The Ancient Nine

By: Ian K. Smith

Narrated by: Brad Sanders

Length: 15 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's Summary

This program includes an introduction read by the author.

Spencer Collins thinks his life at Harvard will be all about basketball and pre-med, hard workouts and grinding work in class. The friends he’s made when he hits the storied, ivy-clad campus from a very different life in urban Chicago are a happy bonus. But Spencer is about to be introduced to the most mysterious inner sanctum of the inner sanctum: To his surprise, he’s in the running to be “punched” for one of Harvard’s elite final clubs.  

The Delphic Club is known as “The Gas” for its crest of three gas-lit flames, and as Spencer is considered for membership, he’s plunged not only into the secret world of male privilege that The Gas represents, but also into a century-old club mystery. Because at the heart of the Delphic, secured deep inside its guarded mansion club, is another secret society: a shadowy group of powerful men known as The Ancient Nine.   

Who are The Ancient Nine? And why is Spencer - along with his best friend, Dalton Winthrop - summoned to the deathbed of Dalton’s uncle just as Spencer is being punched for the club? What does the lore about a missing page from one of Harvard’s most historic books mean? And how does it connect to religion, murder, and to the King James Bible, if not to King James himself?  

Ian Smith's The Ancient Nine is both a coming-of-age audiobook and a swiftly plotted story that lets listeners into the ultimate of closed worlds with all of its dark historical secrets and unyielding power.  

©2018 Ian K. Smith (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Critic Reviews

"Pulls you into the depths of a secret world from the first page. Ian Smith’s novel is unmissable." (Harlan Coben, New York Times best-selling author of Missing You)

"With a masterful hand, Ian Smith has written a novel that immerses us in the dark intrigue of one of the country's oldest secret societies. The Ancient Nine is thrilling, exciting, and shocking from beginning to end." (Michael Eric Dyson, New York Times best-selling author of Tears We Cannot Stop)

story was great. . . production was lackluster

Get this audiobook. The story is great. Ian did an excellent job wrapping you in and keeping it suspenseful. The voice over cuts we're very noticeable and took attention away from the story. You should never be wondering why the voice changes so much in an audiobook.

DO NOT PURCHASE THE AUDIO BOOK

This is the worst quality audiobook I’ve ever heard! There was little to no attention paid to audio levels during the recording and editing of this product. The levels and tones vary greatly not just from chapter to chapter but also from sentence to sentence. It was highly distracting and took away from the story. And just when I thought the quality couldn’t get any worse, the narrator finished the book with what sounded like a severe head cold. He was nasally and his delivery was horrid. The author, narrator and publisher should be ashamed to have produced such a low quality product.

"The Good Old Boy Network" from the Inside

The author was on TV discussing the book because it has some truths, and those truths put reality to my belief of how those with ivy league roots believe they are "entitled". This story shows their "entitlement" mentality starts with special treatment in their college years! The book doesn't give away any "secrets" about the hidden societies but opens ones eyes to the privileges received by their members, and how far back the "boys in the network" go!.I think it's a MUST READ for all women and those of every ethnicity outside the "good old boys network"!

Ancient Nine

It took me quite a few chapters to get into this story. it picked up for me around Chapter 20. I expected there to be an relation somewhere for his name to be in Uncle Randolph's book. Im glad he made it in and that he was able to keep his family's story alive for future generations.

Really Satisfying

This was engrossing. I found myself wanting to go to the campus of Harvard. The characters were so alive. The descriptions made it do that you could picture the homes and surroundings. Dalton & Spencer made me catch my breathe sometimes hope this becomes a movie!

Great story of a great and storied institution

First of all the narration is superb! He doesn’t try to mimic the characters voices but reads the lines of other characters in appropriate cadence and tone without being cheesy. The story is believable and told from the viewpoint of a student who is bright and athletic but feels like an outsider. Just enough clues are given to keep your interest and keep the story moving. The requisite twists and turns are well done and again believable. A thoroughly enjoyable book.

Riveting, captivating, and hard to stop listening.

This book took me in from the first page. Nothing about this story made me want to put it away. I wanted to finish it in one day but I kept a good pace to keep the book from ending too fast. Solid story and a perfect narrator. I would recommend this book!

A lot of twists and turns

I liked the mystery and intriguing plot. I would recommend the book to others. I good book very different from his books on diet and health.

A great "read"

loved this book. Descriptive yet simple, the story hooks you in and takes you on a journey filled with tales of another era.

A Very Interesting Story That is Hard to Put Down

I very much enjoyed Dr. Smith's blend of fact and fiction. The details make the story incredibly interesting. I am glad that Dr. Smith himself did not read the audio book version because it may have confused the pre-med Harvard basketball player with the author. The overall story is very good. However, to keep the story going, it relies on a couple of characters providing information that doesn't quite fit with their access. It was worth removing one star for me but if you can set that annoyance aside, this is an incredible book. The main character is well developed and it feels like the geographic (and other) details are very well researched. The reader has a great voice but appeared to struggle at times, putting the accent or emphasis on the wrong syllables. At one point he appears to have come down with nasal congestion. The reader pulled it off but sometimes it was difficult to track which character was which. Please enjoy this audio book.