The Interceptor

By: Cameron Addicott

Narrated by: Chris Pavlo

Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's Summary

Fighting on the frontline of the war against crime, Cam Addicott was one of the very few hard-boiled and highly experienced surveillance operatives to get called up to the secretive and elite Alpha Projects unit - a group of dedicated undercover customs officers. Alpha Projects unit hunted the UK's most dangerous criminals by extraordinary means – starting with the interception and decoding of their phone calls.

Cam soon knew the lives of the people he hunted better than they knew each other. The team shadowed gangsters as they mixed with celebrities, as they brokered huge drug deals in nightclubs and airports, until finally, it was time for Alpha to strike. In this riveting and brutal true story, a cast of unforgettable Mission Impossible characters go far beyond the call of duty to take down their most elusive target, as the lives of the hunted and hunter weave together in an explosive narrative.

©2011 Cameron Addicott (P)2011 Audible Ltd

Too much jargon and department protocol

Got bored with the constant change of topic (story line) with every new chapter. Also got fed up with the ongoing use of lingo/slang/jargon to unnecessarily add authenticism, really annoying even tho I'm a UK native and familiar with the street language. And the detailed description of Dept activities often verged on Bravado. Otherwise, good story if you wanna compare UK criminal investigation practices with, say, US methods.

A Page Turner

An amazing account of crime and police activity in the UK by an undercover officer that reads like a thriller. Listening to it is like actually listening to the man telling you his story. You won't be able to stop.

15 of 16 people found this review helpful

Fly on the wall documentary meets Strike Back

What did you like most about The Interceptor?

Law enforcement as seen on the ground. I like the first person perspective, with all the gritty details, the hiccups, the bouts of luck (or not) ... you feel as if you are in the car with the other officers.

Have you listened to any of Chris Pavlo’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Good performance, but the style of the book (1st person narrative),

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

"Fly on the wall documentary meets Strike Back" is actually quite good, no?

Any additional comments?

It is a side remark but an editor should have sat down with the author and improved the parts about his personal story (the author mentions several times in the book the impact his work has on himself and his family life). The way it is written, it is a bit too superficial and formulaic. It could have been brought out better. These parts actually made me feel less close to the author while I felt really engulfed with him when he honestly talks about his investigations.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Definitely worth a listen

Was a bit sceptical, but it’s very credible and interesting fairly good pace , much better than some I’ve wasted time on

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Boring and Unconvincing

The book is written in a very similar style to Andy McNab's 'Immediate action' The problem here is it isnt a story about elite special forces and their life and death struggle, but about a customs officer who follows people and listens in on their phone calls. It therefore reads like a 10 year old telling his friends what he got up to at the weekend and wildly exaggerating in the manner that school boys will.
The book devides into 3 parts. Part one is a poor attempt to make surveillance work more interesting than it actually is and was like a bad chapter from an Ian Fleming novel.
Part two is about listening into phone conversations of criminals and is quite interesting although the author is very keen to impress on the reader how clever he is and how stupid the criminals are.
Part three is the Author 'bigging up' the role of customs officers in law inforcement and telling the reader that every other law inforcement agency is comprised of incompetent cretins ( a theme that repeats throughout the book). When he's not doing that he's whining about his own bosses,his salary,and his colleagues.
The narrative is a one man ego trip that I suspect is more fiction than fact. Its a negative and bitter view tinged with sadness written by a man completely obsessed with his job at the cost of everything else in his life...

11 of 16 people found this review helpful

Eye opening

Nice to read a true account of the War on Drugs. Would sit in car longer than needed to finish the dhapter

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Excellent

An absolutely excellent account of backstage Policing. A must read, well,a must listen.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

goes on a bit

this book drags on a bit,I've now abandoned it part way through.rather boring after a while.

Of general interest but repetitive

The main subject matter is interesting but the narrative is a repetitive cops and robbers drug fest.

annoying narrator

The story was decent enough, the narrator I found annoying.
Typical fed, full of his own self importance.

must read

absolutely loved this book thrilling read very well written and full of twists and turns