The Echelon Vendetta

A Novel

By: David Stone

Narrated by: Firdous Bamji

Length: 14 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Micah Dalton isn't paid to ask questions. He's a "cleaner", a CIA fixer sent in to mop up the mess when an agent or situation goes bad. But when his close friend and mentor Porter Naumann turns up dead in an idyllic Tuscan hill town, an apparent suicide, Dalton's curiosity gets the best of him.

Naumann's death puts Dalton on a collision course with a killer who has a penchant for intricate knife-work and Native American mysticism, a sadist who is killing ex-CIA agents. The victims are hard-nosed field men whose only link to one another seems to be a global surveillance operation called Echelon. The murders appear to be acts of retribution. But for what?

An elegant, original, and chillingly suspenseful journey through the darkest alleys of international espionage, The Echelon Vendetta will keep you enthralled right up to its final, supremely satisfying twist.

©2007 DavidStoneBooks (P)2007 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., and Recorded Books LLC. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Vivid characters and spellbinding, heart-pounding, hallucinogenic plotting.... You'll love this book." (Ridley Pearson)

"Well-written, intelligent and sometimes funny...show[s] us what life is really like on the front lines." (Washington Post)

An effort to finish

This book was a disappointment to me. I found the narrator's voice annoying and whiny. I also did not find the story that compelling. I thought about abandoning the book several times, but managed to slog through to the end. I felt that the beginning, middle and end of the book had really nothing to do with each other and would not download a book by the same author or with the same narrator.

Not A Fan

The book dragged a bit. As mentioned before, far too many metaphors - actually reminded me of Koontz, whom I'm not a fan of. Such a writing style is amateurish to me and I found myself drifting away from the book as a result. Certain elements of the story were not believable, and other elements materialized out of nowhere, with absolutely no background to explain them. The ending frankly left me scratching my head; it really made little sense and seemed a weak attempt to justify the plot.

The narrator handled certain characters well, but definitely not the main one - Dalton. His narration of Dalton had, at times, a halting-Shatner-esque quality. He rarely did an effective job conveying his emotion. Words clearly intended to show emotion were often read deadpan.

Inspector Clouseau

Ths protagonist is a bumbling CIA agent who tells a doctor that he is a cleaner with the CIA because she saved his life and he "owes her the truth". He tells a policeman because the police "run the intelligence agency" in his country. He picks up a pack of cigarellos that a very suspicious man has left on a table and smokes one (even I wouldn't do that if I smoked). The author's similes are very tired. One person "lies like a Persian rug". I was tempted to delete it and load the next book but decied to listen to the end because I paid for the book. I doubt that I will select anything by this author again.

I wish I had not listened to this book

Although the plot was good, this book was extremely graphic. The worst part was near the end when I was hooked, but in retrospect, I regret my selection and still find the mental images distubing.

Poorly written

If you loved the DaVinci Code, you'll love this book. I thought the DaVinci Code was overwritten with flat charcters and this book suffers from the same flaws. Too many cliched descriptive terms. If it were written book, I would have put it down half way through. Narrator is nothing special either.

To Finish or Not

I really disliked this book. I struggled with whether to finish it or not. So I chose not to as there is too little precise time to waste on a bad book. The narrator's voice also was difficult to understand and concentrate on. I listen to books while running and found I preferred silence over listening to this book.

Extremely disapointing

I have rarely been so disapointed in a book! It took a while to get into it. I really had to force myself. I guess my worst disapointment was the ending. It was so phony...as if the editors said "finish," and he scared up a few meaningless situations and "Voila"...off to the printers. I'm sorry I ever bought it.

Bloody but dull

If only our government had half the capability to run the types of data checks that Stone writes about, we'd be farther along in the fight against terrorism. The story isn't believable.

Plus the narrator is dull.

Not a fan

I was not impressed with this book. The narration was very good, but the subject matter of the novel was terrible. It had a lot of pretty gory scenes (unusual for a thriller), so if you don't like explicit violence, this is not for you. The plot often dragged and the main character was not likable. I had to force myself to finish listening.

It's Ok....

This is an okay book, nothing to write home about or even spend much time doing this review....it kills time to listen to.