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The Assassin  By  cover art

The Assassin

By: Stephen Coonts
Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
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Publisher's summary

In this tale of high drama and nonstop action from perennial best-selling author Stephen Coonts, Al Qaeda links up with a renegade Mafia chieftain to threaten America with an unimaginable scenario of terror.

In the finale of Coonts' previous novel, The Traitor, the ruthless and brilliant Al Qaeda leader who nearly succeeded in blowing up a meeting of the Group of 7 in Paris slipped the noose and escaped. But Abu Qasim has another trick up his sleeve: he has a plan to hire a well connected Mafia capo to destroy the electric substations that service New York, plunging the city back into the early 19th century. The price? One billion American dollars is hard to turn down.

The CIA soon learns that something is up, and a worried president sends his best - Jake Grafton and his secret weapon, Tommy Carmellini. Tommy is soon up to his eyes in beautiful women as he tries to piece the deadly puzzle together. With bombs ticking and bullets flying, Tommy meets an old flame, beautiful Russian agent Anna Modin. This time she's got a gun. And a list.

©2008 Stephen Coonts (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

What listeners say about The Assassin

Average customer ratings
Overall
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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Worst spy thriller...

...I've read for a long time. I expected more from Coontz. The central character in this novel is not Jake Grafton but Tommy Camarillo, supposedly the best trigger man Grafton can come up with who manages to bungle every assignment. The premise is totally off the wall. A bunch of rich guys paying to assassinate terrorists and getting POTUS and the CIA to go along with the plan? Give me a break. Many transitions from scene to scene are not explained well. We get no idea at all how the antagonist gets all his intel and assassinates people supposedly protected by the largest intelligence agency in the world. It's all very contrived. The whole thing is ameraturishly done not only on paper but in the production as well.

Dennis Boutsikaris is absolutely the worst reader I've ever listened to on Audible. His rendition of the characters in this novel is almost juvenile. What should be dramatic high intensity action is delivered as if he were talking about Archie and Veronica at the movies. His accents are terrible or nonexistent and there is hardly any difference in the tone or pitch of the different characters voices. You can't tell who's talking half the time. His female voices are pathetic. Additionally he is reading at a pace that allows for little drama as if he just wants to get done with the book. I will be avoiding any audiobooks that feature him as the reader in the future.

If you want a good action thriller get Brad Thor, Vince Flynn or John Lutz.


Sorry I only give this one star. I was totally dissatisfied with the whole production.


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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

I have enjoyed the other Jake Grafton/Tommy Carmalita books. In this one however, there is too much idle talk and the suspense is created almost exclusively through the stupidity of the protagonists. Every time the suspense builds they do the dumbest things. No plan, no situational awareness and Tommy gets distracted at every wrong moment.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Coonts does it again

Great job Mr. Coonts. I really like Mr. Boutsikaris as a narrator as will. He brings life to Grafton and the others.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

An okay story

The story is just okay, nothing to peak your interest...just a middle of the road. The author seemed to write by a cookie cutter foremat for spy storied and employed any outside the box thinking. Other than that if you are bored and have nothing else to read, and you don't mind having to restart the story because you tend to nod off or day dream while the reader is reading this might be a book to listen to while you sleep. When you wake you'll have a completed book

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Yawn

Sorry. I was looking forward to this one. I listen to my books at the gym. Believe me, when you daydream through a terror plot while you're on a treadmill...well...

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Weak, trite

Weak, trite, stereotypes, predictable, if you like good plots, character development, espionage, - save your money/credits. This is terrible

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story

Loved it. Have been a Coonts fan since Flight of the Intruder. He doesn't disappoint.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent performance

Good enough story, but the narrators performance was excellent. Really made the Character of Tommy Carmellini come alive.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great book

Hang onto your seat till the very last word. Great suspense and fast moving. Audio was great and the narrator was superb. Highly recommend this book to anyone. Great listen.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Even better than the Traitor

What did you love best about The Assassin?

Tommy is the luckiest man alive in some respects, and that gets a little over the top after he's shot three times and the next day is fighting the bad guys - could have at least a few days in the hospital to recover - but the rest of the story and characters are fun and exciting. The plot with Marisa keeps you guessing.

Koontz tells you what the bad guys are thinking so some parts are like watching Titanic since you know the end - but better than Titanic you don't know if Marisa is really the good guy or bad guy until the very end.

It feels like Koontz wanted to go one way but ended up going another at the very end - but maybe that's because he had the idea for the next book just then.

Looking forward to the next one.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Is Marisa good or evil. Selfish or Rightous. You find out, but boy Koontz keeps you guessing. Kept me wanting to listen.

Have you listened to any of Dennis Boutsikaris’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Dennis was solid once again, his range didn't improve much but he did keep things interesting and I could listen for hours without getting bored.

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1 person found this helpful