Under Pressure

A Lucas Page Novel

By: Robert Pobi

Narrated by: Will Damron

Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

"This knotty thriller is all the more absorbing because of narrator Will Damron, who captures the quirkiness and humor of its brilliant protagonist, Dr. Lucas Page.... This fast-paced fiction will absorb the listener." (AudioFile Magazine)

A series of deadly explosions rock the city of New York, and with too many victims and no known motive, the FBI turns once again to Dr. Lucas Page in Robert Pobi's Under Pressure.

On a beautiful October evening, New York City's iconic Guggenheim Museum is closed for a tech company's private gala. Until an explosion rocks the night, instantly killing 702 people, including every single attendee - yet the damage to the building itself was minimal.

An explosion of that precision was no accident and, in response, the FBI mobilizes its entire team - but the sheer number of victims strains their resources. Were all 702 victims in the wrong place at the wrong time, or was there only one target and 701 unlucky bystanders? That many victim files is a staggering amount of data to sort through, and Brett Kehoe, Special Agent in Charge of Manhattan, decides that he can't do this without more computational power.

Dr. Lucas Page, astrophysicist, university professor, and former FBI agent, is uniquely gifted for the task at hand - he can visualize a crime scene as if he was a bystander and can break down any set of data at a glance. Even though Page wants nothing to do with the FBI, with his city under attack and his family at risk, he steps in to find a killer in a haystack before they strike again.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books

"Robert Pobi’s second thriller featuring the mathematician-astrophysicist Dr. Lucas Page, starts with a big bang.... Each of the characters in Mr. Pobi’s complexly plotted book is skillfully drawn, but Lucas Page is one of a kind." (Wall Street Journal)

©2020 Robert Pobi (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

My Kinda Hero

As thoughtfully engaging as the 1st in the series... Lucas is a bit more of an action hero in this one;). Great settings, and descriptive imagery thereof... I’d be hard pressed to think of a better written disabled protagonist... The author really captures the casual disregard for the disabled, w/o beating the proverbial dead horse...

Pobi takes pot-shots at the very profession he makes money off writing about

The last three Robert Pobi books I have read have all been interesting and engaging, however, the thing I find perplexing is he writes about exceptional FBI agents solving complex crimes, but the underlying tone of all three books has been very anti-police and portrays law enforcement as uneducated, corrupt, racist, and small-minded. I find it a bit hypocritical that Pobe criticizes the very profession he writes about as his bread and butter.

4

The first Lucas book was good all the way through. This 2nd Lucas novel
starts out well but drifts into ho-hum
land as we bog down in less exploring
of Lucas' brain observations into chase scenes. All told, the ending saves it. Eagerly awaiting book 3.

literally did not know the solution until the end

I hope there are more Lucas Page novels. This is the type of mystery I enjoy completely, Characters with believable lives and a story well told . A story which engages your interest and curiosity but does not frighten repulse or horrify while reading. If a good mystery is what you would like, I recommend this one.

Enjoyed these books!!

Loved this character and the story. Can’t wait for more. Sad for them to end thank you !

Unnecessary Language

This was my first novel by Robert Pobi. The story was interesting with a decent flow but the language…I get that we’re dealing with a cocky, larger than life almost cyborg character who’s been through unfathomable trauma and survived but seriously!….the F bomb on automatic repeat was not necessary to drive that point home. I found the overuse of that word very distasteful and distracting. After the first 10 or 12 chapters, I looked for the prequel book because I thought wow! I want to know this guy’s history. His character was intriguing and I wanted to know how he got “here” but a short time later the language took a nosedive that never recovered. I will not be listening to the prequel nor anything else by Robert Pobi thanks to that. Very disappointing!!

A side note: I thought Will Damron was an excellent narrator. He really put a lot into the various characters so you could easily tell when the speaking character changed.

TMI - Way Too Much Information

Gory details of things being blown apart. Too many distractions about characters’ personal lives. Ridiculous survival of protagonist from bombs, where he recovers much too quickly, only to be blown up again. Ridiculous tolerance of physical pain. Too many exploding bombs everywhere. Perhaps this would interest a movie production for young male audience. Absurd for me. Don’t know why I bothered to fast forward to the end. It wasn’t even a good story.