The Enigma Rising

By: Charles V. Breakfield, Roxanne E. Burkey

Narrated by: Derek Shoales

Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's Summary

When a Brazilian industrialist hires the R-Group, the world's most elite information-gathering unit to track the disappearance of his daughter - a dangerous - but quiet hunt begins. But just finding her doesn't mean all will be well. The team in Switzerland follows the leads from South America to Mexico and the Caribbean, but the data trail is leading nowhere. Sometimes the most important clues come from unlikely sources.

By chance, two members of the elite team vacationing in Mexico cross paths with Carlos and Juan's fly-by-night operation. Cloaking their "moving business" from satellite surveillance, their unique talent for relocating drug lords targeted by the Mexican authorities, along with their cash, gold, artwork and other assets, was legendary. These are Bad Boys, so-called entrepreneurs, whom even the most generous observer would question the legality of their business model.

Can the R-Group assemble the pieces of the puzzle without international consequences? Will the brothers stop running outside the law long enough to do the right thing? Can you hide from your past and still enjoy the present? Is the heiress hiding in plain sight or gone forever? And can the brothers rein in their contempt for societal rules and leave behind the sweet deals long enough to save a life?

The Enigma Rising continues the award-winning Breakfield and Burkey's series, overcoming opportunistic cyber-crime in the high-stakes world of information brokering in the 21st century. With its strong cast of characters, this engaging techno-thriller of lost-and-found - and lost again - will take you on an incredible journey into the dark side of technology.

©2017 ICABOD Press (P)2017 Enigma Series LLC

Thriller but not technothriller

The R-group is hired this time to find the daughter of a powerful man. Petra and Jacob travel to Mexico and there they meet Carlos and Simone, which rapidly becomes Petra’s friend. But Carlos and his brother Juan are mixed in some dangerous stuff.

I really enjoyed the previous book, so I was looking forward to this one. Even though this is the second book in the series, it is not a continuation of the previous book and could be read standalone. If the previous book was very technology centered, the same does not happen with this one, which is something I missed.

We get to know better Jacob and Petra, but even like that they didn’t feel fully fleshed to me. Petra started a sudden friendship with Simone that felt completely artificial to me. The conversations the girls had did not feel natural at all, so I disliked this part.

It was an entertaining thriller, but for me not at the level of the previous book. It felt slowly paced at some points, and the girls’ conversations were definitely skippable.

This book is narrated by a different narrator than the first book. Derek Shoales does a good job with accents and voices, but the book is so loaded with accents that it becomes a bit tiresome after a while. Not Shoales fault, he did very good a differentiating characters and keep things consistent.

I received a copy of this book in audio format from the producer in exchange for an honest review.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

An education in smuggling

I love, love, love this series and am learning so much.
They have taken smuggling to a whole nuther' level
Pour little Laura I am pulling for her, when she leaves her fathers umbrella of protection to pursue a modeling/acting career she finds out how grimey the real world can be.
Kept me on the edge of my seat.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Interesting, complex, funny and worth your time

First off this is a long listen, Narrations are decent and you know what character is speaking. The storyline is a mix between soap opera / kardashian / real life.... involving major drug dealers figuring out how to make more money by being smarter and more efficient at the same time living their daily lives. You hear first hand how the characters use banking and secure communications planes etc.. to make it in the world (yes - offshore) at the same time still being funny throughout the book. Some areas had me laughing for awhile (still laughing). This isn’t a book for the little ones to hear, there are some parts that had me cringing. It is a complicated story and you can get lost in areas, more than once I had to back up and listen again, But that’s ok, it’s that good of a story. I think this will become a movie one day, the storyline is that good.
Overall...a good long listen, intriguing, funny and worth your time.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Fabulous narration

For a techno thriller, there wasn’t much tech and, IMO, the thrills were few and far between. The story lacked flow with all the different storylines and seemed forced in places, especially the dialogue between characters. I had a hard time staying with it and, if not for the narration, I don’t think I would’ve finished the book. Derek Shoales did a FABULOUS job with all the different character voices and accents. I hope to hear more of his narrations in the future. I received a review copy at my request and voluntarily reviewed.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Lacked aspects from the first book

“The Enigma Rising” is the second book in the “Enigma” series of books co-written by Charles V. Breakfield and Roxanne E. Burkey. The Audible narration is performed by Derek Shoales; who is a different narrator from the first book’s narration. Although this book is categorized as a technothriller, I would not place it is that genre. The first book seemed to excessively use technology where this book seems to go to the other extreme by lacked as cohesive blending of technology and thrill. Instead, I would put the book in the mystery and suspense category with some technology aspects thrown in for good measure. If you enjoy rater dark stories of drug runners, back stabbing, and deception, you may find that you enjoy this book. Even though I enjoy solidly written technical thrillers, I found this book departs too far from what I would have expected to fully enjoy it.

I thought the premise laid out in the author’s summary section was compelling, but I felt compared to the first book, this one missed the mark. I wanted to know more about the R-Group and understand the technology they utilized in more detail. For me, understanding exciting new technology and how it functions makes for a good technothriller, yet technology did not seem to be central to this book. Sure, there was suspense, mystery, and a little scheming, but I found the lack of focus on the technology made the book feel a little deflated for me.

I often found the book to be more confusing and overly complicated than the first book in the series. Apart from some electronic banking, satellite hacking, and some penetration testing, this story was less technology centric as it was character and event focused. I felt this story did not flow as smoothly as the first, and I would have liked to have had a bit more of a prequel section bringing the listener up to speed on the previous book’s events. Throughout the book, bits and pieces seemed to fill in some of the story gaps, but it just never reached that point where I felt a part of the story.

The book is vast and takes place over a number of location, some of them quite exotic, yet I did not get the feeling I was there. I did not feel the writing was overly descript, as I would have liked to have had some portions (mostly the technical ones) be more descript than they were. I want to learn something new and exciting about a technology I have not seen or heard of, but I found this never materialized for me even thought there were places I thought it would have fit perfectly.

I found the narration by Derek Shoales to be well done as there were many accents and a fair number of characters needing to be voiced. I found the audio levels to be consistent and the pacing of the book’s narration to be at an average speed. I do not recall any noticeable audio artifacts such as swallows, page turns or other background noise while listening.

For parents or potential younger readers, it should be noted that this book is not intended for younger readers as the language is quite vulgar along with direct and descriptive scenes of sex, many references to sexual innuendos, and a focus on the pornography industry. There is also a fair amount of quite graphic violence that would not be suitable for younger readers. Along with the above, there is a fair number of adult topics such as drug use, alcohol use, along with others. I would only recommend this book to mature audiences who are not offended by the above subject matter.

In summary, the book is really an action suspense story with a technology veneer. If you are a fan of technology thrillers, you may found yourself disappointed with the level of detail and actual technology used. Instead, if you like action and mystery books with some technology thrown in, you may enjoy this series.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Another Great Story in the Enigma Series!

This book had several different stories to follow. Each separate story would have been exciting on its own, but the way they are woven together is quite ingenious and becomes a story well told. The story line involves cyber activity, smuggling, drug lords and quite a few action packed sequences among many other things.

The narrator does a great job with the character nuances through different accents and inflections. There are quite a few challenges for the narrator with different parts of the world involved, but Derek Shoales is believable in the many characters.

I would love to see this series made into a movie. Charles Breakfield and Roxanne Burkey really do a great job with believable technology dialog as well as exciting scenes that draw you on to the next chapter. The characters are so real, that you want to meet them in real life.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Good second book to this series!

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

As a second book in the series, it was just OK. The technology terms used in this book is not as overdone as it was in the first book, which was a big relief. The narrator has continued to be good too. All in all, the story was good, if a bit predictable, the characters were interesting and the plot kept my interest.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Felt like a short stretched to make a full book.

The second book in this tech series felt like a slight misstep in some aspects. It felt like it would have worked better as the initial part of another book, or a short. It has really no antagonist pushing the story forward, and rather just incidental bad guys that are encountered at convenient points in the story. The book seemed to replace any intrigue and thriller aspects in this outing for character drama, and an introduction into new players. I supposed if I went into this not expecting a tech thriller it might not have left a sour taste in my mouth.

The narration by Derek Shoales was fun, varied and paced nicely. I hope the future books in this story move back to more thriller than drama or at least equal parts. I still like lot of the main movers and shakers of the series, but just felt like this outing didn't live up to the potential it could have.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Charming characters full of intrigue

I loved the charm and language of Carlos and Juan. Coming from such notorious characters made it even more evident. Well-written, lots of twists and turns throughout.

The narrator did an excellent job with different voices so you could keep track of the characters.

I was given a free review copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

1 of 2 people found this review helpful

An awesome series that I cannot wait for

ABR Reviewer's Choice Award Winner

The R-Group finds themselves immersed in major cyber activity in Mexico and the Caribbean along with tracking down the daughter of rich and powerful Brazilian industrialist.  The trail for the missing daughter becomes enmeshed with the father’s worse nightmare - drug lords, drug money and pornography.  Will the R-Group find and reunite the daughter with her father?  Will they be able to find and fix everything they need to without starting an international incident?

Jacob and Petra’s return with Otto is fast, fun and exciting.  Charles Breakfield and Roxanne Burkey provides a deeper look into these characters as well as introducing us to more of the R-Group.  While the R-Group still seems somewhat of a mystery, we are given more in-depth character development than before.  The introduction of other R-Group members and potential ones is both satisfying and enlightening.

Breakfield and Burkey give their listeners a lot of moving parts that somehow come together throughout the book in a logical and realistic manner.   The dialog is well-developed and the action is non-stop.

Be prepared to set aside all 10 hours in one sitting, because you will NOT be able to turn this one off.  There are several “aha” moments and many “oh no!” ones as well.  The breadth and skill level of the R-Group is overwhelming and scary.

I enjoy thrillers but this is much more … thrills, action, the edge of your seat suspense with a touch of romance and humanity.  An awesome series that I cannot wait to see where it goes next!

The narrator, Derek Shoales, owns not only the characters but the entire book as well.  His performance was solid and enthralling.  His accents and female voices were top-notch.

The authors and narrator together will captivate the listener until the end.

There were no issues with quality or production of this audiobook.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

[If this review helped, please press YES. Thanks!]

2 of 5 people found this review helpful

Getting Better!

Any additional comments?

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

I really enjoyed this book, and I much prefer this book to #1 in the series. It looked deeper into Jacob, Petra and Otto, as well as looking into the other members of the R-Group. As in book 1, my favourite part of the novel is the character development and the character interactions, which was excellent.

I did struggle with the plot a bit, because there was a lot of moving parts that I struggled to link together. It reminded me a bit of the Jack Reacher novels with all the moving parts of the plot. The tech aspects did again feel overdone, but not as bad as the previous novel.

An amazing techno-thriller

The amount of knowledge on display by the authors in terms of technology makes me wonder what these guys can do. That's not to say that this is a boring book that just talks about how things work. No. It's a thrill ride that you want to strap yourself in for. Amazing storytelling throughout from the descriptions of the situations and environment to the crafting of characters that you are on the side of and love to those that you really love to hate.
It's also packed with twists and turns, although not so many that your head is spinning - they all make sense in retrospect. It's got some great ideas in here but also it's easy to listen too. Which in itself is an amazing skill.
If you like an action novel with cyber crime, mystery elements giving you plot twists which is also really easy to get into then the solution is simple. Read this book!

Also the narration of the characters and the story is great. For me it drew me in from the start and really added to the atmosphere of the book.

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

So cute when they become animated

The information gatbering R group searches for a missing heiress and also investigates the disappearing drugs lords and their accumulated assets. Along the way, it uncovers financial and identity laundering, pornography and fashion, friendship, sex and romance together with a host of colourful characters and a blurring of distinction between criminal activity and Bad Boy rogues. A slow action thriller which would benefit from reduction in length, densely filled as it is with meticulous conversation which is often unnecessary and sometimes feels stilted and, frankly, silly. This is, presumably, to reinforce character identity and authenticity but which for this reader became tedious. It is also somewhat patronising towards the female protagonists.

Narrator Derek Shoeles has a pleasant to hear voice and he reads well, with good pace and clear delivery. There is not much differentiation between voices, other than through myriad assorted accents, some sounding rather spurious, but this in no way diminishes the performance overall.

A good story is buried beneath the over-verbiage, however. A stand alone story, second in the series, which first introduced the Group and it''s cyber expertise as well some of the characters in book one. My thanks to the rights holder of The Enigma Rising for gifting me a complimentary copy, via Audiobook Boom at my request and without expectation of any return. This review is entirely my own.

fantastic reading!

I thought t h e narration was really good, applying accents and pitch to segment the characters.

being in IT, I thought the technical aspects were spot on. the level of detail was enough to carry the motion, but would not overwhelm a non-tech.

this being only my second in the series, I'm looking forward to the next!!

give it a go, it's enjoyable reading (listening), for sure!!