Take No Names

A Novel

By: Daniel Nieh

Narrated by: Ewan Chung

Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

A riveting thriller about a fugitive in search of a quick payday in Mexico City who finds himself in the crosshairs of a dangerous international scheme.

Victor Li is a man without a past. To his new employer, Mark, he’s just an anonymous hired hand to help with the dirty work. Together, they break into storage units that contain the possessions of the recently deported, pocketing whatever is worth selling. Only Victor and his sister, Jules, know that he’s a wanted man.

Amid the backpacks and suitcases, Victor makes the find of a lifetime: a gem rare and valuable enough to change his fortunes in an instant. But selling it on the sly? Nearly impossible. Thankfully, its former owner, a woman named Song Fei, also left a book of cryptic notes—including the name of a gemstone dealer in Mexico City.

When Victor and Mark cross the southern border, they quickly realize that this gem is wrapped up in a much larger scheme than they imagined. In Mexico City, shadowy international interests are jockeying for power, and they may need someone with Victor’s talents—the same ones that got him in trouble in the first place.

On the heels of his knockout debut Beijing Payback, Daniel Nieh delivers Take No Names, a white-knuckled and whip-smart thriller that races to an electrifying finish.

©2022 Daniel Nieh (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Enjoyed!

Enjoyed the second book from the author/narrator and will look forward to their third release soon.
The story shows improvement with interesting and relevant topic and hopefully the next book will not shy away or play safe in descriptions of facts related to current world events.

Some of the characters from the first book are there but surely missed his best friends from school. Victor has all the potential of becoming a cult like hero similar to so many out there. (not that I want him to copy any one of them)

Please continue with multilingual characters/places as it's a delight to listen to Ewan narrating them with such ease and to quite perfection...maybe a Hindi speaking character next time? (big challenge Ewan) :)
Thank you both!

A+ Writing and Narration

I chose "Take No Names" because most of the setting was in Mexico, a country I love and have visited many time; in addition, the plot sounded interesting and unusual. It is the best book I have ever chosen without having read a detailed review beforehand.

You will get the gist of the novel in the usual Audible description. What it will not tell you is that the beauty of the language, both written and spoken is extraordinary. Daniel Nieh's written word was stunning. Ewan Chung's narration, spoken with a touching, quiet emotion, perfectly depicted Victor Li, the main character. In addition the story line was well paced with well placed twists and turns.

My one regret is that I did not realize Nieh's previous novel "Beijing Payback" is a lead in to "Take No Names". At the same time I am thrilled that I will have the pleasure of choosing it as my next Audible purchase. If you haven't read Payback I suggest you might want to choose that first.