Blowback

Vanessa Pierson, Book 1

By: Valerie Plame, Sarah Lovett

Narrated by: Negin Farsad

Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Introducing an exhilarating new espionage thriller by former CIA ops officer Valerie Plame and thriller writer Sarah Lovett.

Covert CIA ops officer Vanessa Pierson is finally close to capturing the world's most dangerous international nuclear arms dealer: Bhoot, alias the ghost. One of her assets has information about Bhoot's upcoming visit to a secret underground nuclear weapons facility in Iran - in only a few days. But just as Pierson's informant is about to give her the location, they're ambushed by an expert sniper. Pierson narrowly escapes. Her asset: dead.

Desperate to capture Bhoot and the sniper before they inflict more damage, Pierson enlists all of the Agency's resources to find them. But with each day, the pressure of the manhunt mounts, causing her to push her forbidden romance with a fellow ops officer to its limit when she asks him to do the impossible. Despite the risks, she refuses to halt her pursuit of the terrorists, and she puts her cover and her career - and her life - at risk.

With rapid-cut shifts from European capitals to Washington to the Near East, and with insider detail that only a former spy could provide, Blowback marks the explosive beginning of the hunt for Bhoot, the villain whom Vanessa Pierson devotes her life to capturing, dead or alive.

©2013 Valerie Plame and Sarah Lovett (P)2013 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“A tense spy thriller, with a smart, sexy heroine, international danger and yes, a love interest…. [Blowback] reads like Clancy, Cussler, or Ludlum…Destined to become another great part of American literary fiction.” (The Huffington Post)

“A fine, fast-moving spy saga….Plame and Lovett tell their story in short, fast-paced action scenes that steadily build momentum…. Pierson emerges as a smart, sexy action hero, a kind of James Bond with high heels, short skirts and a Glock in her purse….Check out this seductive spy; she’s likely to be around for a while.” (The Washington Post)

“Plame, the now ex-CIA agent notably exposed by the Bush II White House, mines her experience as an operative in this debut novel. She shines a bright light on illegal international arms trading to show how its tentacles reach deeply into the intelligence activities of the West’s spymasters.… A tightly wound, vigorously deployed thriller echoing the real-life stories of CIA agents and their enemies.” (Library Journal, starred review)

Meh

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The ending fizzled but left the story wide open for the next book and many of the same flat characters.

What didn’t you like about Negin Farsad’s performance?

The narrator has a lovely voice, but the pace was too fast.

Fast moving & sorta believable.

overall, I give this story a solid B+. it has the same believability as a '00' story & it was fun & (mostly) compelling.

Loved it!

Beautifully read, great action, very descriptive, you really felt part of the action. really a fantastic purchase

A Good Spy Story.

I loved this book and I am looking forward to reading more from Valerie Plame.

was curious

i remember the author from the Bush leak. story wasn't bad.
SPOILER
ending was too clean/expected

Hokey and more like a dime-store novel

I liked Valerie Plame's autobiography of how she got screwed by the Bush administration and the CIA.

But this story is so bad I can't believe it's from the same person.

Also, the way the audio works, it is very hard to tell who is speaking and where they are. This is the first time I've listened to an audio book and wished I was reading text.

Also, the narration was so over the top that it became laughable.

Skip it and listen to a real spy novelist's work.