The Inner Circle

By: Brad Meltzer

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

There are stories no one knows. Hidden stories. I love those stories. And since I work in the National Archives, I find those stories for a living. Beecher White, a young archivist, spends his days working with the most important documents of the U.S. government. He has always been the keeper of other people's stories, never a part of the story himself...Until now.

When Clementine Kaye, Beecher's first childhood crush, shows up at the National Archives asking for his help tracking down her long-lost father, Beecher tries to impress her by showing her the secret vault where the president of the United States privately reviews classified documents. After they accidentally happen upon a priceless artifact - a 200-year-old dictionary that once belonged to George Washington, hidden underneath a desk chair, Beecher and Clementine find themselves suddenly entangled in a web of deception, conspiracy, and murder.

Soon a man is dead, and Beecher is on the run as he races to learn the truth behind this mysterious national treasure. His search will lead him to discover a coded and ingenious puzzle that conceals a disturbing secret from the founding of our nation. It is a secret, Beecher soon discovers, that some believe is worth killing for.

Gripping, fast-paced, and filled with the fascinating historical detail for which he is famous, The Inner Circle is a thrilling novel that once again proves Brad Meltzer as a brilliant author writing at the height of his craft.

©2011 Brad Meltzer (P)2011 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Meltzer has earned the right to belly up to the bar with John Grisham, Scott Turow, and David Baldacci." (People)

Highly recommended!

I'll be purchasing the next in the series. The story was great and I really liked the performance. You won't be sorry.

Awesome book

I just came back from an overseas flight of 23 hours. This book kept me so hooked that I almost forgot about the painful long journey. This is one of the best books in my library along with The Company which I will listen again and again. I bought the second book in the series as soon as I finished it.

Scott Brick, as usual, was gave his best performance. I am glad to see that he narrated fost of Brad Meltzer's books which I plan to listen to one by one.

I would highly recommend this one.

Good story, worth a listen

A “who do you trust” story with some history mixed in. I enjoyed it. This is the first time I’ve listened to this author.

Scott Brick makes everything better

The story is wonderful. I loved it. So thoughtful and interesting. The characters actually surprised me. Having the narrator be Scott Brick adds another 10 layers of wonderful. I even listened to the acknowledgments. I look forward to the next in this series. Great work.

Really Good Historical Thriller

Where does The Inner Circle rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Above the middle, but not at the top. This was a good thriller with a lot of historical content that got wrapped into a fairly believable conspiracy theory. A definite recommend on this book.

What did you like best about this story?

The whit of the main character.

What does Scott Brick bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I love Scott Brick. He is one of my favorite readers.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, but unless the book is really horrid I want to listen to them in one sitting.

A good plot but....

The synopsis sounded interesting. I read both good and critical reviews and decided to take a chance. It doesn’t have re-readable quality. The plot is just what I like; varied and twisting. It was a story I could put down and reconnect.
Beecher is forgettable. He has no character qualities that connect to readers. He’s weak, he’s not smart, he’s like Columbo without any logic to win at the end.
This is the first Brad Meltzer book I’ve read. I won’t give away anything but all through the book I wanted someone I felt strongly about. For awhile it was Clementine and even her father but alas Brad basically wrote off all the good characters. They just didn’t know it.
Let me address the plot. Here is where Brad excels. The layout, the dead ends and plot points are spot on. As a writer I look for the thing that keeps me reading. In this book it’s not character. It’s plot. I kept wondering where the story was going and who were the good guys and bad guys. I continued to listen. It’s a good thing I had this on audio since I speed read and skip the boring parts. In this case I rarely jumped ahead.
To sum it up. The plot is a maze if you like that kind of reading. The style is a challenge but the chapters are short to keep the reader engaged. I can’t recommend this to everyone. You have to suspend reality and read the plot. Brad Meltzer is a good story teller but horrible writing characters.

Not worth the time.

The narration was so tedious that I could not finish the book. Maybe the story would be better if the narrator was different.

Good book but the audio recording was dreary.

The book had a good story and well laid out plot. It was excited and kept you guessing. There were some parts that were not developed well and moved too quickly from place to place or about each character.
The audio performance was not good. The reader sounded constantly depressed or mad, making the narration consistently down-trodden. Even when the character was happy or excited, the narrated sounded cross or sad. It was hard to listen to.

Great book!

This is the kind of book I like. The anticipation of what’s coming next is nerve wracking! Brad Meltzer has many more books for me to listen to so I’ll get to it!

Couldn't stop listening..

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to next one in line. What is next for Beecher? I can't wait to find out.