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)

Long and complex

Long and complex are not necessarily bad and this one is interesting as it jumps from Italy to all over the US. However I found it needlessly draw out in some parts and the author's habit of using endless descriptive paragraphs for each little thing made the book much longer than the story called for.

excellent!

The writing is up there with the best, DeMille, Ludlum, Follett etc. Terrific complex plot with believable character development.

On the negative, there were some interesting character introductions that could have materialized but did not - left me hanging. I thought they would reappear at the end, but they never did, and the ending was a bit of a cliff hanger - this may be the set up of a follow up novel, or the author just ran out of ink. Also, overly graphic gory stuff - more than necessary and it appeared as if the author was doing it to afford literary validation.

either way, a terrific read - enjoy

bright, witty, exciting

There are incredible moments of humor and deep exposition of characters' psychology in this wonderful book. This book is no "fornication from above." Enjoy the read.

Perfect mix narrator and narrative

There were a lot of good reviews for this book, so I bought it. I was not disappointed. The story moves along, and the settings and characters are rich. The narrator does accents and voices PERFECTLY; this is exactly what a great audiobook should be.

Creative dialogue and fabulous reader

My husband and I both loved this book. We were challenged by the scope and the complexity of the plot. We particularly enjoyed the dialogue, which we found humorous. We are in love with the reader. After living in Europe for 20 years, his accents were music to our ears. We can't wait for the sequel.

Echleon Vendetta

Finally a spy story that has real discriptions of action and believable characters. You don't want these bad guys messing with you.

best audio book I've heard

The Echelon Vendetta never lets up while blending suspense, action and humor. I listen to books while running and found myself eager for a workout so I could listen. I was sorry when it was over and I need another good listen. Too bad this is Stone's only book on audible.

Great book - Long, But Worth It

This is the first book I have read by David Stone. I am looking forward to reading others. This book is complex, but held your interest to the very end. I highly recommend.

ok, but leaves a lot to be desired

I agree with the previous reviewer who compared the writing style to that of a 7th grader. I wouldn't go that far, but I agree the writing style is a bit immature. Full of tired cliches and infantile sayings (aw, don't go all 'Yoda' on me now...").
It was a bit hard to take the story seriously.
What made it worse is the narrator. The narrator also sounds immature, like an 18 year old surfer dude.
But I really liked the plot and storyline, I just wish the dialog was a bit more mature, and read by a better narrator.

Pay Attention and Be Thoroughly Entertained

I listened to this book twice, but not because I loved it. I hated it the first go round, but I sensed I didn't pay attention to key segments. The second listen proved my suspicion was true. This is a dark, complicated, completely original mystery that I highly recommend.