The Congo Contract

Alex King, Book 13

By: A. P. Bateman

Narrated by: Joe Mills

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

"Alex King is unstoppable, a force to be reckoned with...." (Stephen Leather, Sunday Telegraph best-selling author)

Timeline: 20 years ago.

A delegation of OPEC executives and intelligence operatives working deep undercover are taken hostage in Angola and moved across the border into the Congo. The region is recovering from 30 years of civil and tribal war, and international oil contracts are up for grabs, but only if the area can be deemed stable. The standoff must be ended quickly, but the newly appointed Angolan government will not grant Britain permission to deploy the SAS and has charged the woefully under-skilled defense force with rescuing the hostages.

Alex King has much to prove. His first mission to halt a coup by a splinter cell of the IRA and London criminals was deemed a failure, and his mentor Peter Stewart is having second thoughts about training him for the field. The brief is simple: Avoid an international incident, and bring home the hostages. The reality is altogether more deadly.

A small force of mercenaries led by Stewart and King must cross into the Congo and take on the Southside Boys - a gang of tribal rebels and boy soldiers, high on drugs and violence, who have made kidnapping, rape, and murder their way of life.

©2021 Anthony Bateman (P)2022 Anthony Bateman

A very entertaining story!

What an excellent introduction to A.P. Bateman’s Alex king series – yep there are 12 that came before this one, but I haven’t read or listened to them yet! And yet is the operative word in this case.

The Congo Contract is not only action-packed, but also filled with a cast of flawed characters who are easy to identify with not to mention easy to like. The story line is filled with action, twists, and turns as well as plenty of intrigue and betrayal. Enough so that my head was spinning. Furthermore, the storyline felt like it was pulled from the headline of a newspaper from the not-so-distant past. This review is based on a very well narrated audiobook I received from the author.

It was ok

As a South African, I get so irritated when South Africans are portrayed in a certain way, this book was another instance of stereo type, but it is what it is, and the narrator didn't get the accent even close.
Once the fighting started , there were some scenes that were repeated, and it was confusing.
The editor failed, as the narrator slipped up in places and even swore profusely in chapter 39 when he kept falling over his words, I thought the recording got stuck, the way he kept repeating his words, getting them wrong and after a good swearing session carried on. Not professional at all.