The Breach

By: Patrick Lee

Narrated by: Jeff Gurner

Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

Thirty years ago, in a facility buried beneath a vast Wyoming emptiness, an experiment gone awry accidentally opened a door. It is the world’s best-kept secret—and its most terrifying. Trying to regain his life in the Alaskan wilds, ex-con/ex-cop Travis Chase stumbles upon an impossible scene: a crashed 747 passenger jet filled with the murdered dead, including the wife of the [resident of the United States.

Though a nightmare of monumental proportions, it pales before the terror to come, as Chase is dragged into a battle for the future that revolves around an amazing artifact. Allied with a beautiful covert operative whose life he saved, Chase must now play the role he’s been destined for—a pawn of incomprehensible forces or humankind’s final hope—as the race toward Apocalypse begins in earnest. Because something is loose in the world. And doomsday is not only possible...it is inevitable.

©2010 Patrick Lee (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

"It's all here: brilliantly devious enemies; nifty, innovative gadgets and weaponry; hang-on-to-your-hat action; and razor-sharp plot twists aplenty." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Audacious and terrifying - and uncannily believable." (Lee Child)

Good Performance, Good Ending, Some Flaws

This book fits nicely into a "good", "bad", and "ugly" framework.

1. The Good.

This is the first audiobook I have every purchased because I liked what the narrator did with another book. And I was not disappointed. Jeff Gurner is an excellent narrator.

The plot is original and interesting and contains a nice resolution of a traditional sci-fi paradox at the end. (I won't say which one so as to avoid spoilers.)

The ending was strong and gave me a lot to think about. This book actually has quite a lot of intellectual depth, although that does not come through until the end.

2. The Bad (or at least the "not so good").

The characters are so-so. Only two characters are anything more than props. The main character is introduced at the beginning as an ex-con who served significant time in jail and was definitely guilty. His character seemed kind of ambiguous and I did not realize until the end that this was intentional. The other main character -- a woman -- did not seem entirely plausible to me, but she was okay.

The book was non-stop action until the end. Some people might like this, but I found it a bit frenetic -- written for people with short attention spans. There is very little character development or relationship development.

The story has a mostly negative arc. Things start bad and generally get worse until shortly before the final resolution. There are some upticks along the way but, in general, the bad guys seem pretty much invincible until almost the end.

3. The Ugly

Shortly after the start we get a very unpleasant torture scene, For some reason torture seems to have become popular in modern sci-fi. And there is a lot of gratuitous violence throughout the book. I guess some people must like this, but if you prefer to do without graphic violence and senseless killing you might want to avoid this book.

Nice Start to a Series

Nice action thriller that never lets up. Unlike all too many audio books, this narration helps the story instead of distracting from it. Looking forward to getting the next book.

Excellent, action packed,believable story!

I really liked this first book of the trilogy.
I have already finished the second. I will by the third for sure. If you like good action and suspense you'll love this series.
Narration was the best part!

Wow!! How have I never heard of this author or series!?

Where to start!? First off this is the first book in a series which Audible doesn't tell you and the ending would leave you upset if you didn't know this. The 1st book is The Breach, 2nd is Dark Country and the 3rd is Deep Sky. This book was amazing, I save my 5 stars for the truly awesome books and this was one! It was in the same genre as a Peter Clines book like "Apt 14" or "The Fold." Awesome Sci-Fi aspects but never going to far out there, anytime I felt there was a cheap solution or way out of an issue it comes back to be a great twist! The characters are great, a ex dirty cop who isn't some Dudley do right which I can't stand and a strong (stronger) female partner!! The suspense and thrills just keep coming and coming. I am so happy I found this book in my suggested books section, after reading a few reviews I was sold!

Great book! Great pacing.

I thought this was a great book. I typically listen at 1.5x and I just burned through this one with a couple of home projects. Highly recommend!

Entrancing Sci-Fi

One of the most intriguing science fiction novels I’ve ever read (or listened to). Patrick Lee takes you on a thriller mystery with twists and turns to keep you engaged and characters that feel distinctly human and relatable. If you’re a fan of sci-fi, mystery, and excitement, don’t pass this up!

Fantastic ride, wipes out at the finish

It's been a long time since a thriller had me this high strung. Crazy intense set pieces, like invisible gunmen or an impossible, horrific siege, place the reader in situations of abject helplessness and hopelessness. This book is the paper equivalent of a roller coaster. I vocally shouted at it at least twice.

This book is has strong sci-fi elements, and seems like it takes ideas from movies like Men in Black and Momento or video games like Half Life and Crysis.

Two caveats, though.

First, the book has a mild sex scene, constant language, and cringe inducing gore.

Second, the ending was atrocious. My wife and I both felt as if the resolution had gaping holes. It creates more questions than it answers. Maybe that is what the author wanted, but for me it just seemed incomplete or worse, silly. I'll instantly forgive Patrick Lee if there is a sequel, though.

With all that siad, I'm still giving it 5 stars for the wild ride.

Intriguing, thought provoking, great narration

I really enjoyed "The Breach." I actually searched for this book based upon the Narrator. Gurner has been excellent in everything I have listened to.
As for the book, I was very impressed with the story. Very imaginative, very creative. Some of the things that Lee invented and imagined seemed incredibly intelligent. Also, the ending really surprised me. Amazing plot twist, everything before it took on a new meaning. This is both good and bad as it opens up some significant plot holes but it was orchestrated with great technique. Excellent setup.

There are a couple issues I have with Lee's writing. Sometimes he "dangles the bait" a little too much. He'll greatly extend a moment of revelation to the point where it gets a bit aggravating. He'll write something like, "Both Travis and Paige were thinking the exact same thing and it explained everything. It was the key to all their questions. Their looks totally reflected that they were both thinking this one amazing thing" and he'll keep going on for a long, drawn out time before he gets to the point. Sometimes, this is useful. With lesser plot points it's like listening to Morning Radio where they want to keep you on through the commercials.

Before you read my spoilers and if you do, I really did enjoy this book. My issues with it are really only because Patrick Lee's writing really invited me to think about the book a lot. It wasn't a "read it and forget it book." I really did enjoy it and will keep reading the series and future books by Lee.

SPOILER ALERT: (Do not read unless you have made it through 7 Theaterstrasse. This is really just discussion for fans of the book)
I had a big problem with this whole area of the book (7 Theaterstrasse). It highlights Lee's other weakness. Basically the personnel in the house killed people and they killed some more and they killed some more and did I mention they were killing? We get it, lots of dead people. Lee has a habit of over-shocking the reader to the point where you begin to think, "okay, this is incredibly fake." He also missed a huge opportunity in this passage. He mentioned children in the mob. He should have had Paige command "don't fire at the children unless it's life or death!" Then, when Paige is working on the Nuke, he could have had a very young girl advancing on Travis, about to pick up a gun, slowly aiming it at Travis. The conflict of whether or not Travis kills the kid would be tense. How did such a young kid make it so far? Maybe he does end up killing the kid a second before all is clear and it haunts him in the upcoming sequels. Maybe he doesn't. Either way, a big character building opportunity was missed. That brings up my last point. The author doesn't delve deep enough into what made Travis a bad person early in life. There were no reflections on really flawed behavior. Yeah, he thinks about his ex girlfriend a lot but people who are flawed and know it really obsess over their past misgivings.

What a ride!

This story is anything but boring. With multiple dimensions, battles with vaguely described beings and forces, movements backward and forward in time, it takes an alert listener to stay with the story and not get lost. Sometimes I felt like I was visiting a 21st Century "Wonderland" - just needed a white rabbit.

I'll have to listen to it again some day, to fill in the gaps. Jeff Burner did a great job with narration. He's easy to listen to.

I'm going to look for other books by Patrick Lee.

Where is Patrick lee??

One of the best authors nobody seems to know about. Pray for more. Come on Patrick - you have a gift and you went AWOL