The Caucasus Cauldron

A Thriller

By: James Lingard

Narrated by: Allen Kleine Deters

Length: 6 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

MI6 spies, Russian FSB, Chechen terrorists, Abkhaz Separatists, the 1992 Georgian war.

This breathtaking and brutal novel is a gripping tale set in the magnificent Caucasus Mountains during Georgia's ill-fated invasion of Abkhazia in 1992. The Caucasus Cauldron gives a vivid focus to a historical moment left out of the history books, a world ripping itself apart and ravaged by never-ending hatred and blood feuds.

Can our hero, Mac, trust the attractive Russian FSB officer, Kris, who befriends him? How will she react to Doctor Anna, a Separatist rabble-rouser who holds the key to his secret mission? And what about the mysterious Sergei, a former British agent, who seems to have disappeared?

How will Mac cope with the Chechen terrorist who has vowed to kill him? "You are a dead man, English. We know who you are. You are spying on our people. Now you die."

The result is an intense action-packed thriller full of danger, death, and fear but a story full of quiet humour and surprising twists and turns.

©2020 James Lingard (P)2021 Wordwooze Publishing

An Awkward and Confusing Action/Adventure

This book didn’t work for me. To start, the cadence and emotive performance didn’t seem natural to me, and it exacerbated the uneven prose, awkward dialog (including several internal soliloquies) within a plot that struggles to find traction. The bulk of the story is a contrived hunt for two uninspiring agents (from MI6 and FSB) … and I can’t for the life of me understand why they are working together. So while dodging Georgian and Chechen thugs …. er …. soldiers, the duo stumbles from one encounter to another without rhyme or reason outside of a strange need to add even more gratuitous violence and manufactured outrage to hide the general lack of any finesse (I lost count of how many versions of now you die English that pops up in this story). Unfortunately this was not evident in the short sample I listened to. Nominally they are looking for Sergei (a former British agent now separatist leader). Oh … let’s throw in a dysfunctional mr & mrs smith style romance to stitch together all the action. Honestly, I had a hard time following the story as very little made sense to me.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TheCauscasusCauldron #FreeAudiobkFacebkGrp

A gripping thriller

James Lingard tells a gripping story in The Caucasus Cauldron. I did read the story, and enjoyed it, but I also really enjoyed this audiobook. This is a great historical thriller. This author has a great imagination. The narration brings what I read in print, to life. Filled with spies, terrorists, and Russians, plus a lot more. In 1992 (which is an interesting year to now be called historical). The story revolves around Mac, the protagonist of the story, and is on a secret mission. The Georgian war has created separation, vengeance, and even distrust and hate. It's an interesting and intriguing story to follow. It is a very well-written plot, and I enjoyed it. The characters are so engrossing. If you love a good spy and conspiracy thrillers, this book should be next on your list. The reader goes back in time, all the way to 1992. The Caucasus Cauldron on audiobook is a definite listening recommendation by Amy's Bookshelf Reviews. I look forward to listening to many more titles by this author.

Different book

This book was hard to follow and the narrator was hard to listen to. This is my honest review.