Shadow of Betrayal

By: Brett Battles

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

The meeting place was carefully chosen: an abandoned church in rural Ireland just after dark. For Jonathan Quinn - a freelance operative and professional "cleaner" - the job was only to observe. If his cleanup skills were needed, it would mean things had gone horribly wrong.

But an assassin hidden in a tree assured just that. And suddenly Quinn had four dead bodies to dispose of and one astounding clue - to a mystery that is about to spin wildly out of control.

Three jobs, no questions. That was the deal Quinn had struck with his client at the Office. Unfortunately for him, Ireland was just the first. Now Quinn, along with his colleague and girlfriend - the lethal Orlando - has a new assignment touched off by the killings in Ireland. Their quarry is a U.N. aide worker named Marion Dupuis who has suddenly disappeared from her assignment in war-torn Africa. When Quinn finally catches a glimpse of her, she quickly flees, frantic and scared. And not alone.

For Quinn the assignment has now changed. Find Marion Dupuis, and the child she is protecting, and keep them from harm. If it were only that easy.

Soon Quinn and Orlando find themselves in a bunker in the California hills, where Quinn will unearth a horrifying plot that is about to reach stage critical for a gathering of world leaders - and an act of terror more cunning, and more insidious, than anyone can guess.

Fast, smart, sleek, and stunning, Shadow of Betrayal is vintage Brett Battles: a gritty, gripping masterpiece of suspense, a thriller that makes the pulse pound--and stirs the heart as well.

©2009 Brett Battles (P)2009 Random House Audio

The Narrator Makes the Book

This is a perfect example of how a narrator makes or breaks a story. First book in this series (The Cleaner) was not an excellent book but a fun listen, read by Scott Brick. It prompted me to buy the remaining two books in the series. The second book (The Deceived) may or may not have been just as good a story but they changed narrators and his read changed the entire personalities of the characters; and not for the better. The third installment, read by Brick again made this book enjoyable again. I have said it before but I will never understand why some series change narrators mid-stream. For anyone that enjoys listening to series, like Bosch, Bolitar, Reacher, begin to identify the characters with the voice and when it changes it alters the listening experience.

11 of 12 people found this review helpful

Can't go wrong with Brett Battles!

Another phenomenal suspense book from Brett Battles. Jonathan Quinn and his team face off against another foe...this one a familiar character from The Cleaner. Taut plot, lightning pace, edge of your seat suspense. Enjoy!

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Too Convoluted

The Battles series is taunted as fast-paced thrillers. I found the 'fast-pace' to be contrived and forced. The mystery was not well developed and the reader was not taken along with the story. The introduction to the story, the characters and the plot was poor leaving me to wonder 'what is going on?' and when is the 'action' going to start?' The story was all over the globe, literally. This made it a little confusing for me. I am sure it was the intention of the author to build suspense and mystery but it seemed to me to be convoluted. I wasn't able to determine what the 'bad guys' were doing and how it was suppose to impact the 'good guys'. Nobody was clued into anything until the end. This would have been okay but the end was weak and didn't tie up loose ends. I was prepared for this because this is a series but I wanted some closure and this book was fared and underdeveloped.
I always enjoy Scott Brick's performance. He articulates and uses accents that are reasonable and accurate. He brought this story to life.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

A poor effort

Not well written, contrived plot, entirely implausible, factually naive. Very disappointing. The next book in the series is is significantly better. A "deep cover, off the books" CIA agent is going to put someone under arrest in the US? Really? How would that work? Just one of many absurdities in this poor book.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

maybe just one more

I think I swore off listening to Battles after a previous read, but somehow ended up listening to this anyway. I wish I could edit this book: it's really not a bad story, but Battles gets hung up at least once a chapter on parsing minutiae, with a lot of dialogue about obvious things, a lot of explication of un-spectacular activity, much in the name of verisimilitude but more a delight in naming weapons and lovingly recording all the intricacies of using them. All in all it's an engaging-enough story, but could have been streamlined to good effect.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Feels like a soap opera

I bought this book based on all the positive reviews I read and I found that the story is really good. The plot is interesting but the way it's told just didn't work for me at all. I love Scott Brick's work but the combination of his style with the sometimes ridiculous dialogues just made it too campy.

The heroes take time to have long unnecessary conversations in the middle of the action, even while in grave danger! It just didn't have a spy/thriller flow.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

absolutely wonderful

I loved this book! Scott Brick is my favorite narrator-he could make the phone book interesting. Luckily, he didn't have to try that hard. I could not stop listening from beginning to end. I am looking forward to other reads by this author. This was 1 of 2 favorite audible books-the other was "The Scarecrow" by Michael Connelly. Completely worth the credit.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Excellent early Jonathan novel

This is the third novel in the Jonathan Quinn series by Brett Battles. Although it is excellent it is not quite as good as the first two novels or several of the later novels in the series. Yet it is a great listen.

5 of 8 people found this review helpful

Location: Ireland Another murder mess!

Another "simple" job with big complications.

Quinn continues to be entertaining while dealing with a gruesome crime scene and its back story.

Scott Brick is always an excellent narrator.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Thoroughly enjoyable story, great narration

Brett never fails to deliver with his Jonathan Quinn series, I think they are a very clever perspective on the assassin / thriller genre. Fantastic narration from Scott Brick once again. A great package story by Brett, narration by Scott. Would I recommend - hell yes!

2 of 3 people found this review helpful