Danger Close

A Novel

By: William G. Boykin, Tom Morrisey

Narrated by: Tom Weiner

Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Barely into his 20s and already a highly decorated military hero, Army Special Forces veteran Blake Kershaw is now going to college, studying while recuperating from wounds received in Afghanistan, and planning to reenter the army as an officer after graduation. But life tosses Blake a curve when his country approaches him about using his special skills to avert a terrorist plot to detonate a nuclear device in a major eastern US city. To do that, he would need to become an operative deep within al-Qaeda’s innermost circles—changing his entire identity, even his face. A true patriot, Blake makes the journey into a shadow world that leaves friends, family, and, seemingly, even God far behind. But when things go terribly wrong, and his country looks set to destroy him, it is God and God’s people who intervene.

©2010 William G. Boykin (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A hair-raising international military suspense thriller…The novel offers a fascinating, even sympathetic look into the brotherhood behind radical terrorism while showing how an operative narrowly stays alive to thwart disaster…A vivid portrayal of spy work and the inner workings of a terror cell.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Great story from a believer!

This man is a believer in Jesus Christ, and has lived most of what he writes about. The story has similarities to Vince Flynn's Memorial Day, which was also great. Though this story is still definitely unique. I really like that Boykin weaves faith in Jesus Christ into the story.

I'm former Army in Afghanistan and Iraq, so I resonated with a lot of components of this story.

The narrator at first was reading too fast and with a staccato rhythm, but I sort of adapted to it--should have been a bit slower throughout. The narrator was excellent in using realistic voices for all the different characters, and he does an spectacular job of this.

The chapter breaks and development order were excellent. I really was impressed with how this was done.

Good storyline

It’s hard to find the books I like with a good Christian overtones. Looking forward to your next book

Action Espionage Thriller

This is the first book I’ve read by Boykin, and hopefully it won’t be the last. While I do have a few criticisms of the performance and story, overall, it’s a solid story and performance, between a 4 and 5 star rating, depending on how critical I want to be. In short, if you like action, Boykin and Morrisey deliver, and for that, I recommend! It's a tight story and worth the time. Christian, and faith-based fiction for guys is sparse, and finding them in audio format is even more difficult. Here's a big thanks to Blackstone Audio and Audible for making it available!

First, I want to say, it would have been nice if the characters were given a little more personality, instead of just facts, but at least the story isn’t so bogged down with useless information to the point that there's a loss of interest for the details. I like to hear a little bit about what's going on in the characters' heads, like in Lee Child's Jack Reacher series, but you won't find that here. Blake Kershaw is a straight forward good guy, an American patriot, a military hero, Army Special Forces, who is literally willing to lay down everything for his country. He is put to the test when asked to assume the identity of a convict who joined al-Qaeda while incarcerated.

[Spoiler Alert] I anticipated more tension, regarding his new identity. It would have been interesting to have him targeted by the government as a suspected terrorist, running for his life, trying to prove his innocence, while trying to neutralize the threat. I kind of thought that was the direction the story was going, from the summary, but it never really took shape that way. There was only one brief altercation regarding his identity, and it was no more than a footnote. Perhaps the authors were trying to keep it more believable. I liked the romance development between him and his CIA colleague, but it could have used some more development. I'd like to see more work by this team, and with a little bit more definition.

Profanity.

Should not be in the clean and wholesome category. Audible does a horrible job with categories.

Meh...

For as long as the story was, I can’t understand how I came away with knowing so little about the characters. Not to mention it seemed light in detail of the settings as well. The other glaring flaw was the odd relationship between Blake and the woman training him during recuperation. They spend a few weeks together while he’s bandaged like a mummy and can’t see, and can’t talk about who he is; and she can’t see him and can’t/won’t (at first) talk about her past, but they become soulmates. No, not believable. Having said that, it wasn’t a bad story, just a bit elementary. What killed it was the narrator. Blake was supposed to be this hard as nail operator (which the story doesn’t explain how he could be, given his limited experience and training compared to similar characters), but he sounds like this gruff, crotchety old man who didn’t get his extra helping of pudding at lunch. It just didn’t fit.

Could be better

Who ever do these audible readings I wish they would use women to read women’s lines.it’s soooo lame hearing a man try to sound like a woman

Great story, great narrator

Narrator makes the story come alive. Deep calm voice with authority. Voice inflection is effective and helps the storyline.

A real gripper!

I couldn't stop listening! Good story line - international intrigue, action, love story. Excellent narrator.

Enjoyed the story, but not my favorite narrator.

Enjoyed the story, but not my favorite narrator. His voices were to much alike for some of the characters.

Confused

Story was at times just not believable. Accents were rough to listen to.

Half of the American intelligence characters had British accents for some unknown reason.

Main character has such a harsh and gravely voice (worse than the guy in Coors commercials), it's like the narrator never heard a 20 year old speak. Throughout the book, sometimes it was less harsh, other times more so. Not consistent at all.

The 80+ year old characters sounded more like how the younger characters should. Maybe 25% of the overall characters had some sort of rough, gravely voice.

100% of the time the main character was in a bind during a fight, he asked God for help and IMMEDIATELY had a burst of energy to win the fight. *eyeroll*

The amount of times classified information is given to people who do not have the appropriate clearance is wild and unrealistic.

The main character falls in love with someone whom he doesn't know, and she doesn't know the real him. Just weird that they fall in love and pine after each other, without knowing a thing about the other. This woman is also supposedly the administrative assistant to the 3rd in command at the intelligence agency, but yet immediately falls for the main character, then towards the end of the book, as he's trying to save the US from a terrorist attack no less, she asks if he has to do it? If he has to put himself in danger? Why can't it be someone else? Like, WHAT???

Start to finish this book is an eyeroll. Would not recommend at all. Free is even too expensive.

terrible narration

The story had potential but was completely ruined by the terrible narration and ludicrous accents.

I hope this is the start for Blake

A good tale well told. However, are terrorists that easily duped? and is there that degree of co operation in the "Special relationship" between the UK and US services?.

Accents

Interesting story, relevant to the time but spoiled for me by the dreadful accents, particularly the British ones. Why is it that all Americans assume that the British speak like extras from a badly made, black & white film from the 1950s. The Liverpool accent was particularly poor. It’s a good job we “Scousers” have a great sense of humour !!

Good listen

Good listen. Plot was interesting, almost did the whole book in one sitting. I’d advise the narrator to ditch the English accents though. That was the most gentrified scouser I’ve ever heard.

Meh

Found the whole thing a bit hard work, narration and accents were not the best

Great story

Great plot and gripping story. I enjoyed listening to it. I would look for more books by the same author

Love it

Great story, well told. Looking forward to the follow up. Hope they have book 2 in the pipeline

Interesting perspective

A good story from an unusual perspective, Not just demons and angels. Well visualized without being too descriptive. Being new to fiction I am not best placed to comment more but I did enjoy it.

A good read

A good plot with good characters. The book was well read too. Will read more by the author

Not bad

A cracking yarn to while away the hours of a long drive. I’ll be looking for more like this.