• The Calypso Directive

  • A Novel
  • By: Brian Andrews
  • Narrated by: Ray Childs
  • Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (801 ratings)

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The Calypso Directive  By  cover art

The Calypso Directive

By: Brian Andrews
Narrated by: Ray Childs
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Editorial reviews

Brian Andrews' gripping thriller takes place in the fascinating and terrifying world where pharmaceutical research and biological warfare intersect. Will Foster, known as "patient 65" is immune to any and all disease has been held and studied like a lab rat by Vyrogen Pharmaceuticals. When he escapes, Vyrogen will go to any length to retrieve him and his precious DNA.

Ray Childs’ distinctive, raspy voice and dramatic delivery will pull you into this story that hooks you and never lets go. The medical jargon and contagion response feel eerily plausible while the action is satisfyingly intense.

Publisher's summary

For 155 days, Will Foster has been locked in medical quarantine without his consent. The doctors claim he is infected with a deadly virus, but this is a lie. Encoded in his DNA is a mutation that provides immunity from disease for all who possess it, source code that Vyrogen Pharmaceuticals aims to commercialize as a multi-billion dollar gene therapy.

Against all odds, Foster escapes his laboratory prison and steals a virulent strain of bubonic plague as insurance. To help him unravel the mystery inside him, Foster contacts the only person he can trust - a former lover and microbiologist living Vienna - and the two become fugitives, hunted across the heart of Europe.

Under the guise of averting a plague pandemic, Vryogen hires an elite, underground Think Tank to track down Foster. But when the team sets a trap for Foster, they discover they're not the only ones in the hunt. In a race against two deadly assassins, can the brilliant minds of the Think Tank unravel the truth before time runs out for their quarry?

In a novel where conscience clashes with greed, loyalty with suspicion, and paranoia with reality, The Calypso Directive deftly explores the issues of genetic exploitation and piracy. Captivating, controversial, and courageous, Andrews debut is sure to thrill and leave you wondering what secrets are locked in your DNA.

©2012 Brian Andrews (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about The Calypso Directive

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    367
  • 4 Stars
    225
  • 3 Stars
    139
  • 2 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
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Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    357
  • 4 Stars
    210
  • 3 Stars
    115
  • 2 Stars
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    25

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Horrendous!

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

This book could never be a 4- or 5-star listening experience. None of the characters are believable, all of the characters are stilted and hackneyed, and the listener has no reason to like anyone in the book. The writing is horrid; for example, during a semi-romantic moment in the book, the author writes, "He ran his fingertips along her trapezius muscle . . . and they danced along her latissimus dorsi." Honestly; who writes like that?

What was most disappointing about Brian Andrews’s story?

His writing style. Mr. Andrews would do well to attend several creative writing programs before subjecting any reader to another novel.

Would you be willing to try another one of Ray Childs’s performances?

Oh, dear, no! Mr. Childs has a fairly decent voice, but he has no talent as an audiobook reader. His vocal range is extremely limited so that all of the characters sound exactly the same and sometimes not even like normal people. He reads with a slow cadence whether the scene is supposed to portray scariness, sadness, or excitement.

What character would you cut from The Calypso Directive?

The two brothers who are supposedly highly talented killers.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Concept & Plot Good, Characters bland & Fanciful

I would have given it four stars. It was fun and easy to read. Unfortunately, the need to suspend disbelief became too heavy a weight for this slight story to bear. The problematic plot developments include an advertising executive and a research scientist facing serious physical threats from professional thugs and security personnel and beating them every time. Also, a dialog technique used that identified the speaker by an abbreviation of their corporate role was annoying. There was also these small pieces of explicit violence that seemed out of place with the rest of the writing.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I didn’t stop listening...

.... but I really wanted to. I’ve listened to more than 200 audiobooks, and only ever stopped listening to one of them. I tried hard not to make this the second. I succeeded, barely.

On the positive side, the plot moves, and there is some action in it, you are minimally interested in what happens next. That’s about it.

On the negative, the voice acting is absolutely terrible. Voices are inconsistent, the emotion expressed rarely matches with the plot line ongoing, and sometimes switch mid sentence to a different accent. Wondering where the director/producer were.

For a book in the techno-thriller genre, the science in the book is appalling simplistic. Most of the explanations provided for the medical, technological, and genetic parts of the book appear to have been lifted straight from the introduction of a Wikipedia page. It got to the point where it really seems like the author just had an idea about a guy taken advantage of because of a genetic quirk, did a quick Google search, and then said, “I got this. No need to have more research.” This shortcoming lead to the overly artificial and unbelievable nature of the book.

Worst of all, though, were the characters - as others have pointed out. Impressively one dimensional in most cases, you often wonder what could possibly motivate them to perform the actions described. Beautiful and impressive American research scientist living (conveniently) in Vienna drops everything when her college boyfriend, with whom she’s had no contact in several years, reaches out to her cryptically over the internet? Drives overnight to the Czech Republic to pick him up? Sounds about right... I can see this happening regularly. Falls in love with him (never stopped) within 12 hours? Check.

Anyway, skip this one.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A lot of filler

Too much crosstalk.
I stopped about 1/4 into and realized what a waste of my time.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Hard to put down

I loved the book, but hated the ending. Maybe it is just a set up for a sequel in a new series. There is plenty of intrigue, twist and turns throughout the book.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A topical modern thriller

Where does The Calypso Directive rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I've listened to many audio books and this is one of my favorites, my only quibble is how the performer handled dialog in certain portions of the book.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Meredith Morley how can you like such a controlling manipulative bad gal?

Which scene was your favorite?

Scene at the cafe and subsequent motorcycle chase.

Any additional comments?

Seems like a solid effort from a new writer, looking forward to his new stuff.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Worst narrator that i have heard yet

It seemed like the story was very good, but it was very hard to get past the way the narrator reads this book. He reads it like he is reading a fairy tale to a 4 year old. Over dramatic. The inflections are WAY overboard. Plus, he makes every female character sound like a bumbling idiot.

Again, the story seemed like a good one but i couldn't get past the incredibly inept narraration.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Couldn’t wait for it to be over!

The story line was just hard for me to follow! Lost track of who was who... also just a little to close to home for me given we’re currently dealing with the COVID19

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great Storyline - but a couple of misses

First huge fame of Andrews and his storylines (when not military) always blow my mind. They don’t immediately associate in my mind with the Andrews & Wilson ones I love - however that just shows how talented the author is.
So no issues with storyline or development. But I did have 2 misses that kept it from being a 5*.
1) The RA stuff. As a listener who multitasks during an audio, it became complicated to know who was speaker. There was a delay because all of their titles were RA something. It would’ve been easier if last names were just used instead.
Second was narrator. He wasn’t bad but he didn’t have a range of contract especially when speaking as a woman. He was a little more monotone than I’d hoped for an 11 hour read.
None of these two kept me from enjoying the book. I’m wondering if this might become a series?? If so maybe the author will consider some of these misses.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

WOW! Plan on not putting this Audible down!

This was a new author with a new narrator for me! like opening a gift I did not know I needed.

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1 person found this helpful