Firing Point

By: George Wallace, Don Keith

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 17 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's Summary

At the top of the world…
At the bottom of the sea…
A war has begun.

Below the polar ice cap, an American nuclear submarine moves quietly in the frigid water, tailing a new Russian sub. But the usual, unspoken game of hide-and-seek between opposing captains ends when the Americans hear sounds of disaster and flooding, and the Russian sub sinks at a depth of a thousand feet. The American sub rushes to help, only to join its former quarry in the deep. The situation ignites tensions around the world.

As both Washington and Moscow prepare for what may be the beginning of World War III, the USS Toledo—led by young, untested Captain Joe Glass—heads to the location to give aid. He soon discovers that the incident was no accident. And the men behind it have yet to make their final move. A move only Glass can stop.

©2012 George Wallace and Don Keith (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Excellent thriller. Can't wait for more!

This is a great book. The style is like a mixture of Ted Bell and Steven Coonts. The story is sort of a mix of the old "Run Silent, Run Deep" and "The Hunt for Red October".It is a real page turner and difficult to find a good stopping point. If I could have, I would have read the entire book all at once. The characters are realistic, the story believable and well researched. The narration was also excellent. If you enjoy thrillers and especially naval military books. don't miss this one!

9 of 9 people found this review helpful

Explosive insight into sub world

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

Very entertaining listen - just the right amount of technical detail without slowing down the action.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Multiple plots wove around the central engagement to keep you wanting the next instalment.

Which character – as performed by Stefan Rudnicki – was your favorite?

The Russian Admiral was captured just right.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Just bloody entertaining!

Any additional comments?

Well worth the listen.....will wait for any other books they do.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Hunt for Icy Despots

I have read many books, and, thanks to.my reading companion, Audible, I have had many good books read to me. It reminds me of when I would wake up and feel sick as a chid. My mother would stay at home with me until a babysitter showed up (usually an aunt or uncle, or my Scottish grandmother to care for me. ) Mom would usually start the reading, the babysitter then would take over reading the story. Some of us are naturally good at this forgotten art of storytelling.

This book is long, and it involves many stories told within. Sad stories .... some laughs. (the.characters are well defined) It is full of political intrigue. It is full of action, and subsequent reaction. If you take the time to read it , you will be entertained. There are changes within changes, and struggles that fail though they were definitely well meaning. I find myself quite ill of late. And sometimes I see my Mom's face reading to me. She had that talent. So did my Scottish grandmother. I miss hearing my.family reading to me, but I do not miss the books, the stories. etc. because Audible is here. I doubt that they ever receive thanks for bringing all these stories to our ears. It certainly beats luminosity, or "brain pills" (in my opinion ).

Excellent resding ! ! ! !

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

good submarine story

This book was recommended by a person I follow -Bob from Florida. I enjoy submarine and naval stories so I got it. I was not disappointed as the book had lots of suspense as submarines play hide and seek under the arctic ice cap. A newly built Russian sub goes under the ice with an older escort to start it's trial run, an explosion occurs and the new sub sinks to a 1000 feet. The USS Miami hears the explosion and comes to the aid of the sunken sub only to be shot and sunk by the other Russian sub. Here begins a twisted story of a Russian coup that leads the world to the brink of WWIII. Will the USS Toledo rescue the Russian submariners or not? Lots of action and drama in the story that will keep you glued to your headset. Wallace and Keith appear to know about submarines that keeps the story real. Stefan Rudnicki does a good job narrating the story.

7 of 9 people found this review helpful

Good but not quite great

I thought that the muti characters/locations went a few steps too far and at times seemed jumpy. The characters were great on one side of the world but it was hard to follow names and places on the other.

Narration was well done. I was able to track the military personnel by voice- not so much the numerous office characters.

Net- I enjoyed it. The sub and SEAL stuff was great.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Edge of my seat!

Where does Firing Point rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This book got me going early and kept me involved to the very end. I hated to come to the end of the book

Which scene was your favorite?

The early part of the book involving the battle between the submarines

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This story made me angry more than once...

Any additional comments?

For this genre this is an excellent book and will keep the listener tied to the story until the very end.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Good storyline and technical detail, boring reader

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I really wish I had read the paper version instead. The reader has no dynamic range or change of pace. Describing the furniture in a room sounds exactly the same as a sub trying to evade a pair of torpedoes. It's a lengthy book, so it really gets tiresome trying to stay interested in hearing a story read by someone who is clearly not interested himself.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Firing Point?

Initial sub combat, then realizing that there was still a lot of book left, so no telling what else might happen.

Would you be willing to try another one of Stefan Rudnicki’s performances?

NO! He makes the most exciting pucker-factor moments sounds like someone reading a software license agreement while sedated. I found myself periodically stopping the book and switching to uptempo music to keep me from abandoning the book. Really did this author a disservice. I have been told that sometimes the extreme compression used on these Audible books has the effect of flattening the dynamic range of the reader. I have noticed that so far, none are nearly as dynamic as those I have listened to on ripped CDs. If this is the case here, I apologize to the reader and urge Audible to make higher sampling rates available.

Was Firing Point worth the listening time?

Moderately so. For me, one of the whole points of audio books is to keep my mind engaged when I am doing monotonous tasks. This reading failed in that sense.

Any additional comments?

It's no bargain to get a good story read by a monotone clerk. It actually hurts the effort to sell other books by that author, even though the author is not to blame. When the reader cannot work up any excitement for the story he is telling, it's hard for the listener to get excited as well.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Red Rover, Red Rover, Who needs Red October?

What a terrific, ripping yarn this is. If you liked Clancy's Red October even a little bit, you'll love this. Story-wise it was very engaging -- hated to press pause. Narration was top-notch. Wish there were more by this pair.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

packed with action

At first, I was startled by how deep the narrator's voice is. But since most of the characters are men, this is actually fine and lends the right air to this military action drama.

It must have been much easier for writers during the Cold War. There was one enemy: Communists (Russia or China would do, though in the 80s hermetic China seemed like a flyspeck in the world scene). So pick a villain, paint him red, and watch our American heroes save the day.

This book bridges from the Cold War to the modern day by making the Russian villain a traitor to his own democratic government, and the Russian president a weak, pro-West, and good-hearted figure. It then careens about the planet, jumping from subs to military bases to the NYSE and all around again. Each short scene is packed with action and plot development.

You won't be bored reading this book. The submarine scenes seem well researched (indeed, the first author is a retired sub captain). I'm not sure I believe all of the political moves, and no one in the book has apparently heard of Wikileaks or the internet. I like it when things tie up neatly, as the scenes in this book do, so it's hard to complain that some characters seem motivated by advancing an exciting storyline or that all the military dudes have unerring gut instinct.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Icy Adventure

If you are into Arctic Submarine adventures, stuff blowing up, lots of guy to guy dynamics, Russian mafiaso and technical descriptions of anti submarine technology, etc., then this is the audio book for you.

If this stuff isn't your bag, then take a pass. Of note, the performance is well done, with reasonably good character thumbnails and accents.

Passably good "guy" stuff.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful