The Driver

John Milton, Book 3

By: Mark Dawson

Narrated by: David Thorpe

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

John Milton has started to hope that he might have a future.

He has a job driving a taxi around the streets of San Francisco. He has his anonymity and his solitude. Being invisible has become a comfortable habit. He doesn't want to be found.

But when a girl he drives to a party goes missing, Milton is worried. Especially when two dead bodies are discovered, and the police start treating him as their prime suspect. Milton is a fugitive from the British Secret Service, and a man in his position needs extra attention like he needs a hole in the head.

As unpleasant secrets leak out, and the body count rises, one thing is for sure. Milton might just be the right guy in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Driver is a taut, nail-biting adventure which once again stars Mark Dawson's irresistible hero, the maverick ex-MI6 assassin John Milton. Mark Dawson has worked as a DJ and lawyer and currently works in the London film industry. His first books, The Art of Falling Apart and Subpoena Colada have been published in multiple languages.

©2014 Mark Dawson (P)2015 Audible, Ltd

You can drive me, John Milton!

John Milton is likable. He is an ex-SAS assassin who got tired of the blood and decided to go straight and only help people out. His home office doesn't want him out there with all his knowledge of procedure and missions and personnel, so they keep sending assassins to kill him, or bring him in. Thus he must be on the run constantly. Milton is also a recovering alcoholic who attends AA meetings but doesn't believe he can ever atone for his sins. In every town he lands in he ends up finding trouble and causing nearly as much as he smooths. In this book, he is looking for a missing hooker he taxied to a "party", and trying to find out who killed the other working girls.

At least in this story, none of his new, short-term friends get offed while John is trying to atone. It is interesting all the way through, and we live for the spec ops skills John brings into play. His newest sometime partner, bounty hunter Bo (or Beau, I don't know) reappears to our delight, even though he can not take the place of the lamented Rutherford from book 1.

The narration constantly amazes me. Thorpe's default voice seems to be that of a slightly nerdy, prissy English prig, but he did the English thugs and druggies superbly in book 1, Mexican drug lords in book 2, and now he does Americans of all accents and social levels. He seems to change height and weight as his voices change.

If you like the genre and the premise, this is a good series.

Another good listen

John Milton is Jack Reacher, John Wells, and The Grey Man all rolled into one. David Thorpe also does a great job. He is slowly becoming one of favorite narrators.

Good story

The narrator is English & has the worst American accent I've ever heard. He thinks there is only one generic accent for all Americans. It's appalling

A British San Francisco

What disappointed you about The Driver?

The story itself is bland and meandering. Worse yet, it's a British narrator reading a British-language story set in San Francisco. As a result, all of the local names were mis-pronounced (Mos-CONE Center for Mos-CONEY Center) as well as all the Latino names. Furthermore, all of the idioms were British. I found this only distracting.

A better plot might have worked past this deficit, but the story has no center. It's just a guy who's on the run from a life of alcohol and violence having to dust off his fight skills from time to time as random events occur in his life. It's fun to see a guy with those skills go mano-a-mano with various bad guys, but it's not enough to salvage the book's other deficits.

loved this book, was a great read.

If you like Jack Reacher you will love Milton. Action packed with great detail and we'll developed characters.

Not for me

I enjoy this kind of story generally and this narrator is superb. I can live with a few mispronunciations, because he's one of the few British readers who can do American accents that aren't strained. The book disappointed me. The writing was dull, the character uninteresting, and the story moved slowly and was illogical in parts. Also, it really wasn't necessary that I had to listen to political drivel that ordinarily would have forced me to use the "power" button on the TV remote. All in all, except for the narrator, a stinker.

Improvement over the First Two in the Series

I have listened to the first 2 books in the series and this one is a big improvement over the first two. I hope they continue to improve. The story was a bit tighter, there was more lead character development. The story felt more complete.

Book 5+ STARS; Narrator David Thorpe 105 STARS

It’s unbelievable to me that narrator David Thorpe is the source of all characters in this book - he’s an absolute Samurai, the master’s class dean, the Don.

Milton, a great alternative to Reacher.

I am hooked into this series! Enjoy the storyline and the performance by David Thorpe, the narrator.

Enjoyable

Overall, and enjoyable listen. Great narration. Story is a little bit thin, but a great distraction from real life.

This series just gets better and better

Any additional comments?

My title says it all. I can't tell you how much these audiobooks have entertained me. I was going through a tough time while I was listening to this book and it actually helped ease things, sounds weird but it really helped me take my mind off things for an hour or so at a time and it was a great form of escapism.

You'll love this. Whatever floats your boat book-genre wise you need to give this a go. I would be surprised if anyone turned around and said they did not enjoy listening to it. It's so refreshing to have such a great series to listen to, especially after the Victor the assassin series I previously finished prior to starting this, a series of books I never wanted to end!

Another Milton masterpiece...

Mark Dawson really does have a super series, in the form of John Milton novels . I've really enjoyed the adventures thus far, and looking forward to the remainder of the series.
In this instance, Milton - whilst earning a bit of pocket money driving taxis, stumbles across a sinister plot that is resulting in young women disappearing. As Milton digs deeper, it becomes clear that the plot goes as deep as the Senate itself. Milton - the ex-hitman with a conscience - once again can't ignore the plight of those in need of his help.
Superbly enthralling storyline, which is masterfully narrated by David Thorpe.

Highly recommended..

Milton Trumps America!

The third installment in what is proving to be a very entertaining series. Milton is a troubled man and trouble seems to find him, this time in the US. I'm really enjoying his motivation to redeem himself from his past and to combat the addictions that resulted, a real man on a mission.

On this occasion he throws himself into a mystery involving disappearing women while a rather Trump-like politician and his entourage are on the campaigning trail. The story generates a decent pace throughout and all of the strings are pulled together neatly at the end. It's described well by David Thorpe who gives an excellent performance as narrator.

It's all good stuff with a good balance between action, intrigue and character interaction. For sure it's not going to do anything like re-defining the genre but it's good quality thriller writing and John Milton is an interesting character of increasing depth.

A Poor Man’s Jack Reacher

Average story with an uninteresting protagonist and unsure grasp of location. Worse was the performance because the narrator could not carry the American accents and his pronunciation of locations around the San Francisco Bay Area was consistently inaccurate. eg Tiburon and Moscone come to mind. Narrator and author should be ashamed of such a poor effort.

Couldn't keep my attention

A reasonable listen and the story was okey but with so much random detail, taking you nowhere and with minimal action, I struggled with my attention constantly wandering off.

Third in series and still can't decide

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes as I don't want to be the only confused listener. I would have to add a warning that it won't distract you from your work.

Would you recommend The Driver to your friends? Why or why not?

Yes as above.

What about David Thorpe’s performance did you like?

Great as normal

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, very easy to start and stop. Not gripping at all.

Any additional comments?

I'm not sure about this Milton series at all. I can't put my finger on the problem, they should have everything and they kind of do but its all mediocre. It's all a bit up and down and all over the place.

Story line wasn't as good as the others

I loved the others in the series that I've listened to so far, so much so that I bought the entire series up to book 15 and am now working through them in order. I kind of enjoyed the story but it was nothing special and not as good as the others, I wouldn't listen to it again. The narrator was good and I enjoy listening to him.

really good

the performance of the reader really makes this series. it is excellently done and makes it a gripping story.

Another great book in the series!

I love this series. As I have said in my reviews of others, Mark Dawson has exceptional skill in character development and David Thorpe is a real pleasure as the narrator. Despite John Milton being a former brutal assassin, who is still ‘a bit handy’, I have fallen in love with him. Looking forward to starting the next one in the series.

Another Thrilling Masterpiece. I will certainly continue with this eries

My first introduction to John Milton was Book 1 in the series. This was quickly followed by Books 2 and then this one. The masterful narration of David Thorpe brings all the characters to life, which is hard to do when the narrative switches from Male to Female, and from English to American characters. Just as in Saint Death ( book 2) , the main character, John Milton, elicits sympathy and you find yourself warming to the " anti hero" as he battles on to " make amends " . If you want a great read(listen) search no further. Mark Dawson is now a firm favorite of mine, up there with Rachel Abbot, Peter May and Jeffrey Archer.