Tokyo Black

Thomas Caine Thriller Series, Book 1

By: Andrew Warren

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

Thomas Caine lives in the shadows. Betrayed and left for dead, he has put his past as a CIA assassin behind him. Now he lives off the grid, and hides from his dark past in the seedy underworld of Pattaya, Thailand.

But when local gangsters set him up for a crime he didn't commit, he finds himself back in the clutches of the CIA. His old masters make him an offer he can't refuse: rot in a hellish Thai prison, or accept a dangerous mission in Tokyo, Japan.

As he hunts the neon-lit city for a CIA asset's missing daughter, he quickly learns there is more to this assignment than meets the eye. Yakuza thugs, Japan's Security Bureau, and even rogue CIA operatives all stand between him and his objective.

And looming in the shadows is Tokyo Black, a right-wing terrorist cult whose members demonstrate their loyalty by burning their yakuza tattoos from their skin. Can Thomas Caine defeat this fanatical enemy, before they ignite an international conflict that kills thousands?

©2016 Andrew Warren (P)2017 Tantor

Book could use a better narrator...

Would you consider the audio edition of Tokyo Black to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the printed version but I think I will.

Did Jonathan Davis do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

No I don't think he did. I thought he was a little monotone. I found myself drifting and having to rewind more than once and it was not because of the story.

Any additional comments?

The story itself is an excellent espionage thriller and I have been looking forward to this being released on Audible but I sure wish someone had stuck with the original narrator. There is plenty of action and a shocking ending. I know there is another book in this series and I am hoping it will make it to Audible with a different narrator.
I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND the printed version.
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Good story ruined by over preformed narration

I've found Jonathan Davis to be an excellent narrator in the past. He totally ruined this book by drastically increasing his voice volume when reading the emotional dialog or describing emotional situations. I had to change the volume hundreds of times while listening to Tokyo Black. I detest this sort of narration because the volume in almost never comfortable. A good narrator can express dialog emotion without screaming. I'll return this book but will attempt to listen to Red Phoenix, the next book in the series which is already in my Audible library.

Overdone writing and narration; He’s no John Rain

“X stared at him another moment, then took a long, slow sip of his scotch. He savored the flavor. It was exquisite; it tasted of wood, and earth, and soil, of rain, and sun, and light, a woman’s perfumed skin, sweat and blood, it tasted of life, and everything he held dear.”
Okay, I get it. Dead horse beaten. Big significant moment.
Even for free this was bad. It tried so hard to be deep and dark, but felt like grade school fanfic too enamored with lone wolf machismo. I was also turned off by the fetishized portrayal of all women and juvenile excitement over Japanese kinks (love hotels, massage parlors, giggling girls in anime costumes…). The narration was shouty and overacted, but I think that’s not so much the narrator’s fault as it is due to the writing, which is nothing but movie cliches strung together with abandon.

“Can you give me a quote for this target?”
…stapled to the thick dossier was a black and white photo graph, it was blurry, grainy…
… his mouth twisted into a snarl…
“I’ll take it. And this one’s on the house.”
Riiight. I enjoy a good B movie with better action, dialogue, and yes, cheese. This poaches from movies like Black Rain and Taken, but adds nothing new and lacks that pulpy goodness.

For a better series featuring a former assassin finding danger and intrigue in Japan, I highly recommend Barry Eisler’s John Rain series, starting with A Clean Kill in Tokyo. That series starts a little slow,
but by the time The Detachment arrives (my favorite of the lot) you’ll be hooked.

Audio

I always enjoy this narrator but the audio would be loud then soft. I listen to books to relax. It was not his narration it was the quality of the audio

Jonathan Davis fans unite

I am a big fan of Mr Davis. He is in Audible’s reader hall of fame 2017 and this book was my purchase to celebrate it. Performance excellent in this and the other author’s book Mr Davis reads.
I do use new 1.25x speed to match the author’s intentions.
I am on the new 2 speaker iPhone which broadcasted this story very well. I didn’t have the issues Shelly and Wayne, who I follow, had.
Great story, mix of Black Rain and background to Rising Sun. I felt I was in Japan racing along with our heroes. I did read the 2nd book 1st and enjoyed it enough to try this 1st read of author by Mr Davis.
Let me know if my comments were helpful to you.?

Narrator needs to modulate volume better

story was good
narrative volume ranged from a whisper to yelling, hard to hear most

Action

Wonderful writing. Description of places ,surrounding .people a d action is the best I have read in quite a while!

Not a good recording.

I quite enjoyed the story. The narrator has a great deal of talent, but varied the volume so extremely and so constantly it was a difficult listen. He needs to learn to simply vary the intensity instead. I was constantly adjusting the volume and that detracted immensely from enjoyment.

Story was intriguing, but the performance was off

Story kept my attention. The performance was off putting at the beginning. Some action events caused the voice to be harsh and straining as expected. However, there were times the voice distracted me from the storyline.

Don’t listen with earbuds!

Narrator’s volume goes from normal conversational volume to skull splitting loud when conveying action.
Caine spends too much time in this book and the prequels losing consciousness not to have permanent TBI.