The Lions of Lucerne

By: Brad Thor

Narrated by: Armand Schultz

Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's Summary

In a daring and chilling debut, Brad Thor draws us into a sinister labyrinth of political intrigue and international terrorism, serving up an explosive cocktail of unrelenting action as one man is pushed to the edge.

On the snow-covered slopes of Utah, the unthinkable has just become a nightmarish reality: 30 Secret Service agents have been viciously executed and the vacationing president of the United States kidnapped by one of the most lethal terrorist organizations in the Middle East - the Fatah Revolutionary Council.

But surviving agent and ex-Navy SEAL Scot Harvath doesn't believe the Fatah Revolutionary Council is responsible for the attack. Driven by his professional code of duty and honor, Harvath creates his own rules to get some answers. But his search for the truth raises the blood pressure of his superiors...and casts his own life in mortal jeopardy. The deadly machinations have been set in motion by a shadowy coalition, comprising some of the highest-ranking officials in government and business - men who operate above the law, men who realize the threat Harvath poses to their hidden agenda...men who will do anything to stop him.

Framed for murder and on the run, Harvath takes his own brand of justice to the towering mountains of Switzerland where he finds an improbable ally in the beautiful Claudia Mueller of the Swiss Federal Attorney's Office. Together they must brave the subzero temperatures and sheer heights of treacherous Mount Pilatus - and enter the den of the most notorious team of professional killers the world has ever known.

©2012 Brad Thor (P)2012 Simon & Schuster, Inc

Critic Reviews

"Bottom line: Lions roars." ( People)

Great Scott Harvath

I'm a huge fan of Brad Thor and the Scott Harvath series. I've listened to just about all of the series before going back to this first one. Having listened to the others, this one doesn't feel as polished as the others, but that makes sense for the first in the series.

The story is typical for the Harvath series, good details and building up of the characters. It doesn't have the strength of following books but it's still a Thor so it's a great listen!

The story line is a bit far fetched with the details of the President's kidnapping; what was done to him and where he was held. I won't share details to spoil the story! But the rest of the story makes up for it.

Had I followed this in order I would still have continued on to the future books in the series and been happily surprised as they only continued to get better and better.

Not a Great Book - Clearly First in Series

Armand Schultz does a nice job with a poorly written book. I have read every book in the Scott Harvath series, but they don't come close to Mitch Rapp series or Tom Clancy's work. I read these when I can't find anything else for this genre. The Harvath series is like a blunt instrument, while the others are precision instruments. That said, I still read them. Among the Harvath series, this is the weakest. In fairness to Thor, the character was still being developed, and I don't think he was totally clear where he was going to take it. If you love this genre like I do, read it after you have exhausted everything else (including the other Harvath books). While I prefer to read stories in order, this one is pretty lame.

Bad guys can't shoot straight

What would have made The Lions of Lucerne better?

Believable assassins

What was most disappointing about Brad Thor’s story?

In every scene involving gunfire, so-called highly trained mercenaries spray our hero and friends with withering automatic weapons fire. . .AND CAN'T HIT A THING! And these are guys who carry out a precision abduction of the President? Do they throw grenades or use any other weapons a trained soldier would have at his disposal? Nope.

Their ineptitude is unbelievable, literally so.

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

No

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Yes, it means I won't waste any of my credits on Brad Thor's books.

Any additional comments?

I'm sorry I bought Path of the Assassin before listening to this.

Pure fun action

After finishing this novel, I feel like I've just finished an intense season of the TV show, 24. This novel is about the kidnapping of the US president. It is non-stop acton, twists, and turns. Special Agent Scott Harvath is like Jack Bauer - escaping sure death at every turn. He is framed by the bad guys, and knows that the only way to clear his name is to find the president and catch the kidnappers. I suspended reality for this and just enjoyed this thrilling ride. If you're looking for a realistic thriller, this is not it. This book sucked me and, and I could not put it down. One warning - the first hour or so is really slow. I almost gave up, but I am glad I stayed with it. I was looking for good escapist fun, and found it here.

Trite story about a "super" Seal

I found this book to be farfetched and trite. The characters were shallow and often dumb. Imagine a highly trained Navy Seal mouthing off to every authority figure that comes along and then going renegade to solve the problem of the president's kidnapping. Along the way he gets more breaks and second chances to fix mistakes than a reasonable reader should expect. I read one review that said that the Harvath series improved as the writer became more polished. I may try a library download to check this out but will not purchase another book until I've tried out other books. Hopefully I will find that the author has improved. In conclusion, I would recommend readers to thrillers such as early Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, or Martin Cruz Smith.

Torture

What disappointed you about The Lions of Lucerne?

Pure torture listening to this dialog. My condolences to the narrator. He must have been ill having to speak those lines. Oh My God it was bad! But somehow I made it to the end. And yes the plot is predictable!

Would you be willing to try another book from Brad Thor? Why or why not?

No way!

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The author appears to have done his fact homework. Only a few minor agonies there.

Unbelievably Unbelieveable!

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

This book actually would have been for me if it weren't so ridiculous. I can not believe Brad Thor actually wrote it. The story line is stretched out, it seems just to make the book longer, by some of the most mind numbing, stupid dialog I have ever heard. The characters are not believable, and most of the situations are impossible. I have listened MANY Brad Thor books, and again, I can not believe he wrote this one. It is terrible!

Would you ever listen to anything by Brad Thor again?

I think Brad Thor is an excellent author. I think this book is a huge exception to that rule. I will listen to the next one in the series just because is MUST better than this one.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Armand Schultz?

Armand Schultz is not my favorite narrator, and I don't believe his style is particularly suited to this book, but given what he had to work with, I think he did a very good job. I would listen to more books narrated by him.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Total disappointment.

Any additional comments?

I would never recommend this book or author to anyone except that I know Brad Thor has written much better Harvath books, and to make the most of the series it is probably worth listening to for that reason alone... if you can stand to wade through all of the nonsense.

Shallow. Disappointing.

What would have made The Lions of Lucerne better?

The plot was shallow. Slow

What do you think your next listen will be?

Unknown

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Armand Schultz?

Narrator was okay.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Lions of Lucerne?

Difficult to say. The story line was disappointing.

Any additional comments?

Not one of Thor's best.

Did not like this book...

What would have made The Lions of Lucerne better?

Better writing...

Has The Lions of Lucerne turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

How could the performance have been better?

More expression in his voice... very dead pan.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Lions of Lucerne?

There so much unnecessary detail that could have been left out.

Any additional comments?

This is the only book I have listened to by this author so my comments are limited to this one book. Poor writing and performance as well.

Who is reading this?

Spoil alert: If you continue, this review will spoil the plot, and if you don't continue the plot will spoil the reading.

Terrorist from Switzerland, of which there are many, kidnap the president by placing timed charges to cause an avalanche at a Utah ski resort. In order for it to work, the president must ski by the concealed perpetrators, but it must be within the two minute time frame as planned earlier. They then escape to the adjacent farm with the silos, no doubt one of the many grain farms up there in ski country. The lone surviving secret service agent, a former seal, decides he is more capable of capturing international terrorists acting alone than the FBI (those seals are highly trained in criminal investigation) and begins his quest by assaulting an FBI agent "just doing his job," contaminating three crime scenes, concealing evidence from investigators, risking causing another avalanche that will decimate the search and rescue teams, and putting down the deputy director of the FBI when he is confronted, all the day following serious injuries.

At this point I had to stop and contemplate how Brad Thor's mother found the time to write a thousand reviews.

I would like to thank Audible for their return policy.

rubbish don't waist your time

what an awfull book. Shallow characters, too much useless detail. An all American hero story. completely unbelievable ! narrator was fine until he had to do foreign accents. I will never read a book by this author again.

Terrible

I am a big fan of the writer Jack carr who often references Brad thor
Having finished all of Jack carr’s James Reece novels to date I thought I’d therefore give Thor a listen
I had high hopes but my god this first book is awful
Ridiculous characters - an eponymous hero who was USA international freestyle skier, navy seal and now secret service hotshot (what??)
Awful Narration - Ray porter who does the Carr books is another level compared to this dude - he sounds like a kindergarten teacher reading to 5 year olds on story corner
I have up a 1/3rd of the way though

It was ok.

I will probably check out later Thor titles at a later date. This one was a bit slow and hard to get into, initially.

There is better out there....

The story is acceptable, but the dialogue is often atrociously poor. I don't enjoy criticising writers because I know the amount of effort that goes into writing a book, but there are so many books out there that are far more worthy than this. I stuck with it simply to get to the end while too often groaning at the simplistic and inappropriate dialogue. I won't be looking for Mr. Thor's next book.

Pure James Bond

Really enjoyed this boom - total page turner so to speak. Only slight frustration was that the narrator didn’t match the pace and urgency of the action with his own pace and so what were gripping moments felt held up by his delivery.

Still goi f to listen to the rest of Brad Thor’s books though so it wasn’t poor enough to spoil a great listen.

Excellent

Tom Clancy novels are what first got me into reading this genre and now I've read and listened to them all a number of times, I start looking for good alternatives. I found this novel from Brad Thor to be on par, I was hooked and couldn't "put my headphones down".

Thoroughly recommend this novel.

Excellent

Up there with the best a really good story . Highly recommend
Full of action and drama

not a bad book

first book I've listened to. I was ok on to book number two straight away

Interesting twist of a Potus kidnap

Scott is a strong character who you get to like quickly. The other "players" are written well. I enjoyed the fact that things went wrong as the book progressed and the handling of apparent mistakes. Gave it a realism that was good. Satisfying end.

Brad Thor brings us to our world as it really is

If you could sum up The Lions of Lucerne in three words, what would they be?

Best thriller yet

What did you like best about this story?

This is the world today. It can happen in a flash and we are at war with the Jihadists that want to kill all the infidels. That includes the whole of America.
They are bringing the war to us and we have to destroy these evil people.
I quote Edmund Burke, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing! "
It is time to strike back we need more men like Scott Horvath to keep The USA safe.

Which character – as performed by Armand Schultz – was your favourite?

Scott Horvath

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

Once begun it's a captivating story that you can't put down. I finished it in less than a week.

Any additional comments?

We need people to know that what Brad Thor writes is the truth about the world we live in.
Just look around, Paris, Isis in the USA carrying out Lone Wolfe attacks. Unfortunately there are more to come and Brad Thor hits it right on the head of the nail.
We need to listen what the author writes about, it is more fact than fiction.