is more important that what people might think.

Any additional comments?

"I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review”.

Suspense + "real" people = a good listen

This book is a worthy successor to "Healey's Cave," which introduced Sam Moore.
In "Terror Comes Knocking," Sam's paranormal visions are sometimes enlightening, sometimes teasingly hard for Sam to figure out, as he gets embroiled in a terrorist plot. The suspense builds, to the point that it was keeping me awake, so I had to turn it off at bedtime!
As usual, Lazar weaves strong elements of family, relationships, and social issues into the story, too, which is one of the things that make me a fan of his books.

Robert King Ross did a super job reading this book. His voice is always clear, totally suited to the character of Sam, and his inflections conveyed the dialogue and narration perfectly.

Between the narration and the expert writing, I always felt like I was right inside Sam's head.

Lots of twists and turns

Not at all what unexpected, but there were enough surprises and plot twists to keep me interested and guessing to the end.

Review of Terror Comes Knocking

Great story. Kudos! I'm on to the next in the series. I know it will be as great as the first two in the Sam Moore series.