The Secret Soldier

By: Alex Berenson

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

John Wells goes undercover in Saudi Arabia in a cutting-edge novel of modern suspense from the #1 New York Times best-selling author.

John Wells may have left the CIA, but it hasn't left him. A mysterious call brings a surprise meeting with the aged monarch of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah. "My kingdom is on a precipice," he tells Wells. "Powerful factions are plotting against me, and my own family is in danger. I don't know who I can trust, but I'm told I can trust you."

Reluctantly, and with the secret blessing of the CIA, Wells goes undercover; but the more he learns, the more complicated things become, and soon he, too, is unsure whom to trust, in Saudi Arabia or Washington. One thing, however, is clear: If the conspirators prevail, it will mean more than the fall of a monarch-it may be the beginning of the final conflagration between America and Islam.

©2011 Alex Berenson (P)2011 Penguin

Nice action book

Well written with lots of action. Not very realistic but kept me interested. Berenson is a good writer and could have a much better and more believably developed plot for John Wells.

Bulldog Listener

Loved this book, George read very well as he always does. He kept me engaged, even when the author had to go into the details to set the scenes. The story was timely, well done and action packed to keep the listener on his/her toes. I would recomend, this is my second Berenson audio book, this one was my favorite.

Awesome story

The story puts the Kingdom of Saud in pretty poor (albeit realistic) light. Never boring....

One of the best fictions I've heard in years

A great plot - exciting and satisfying, superbly written and narrated. My only complaint is that it was so short. I have not heard any of the other books in this series but now plan to.

action packed

Fast paced moving plot delivered very creatively by George Guidall. His various accents were very impressive. Could have done with a little less gore depictions. Real time post postmortems at every turn. Given the chance, imagination goes a long way.

Good story. Good performance. Really enjoyed.

This book held my interest from beginning to end. I have been enjoying the John Wells series. I may have liked this one the best. It is a carefully constructed story with no holes, no part where you have to suspend disbelief to make it work. It feels right at each turn. I liked the way it ended also, a tough feat for this genre. George Guidall was terrific as usual.

First rate read

Berensen is a first rate author. His books are well worth the read. I am sad that I have finished the book.

Chop, Chop Square!!

Spy novels are not normally my thing. Years ago a good friend brought me "A Faithful Spy" by AB. I liked it a lot. Even though the Rag Heads are still the bad guys, AB kind of gives you there side of the story. John Wells is an American, but converted to Moslem, when he was working underground with them. He speaks Arabic and is the first person the government turns to when they have a problem in the Middle East.

This book is mostly about Saudi Arabia. You get a short history and an explanation of there government system. The historical part of the book was what I liked best, as I am always trying to understand how different people think, especially those hostile to Americans.

Here are some interesting facts about Saudi Arabia, as told by AB: They have Religious Police and Saudi's can be arrested, tortured and killed for not being religious enough. Unmarried women are not allowed on beaches. The square in the capital is nicknamed the Chop Chop Square, because they chop off more then One Hundred Heads a year. Of the One Hundred Heads only half are Saudi citizens. The King believed that the sun went around the earth up until 1985, when a Saudi astronaut told the king, he saw the earth orbiting the sun. Even though unemployment numbers are extremely high, Saudi's don't do manual labor, as they feel that is beneath them, so they have thousands of immigrants do the manual labor. Women are not allowed to drive.

John Wells tries to explain why some Muslems are not dangerous, by saying that he does not believe everything in the Koran. He says to his friend who is a christian, "Do you really believe that Christ was risen from the grave?". This one statement convinced me that we will never get along with the Middle East. In this book are lots of examples of Muslims who believe as Mohammed preached, there is only room for one religion in this world.

My favorite AB book is still his first "The Faithful Spy". "The Ghost War" was good and I liked this book, but I almost gave up on AB after reading "Silent Man", which I did not like.

These books are in a series, but can be read in any order. There are references to other books, but not enough to cause you to have to read them in any order. This books starts out with an adventure in Jamaica, which really didn't fit in with the rest of the story and I assume was to tie up some loose ends from the previous book.

George Guidall is one of the pioneer's in book narration and he was the best when they started recording books. In the Nineties it was him, Dick Hill and Frank Muller. God rest his soul, Frank Muller died recently. Now there are several great narrators, but Guidall and Hill are still in the top tier of narrators.

Interesting Story, Characters and Regional History

Berenson's recipe is excellent - he spins a highly believable story around solid characters and then adds a pinch of regional history in this well-written, easy to listen to chapter in John Well's life. The book sets up a certain degree of follow-up but leaves a rewarding ending to this particular story.

I was happy enough with George Guidall's work - but I felt there was a little inconsistency in Well's voice. My take on the inconsistency is a very minor point and Guidall's overall performance was more than solid.

very good

I didn't like the beginning and all the twists but at the end very good. from the middle to the end. very good