The First Apostle

By: James Becker

Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm

Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

An experienced former covert operative, James Becker draws on his insider’s knowledge of international espionage to pen gripping thrillers. Detective Sergeant Chris Bronson becomes the target of mafia hitmen when he and his wife—a conservator at the British Museum—investigate the death of two friends. But as their search grows, they begin to realize a greater conspiracy growing around them.

©2009 James Becker (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

Let's go get yet another cup of coffee, shall we?

What did you like best about The First Apostle? What did you like least?

The history, the richly described locations ,and the performance all were greatly appreciated.

The relatively predictable plot line, some of the characters were just brushstrokes, and the incessant references to going for coffee. My gawd, these people do nothing but drink coffee .

If you’ve listened to books by James Becker before, how does this one compare?

My first foray into James Becker, and not bad. Certainly has the content I appreciate, but the stories do have a formula to them. On balance, if you like these sorts of historical/bibilcal thrillers, I would recommend.

What does Graeme Malcolm bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His accents and inflections are genuine, and he does paint a wonderful wordpicture.

Could you see The First Apostle being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

It would be on the SyFy channel, and no one of note.

Any additional comments?

Not bad. Not brilliant, but a good distraction. Recommended.

21st Century Ran History

This is the first Becker novel I have read. It won't be the last.
I do like historical fiction, the blending of fact and make believe, the story within the story snd Becker does it quite well.
Graeme has the voice that is easy to listen to, believable even when trying to portray a woman's voice.
I really enjoyed this novel, and so will you!

Creative but horrible narration

What they say about the narration is true. It is really bad. But the story is pretty cool and creative.

Cryptic Clues and the Catholic Church, too

The Vatican is once again that powerful organization that squashes the truth. This story of following ancient clues, murders, the mafia and smart people determined to find the truth is a good one. The narrator was an interesting choice. I've listened to him in a number of books, and his semi sing song style of narration is okay. I don't know if I'll listen to this again, but I enjoyed it the first time around.

"Good story, too many details"

The plot was great. I was invested in the 2 main characters from start to finish. The only issue I had with the actual text was in some places it was TOO detailed. I’m listening to a story, and don’t need all of the descriptives of the weapons used (ie how many rounds, which model specifically of Glock, etc ). That took away from the story.

The narrator was…okay. A lot of the voices done sounded the same so at times it was hard to keep track of the characters. Overall, I felt it a little dry, rather sparse on emotion projected.

All that said, I look forward to listening to the next book.

Amazing, brillant fast paced. Ready for sequel!

Amazing, brillant fast paced. Ready for all the sequels. Theres mystery, intrigue. action and suspense.

Not What you Expected

I enjoyed the audio and the reader. I'm a pushover about English accents. The story is very interesting but I had picked the book thinking it would have a "Christian" ending not a skeptic's ending. I really like these type books but sometimes I think these writers go to a conference and are assigned a project to write something with a set of topics. Afterwards they publish their assignments. I've read about three stories that are very similar to this one. Maybe world events or archeological finds excite the books and different writers. I still enjoyed the book and I believe that Christianity is true and real.

Silly premise, contradicted by scriptural account.

I love an interesting story that presents ideas that I’ve never considered. So, in that regard, this book should have been interesting. I won’t blab the ultimate premise here, but when I heard it, I was very disappointed. Even a rudimentary understanding of both biblical & extra biblical accounts negates the proposed premise of this book.
If you’re willing to suspend critical thinking this book may entertain you. For me it was a disappointing fail.