Countermeasure

Countermeasure, Book 1

By: Cecilia Aubrey, Chris Almeida

Narrated by: Tim Gerard Reynolds

Length: 12 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's Summary

In the first book of the Countermeasure series, Trevor Bauer, an NSA analyst, is searching for answers to the mystery surrounding his parents' disappearance when he crosses paths with Cassandra James, an ex-CIA operative with a big chip on her shoulder. By a stroke of luck, he becomes the key to her own mission while she becomes the center of his attention. Fighting an attraction as intense as their overwhelming instinct to keep each other at bay, together, they embark on a harrowing adventure that leads them across the ocean and into a world of intrigue and danger they had never foreseen. When faced with death defying choices, will they learn to trust their own instincts and each other to survive.

Countermeasure was The TBR Pile's June Book of the Month.

©2012 Chris Almeida & Cecilia Aubrey (P)2013 Chris Almeida & Cecilia Aubrey

Critic Reviews

"I love when a series goes from HOT to SCORCHING." ( Cocktails and Books Book Reviews)

"After an amazing first book, I couldn't expect less from the second novel, and I wasn't just not disappointed." ( Vanilla Moon Book Reviews)

"I'm eager to see what kind of situations these resourceful, beautiful people get themselves into next." ( Ms. Condit & Friends Read Books)

The new sexy: Geeks & computers

I read Countermeasures on E-book format and became an instant fan. When finally available on audio I was elated. Tim’s voice was perfect for Trevor, the accent was pat down, he was able to switch into different characters without issue, making each distinguishable and bring the personalities to life. The story flowed and unraveled like a movie playing in my head with Tim narrating.
I really enjoyed the relationship forming between Trevor & Cassie, the love scenes were very heated, even more so on the audio version. The narrator, TIm Reynolds is just as dedicated in his preformance as these two authors are in their work, it makes for an awesome combination.Thank you audible for adding a great story to your library.

Intricate story line with great narration

I enjoyed the narration of 'Theft of Swords' by 'Tim Gerard Reynolds' so much that I tracked down other books narrated by him, and discovered countermeasure.

Book has very interesting premise about having two very strong individual with complementing skill set. One is technically great with computers where the other one is great CIA agent (more or less). Having these two individual working in conjunction made up for a very enjoyable read.

Book has enough threads of story line to keep things interesting and there is a lot of time spend on main character development that reader get to know the reasons and motivation behind the individual. Story flows well and has a very satisfying ending.

On slightly critical note, book seems to flow 'too' well sometimes. People who are bad and really bad and have no redeeming quality at times with just the right amount of correct reasoning and motivation. At times characters seemed stereotyped. But it is not bad enough to be distracting.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and narration is great. I would recommend this book.

The Narration is Genius! Perfect for the book.

I had previously reviewed the eBook copy of this book, and while I was excited to hear the book in audiobook format, I was also concerned about the narration. I should not have been, the care that Almeida and Aubrey put into crafting this book in the written form extended to their choice for narration. And I will gush a moment here and say that the choice of Tim Gerard Reynolds to narrate the story was genius! With a soft touch of Irish lilt in his speech, that deepens to brogue when required, his narration was the perfect counterpoint, enhancing the story while not detracting with an overly-exaggerated series of accents or tones.

This book brings forward a whole mix of genres: thriller, mystery, romance and even has some clever comedic romance – and there is erotic content, made even steamier by the palpable emotional foreplay and electrifying connection between Trevor and Cassie. While the main story centers on corporate espionage in a pharmaceuticals company and manages to incorporate IT geeks, security, the CIA and even international intrigue and black market trade deals for business gain. A little something for everyone, much feeling as if it is ripped from the headlines.

This is a character driven story, where each is revealed in little painstaking bits like a puzzle, then each piece fits and makes sense, bringing a 3D version of the character into your head. Each character is given the same deference and care, even those who feel superfluous to the main story – be warned: those who seem unimportant at first are often larger pieces of the puzzle – that piece that sits in the middle and provides the final picture. I can say that I have read all of the books in the series – finding a new thing to love about the stories with each one. This audiobook version rekindled the early excitement I had for this series, and cannot wait for the next release.

I received an audiobook copy of this book from the authors for purpose of honest review at the Heard Word on I am, Indeed. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Make It Geeky for Me

I have read the entire Countermeasure series and when I found out that it was on audible, I was shouting for joy!!! The whole experience was so much fun. Tim Reynolds narrated the subtle emotional nuances with ease and swagger that made my heart bounce. He made Trevor's accent and personality absolutely mesmerizing and Cassandra's inner strength flow to the listener. I loved the story on paper and hearing it gave me a soundtrack to each individual character and sequence.

I look forward to the other works in the series to come out in audible format and will look for other works by Mr. Reynolds as well.

Fantastic!

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

I have not read the print verstion.

What does Tim Gerard Reynolds bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

OH YEAH!!! Great voice and portrays the emotions to a T.

Any additional comments?

I went a little out of my comfort zone when I asked to review this audio book. Mystery thrillers aren't usually the type of genre that I would read. I find myself saying that a lot....not my genre. I find that when I do branch out, I usually love them. I hate to be one of those readers that stays in that zone. I'm glad I took a chance on this novel. My expectations were totally blow out of the water.

Countermeasure is extremely well written and held my interest from the start. The storyline has a perfect balance of mystery and romance that would excite any adrenaline fan and romance junkies. I was all too please to find that the romance in the story was SMOKIN' HOT!! Seriously though... where can I find myself a geek like Trevor. I think I found my new book boyfriend! How can you go wrong with a hot, NSA techie that's Irish!? You can't! Cassandra is exactly what I love in a female lead. She's a bit snarky and strong and from her description, is an auburn haired beauty. I have a thing for red heads :) This book made me feel like I was going on an adventure....a really sexy one. I'd find myself rubbing my hands together, grinning like the Cheshire cat and thinking "this is about to get juicy!" And not to mention the drool. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

Definitely worth the credit

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

For sure. It had a great plot and a hot romance.

What did you like best about this story?

It was a good thriller, had good action yet still maintained a great romance. Perfect balance and what I look for in a romantic suspense novel.

What does Tim Gerard Reynolds bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I really enjoyed his narration overall. His female voices were probably the weakest point in his performance but still didn't ruin it for me. I loved his voice for Trevor.

Any additional comments?

Don't hesitate to get this one. It appears to be the start of a great series and I can't wait for the next ones to be available on Audible.

Seriously!?

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

I read the reviews and was looking forward to a great story but this is short on story and long on erotica. Could they get over their intense sexual attraction long enough to actually develop the story?

What could Cecilia Aubrey and Chris Almeida have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

A little sex is fun but I wanted a story with suspense and depth of character. That would have helped

How could the performance have been better?

I love this narrator. I listen to his performance in The Theft of Swords many times. I wonder if the director was the one lacking skills.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Countermeasure?

Most of the sex scenes and the constant internal bantering about their sexual desires.

Any additional comments?

Really disappointing read. Would not recommend it to anyone.

not a mystery/thriller - a romance pot boiler

This book is a romance novel wrapped in a thin international corporate espionage plot. The performance is fine but the misleading categorization of the book leads me to rate it neutral - I'm not a fan of romance novels and don't know the genre.

A further issue is that Audible's sample for the book gives an "error" when selected though I doubt the sample would have made it clear that the book is a romance novel.

Good story but too much explicit sex

Good story but too much explicit sex. It almost seemed silly and juvenile at times. The story was otherwise good and it was easy to fast forward through the sex scenes.

Fun Accents, Romantic Suspense, Geeks, and Europe

Alrighty, I think I should do a quick disclaimer here- originally I read this eBook in exchange for a honest review in 2012. BUT - this is the audiobook, which I did NOT get for free. So this is a cat of a different color.

First off - props need to be given to the narrator. Just a touch of Irish brogue and an overall delicious accent and he didn't even half bad with the female voices. Probably the one main issue I had was it being a little odd a few times when an 'American' character would be speaking but I still was hearing Irish brogue.

Secondly - I like that the characters are flawed. You've got Cassandra: ex-CIA, stubborn, tenacious, and emotionally frigid. She totally makes mistakes but it's an endearing quality (for me at least.) And Trevor... lovely, geeky, Irish brogue NSA agent with hidden skeletons in his closet and a computer named Jack. He's the 'McHotpants' version of your average computer geek, but I'm not complaining about that at all. Though it all takes place over the time frame of a few weeks, the relationship development I thought was very realistic.

Why, you may ask, am I only giving this 4 stars instead of 5? It's a two part answer here... repetition - which I hadn't noticed as much in eBook form, but hearing it spoken in my ear really highlighted it. It's not a huge thing, just a minor irritation at times that make me want to quickly wave my hand in a movement of, "Yeah, yeah, we got that bit already - move on!" Even the high action scenes were almost so eager to give both sides of the events that I'd hear about the exact same action from two POV back-to-back, it seemed. Again, I really must stress how minor this was, but I had to mention it. Second part (I mentioned it was a two part answer) that was somewhat lacking for me was the descriptiveness of the various European locales. There are times where we get wondrous description (Monte Carlo comes to mind) but they spent at least a week or two in Paris and I never really felt I got a 'flavor' of the location in the writing. I must again stress how this is a 'small fries' issue in relation to the greater happy meal of the book. It just bothered me enough to drop a star.

Overall, if you're a fan of romantic suspense/thriller with some geeky overtones and a variety of locales, then I'd recommend giving this a try. I know I'm putting other books in this series on my TBR list and will happily continue.