• Assignment: Athens

  • A SpyCo Novella, Book 1
  • By: Craig A. Hart
  • Narrated by: Anthony Lee
  • Length: 2 hrs and 17 mins
  • 3.4 out of 5 stars (23 ratings)

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Assignment: Athens  By  cover art

Assignment: Athens

By: Craig A. Hart
Narrated by: Anthony Lee
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Publisher's summary

When a SpyCo agent is killed on a deserted road during the wee hours, things begin falling apart for SpyCo chief J. Carlton Moore. A briefcase containing classified information disappears, leaving the future of the United States' war on terror in doubt. With the terrorist group Scorpion suspected of possessing the missing briefcase and vital information somehow leaking from the most secure SpyCo meetings, Moore calls on covert operative James Reagan Burke. Thrown together into an unlikely team composed of a former flame and a Grecian body-builder, and seeing shadowy pursuers at every turn, Burke must decide whom he can trust and recover the briefcase before it's too late.

A fun romp in the Mediterranean, Assignment: Athens provides thrills without the darkness, and chills without the nightmares. Infused with wry humor, Assignment: Athens is an enjoyable beginning to the SpyCo novella series.

©2017 Craig A. Hart (P)2017 Craig A. Hart

What listeners say about Assignment: Athens

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    4 out of 5 stars
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The Story Was Good

I liked the story, but I did not really care for the narrator, I had read the story previously on Kindle, but the audio did not live up to the printed version.. I have noticed that the next stories in the series have a different narrator, so I am optimistic. I received this audiobook for free and this is my voluntary review.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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Not an auspicious start

Usually I insist on starting at the beginning of a series and working through it. This time, I started in a random place (London) and it was much better than this first “episode”. If you like the premise, keep going. The narrator that joins later is much better and the writing is more active and less strangely introspective.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyable spy novella...

Quick and entertaining read for anyone wanting a fast-paced uncomplicated spy story that can be enjoyed in one sitting. The main characters were likeable and well-developed considering the brevity of the story. I do not wish to be harsh, but I felt the narrator of the audio version gave a rather flat performance. In my opinion, his cadence and lack of emotion diminished the tension and flattened the personalities of the characters. I do think he managed to distinguish each character with unique vocal characteristics but, at times, I had the impression that I was listening to a text-to-speech program or an AI voice.

While I did purchase a copy of this book, the author gifted me with a code for the audio version and the above is my honest and unbiased review.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good story.

I really enjoyed the story line. The dialogue parts of the narration were good but the rest of the narration reminded me of text to speech.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Maxwell Smart Meets The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Clearly something so over the top is meant to be parody! Ian Fleming glamorized the Cold War, Agents Solo and Kuryakin added sly humor and of course Maxwell Smart upped the ante to slapstick. SpyCo is a throwback to the marvelous yarns of yesteryear with derring do and bullets flying and bodies piling up in the corridors as the "good guys" rappel down a cliff in Greece. While vocalizing the characters expertly, narrator Anthony Lee [AUDIO] seemed to add a deliberate heavy-handedness hinting at stuffy bureaucracy behind the freewheeling agents. Ah, nostalgia! I enjoyed this thoroughly!

Disclaimer: "I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

This book fell a little flat with me

What worked? There was lots of action, and I loved that the female lead is an agent and not just fluff. The characters are well developed.

What didn't work? The bad guys continually did the 'bad guy monologue' allowing the good guys to get into position to defeat them. Yes, this is the classic formula, but it's so unrealistic and stereotypical that I find it disappointing. In fact the whole book was predictable and there were no surprises.

If you want something short that you can listen to that doesn't take a lot of concentration then this book might work for you.

The narration was also a bit disappointing. Overall it was OK, but only OK. The character voices for the main characters worked, but the bad guys tended to have really odd voices that were humorously ridiculous sounding. The delivery was a bit flat, there was lots of action in the book which sounded very dull when read like this. Fr me none of the tension or anticipation of the story came across in the narration.

I received this book free from the narrator/publisher/author in exchange for an honest review.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Just did not work for me . . .

I am not one to typically give harsh reviews, but this particular work did not deliver any sort of value as a takeaway for the time spent listening. The level of espionage was at a sophomoric level being both shallowly developed and rather predicable and mundane. Although the narrator, Anthony Lee, has done several other Audible titles, this one seemed to be out of his voice range. The character accents seemed forced and inconsistent. In all honesty, the part of the book I found most pleasurable was completing the listenas this just did not work for me in any aspect. Sorry.

A review copy of this audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in return for this unbiased review. My hope is that this review helps in your decision to obtain this book.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Next one please!

Though short and sweet, its action packed and drew me in right from the beginning. The narrator did a great job giving each character a unique voice so it's easy to follow; however, the inflection of the overall narration was a bit odd and slightly distracting. All in all, an entertaining listen. I look forward to listening to the next book in the series. I received this audiobook at my request and voluntarily reviewed.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyable novella, narrator didn't work for me

I was interested in this series after having listened to and enjoyed several books in Craig A. Hart’s Shelby Alexander series. Hart has teamed up with S.J. Varengo to bring a series of fun thriller novellas to life. At less than two hours to read, these would be best enjoyed by readers who are looking for quick missions and witty banter. While each story has a complete storyline, subsequent books build on characters and events from previous books, so you’ll want to read these in order.

Assignment: Athens introduces SpyCo (yes, really), it’s taciturn leader J. Carlton Moore, and agents James Burke and Lindsey Archer. Burke, code name: Tiger and Lindsey, code name: Venus are tasked with recovering a stolen briefcase leading them to Greece. Just traveling turns out to be perilous and once they arrive it’s apparent there are forces working against them from more than one agency. Adding to the tension is the fact that Burke & Lindsey have a previous personal relationship.

This was an entertaining read and I’m looking forward to the next book, Assignment: Paris.

Narration:
I had such a difficult time with the narration by Anthony Lee that I stopped listening and just read the book. His main voice was OK though somewhat robotic/AI sounding. However, outside of Burke, almost everyone’s speaking voice had an identical unidentifiable accent no matter what the text indicated they should sound like.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
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Assignment Athens

A Short spy book. this book had a good story line and was very entertaining. The narriater maybe not the best but did a lot better than I could have. the narraiting was ok All in all a good short book. if my review was any help will you please click on the helpful link below. Thank you

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