The Mark

Henry Parker Series, Book 1

By: Jason Pinter

Narrated by: Adam Verner

Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's Summary

Nominated for the Strand Critics Award, the Barry Award, and the RT Reviewers' Choice Award Named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Strand

Henry Parker's life is looking up. He just landed his dream job as a reporter at the renowned New York Gazette, has a great girlfriend, and the world at his fingertips. Henry is smart. Ambitious. Determined. He's ready to take the world by storm. But Henry's dream is about to turn into a nightmare....

On his first assignment, a man ends up dead, and Henry finds himself on the run and accused of murder. On his trail is a dogged cop who wants to see Henry behind bars, and a ruthless, demented assassin who wants to see Henry dead. Henry's only hope of survival is a woman he barely knows, as they embark on a cross-country flight barely one step ahead of disaster.

The only chance he has to clear his name is to find the truth about the bizarre murder, and to uncover a secret that some very dangerous people would kill for in order to conceal....

©2007 Jason Pinter (P)2018 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"From the opening sentence to the exhilarating conclusion, Pinter's debut thriller gets the reader's heart racing." ---Library Journal

GREAT NEW (to me) AUTHOR!!!

I've never heard of Jason Pinter before but I am so happy to have found him! This is such a good book, written in the style of Brad Parks or Rick Mofina. Henry Parker, the main character is a wannabe investigative reporter.
Henry is trying to become a front page reporter after landing a job with the Gazette in NYC. When a senior reporter decides to give him a chance, Henry jumps on it.
Unfortunately Henry unwittingly stumbles into bedlam. A man is beating the two people Henry had just interviewed, he had left but came back with a few more questions. The man is demanding something from them. Henry can't just walk away, so he and this thug struggle , a gun goes off and the man is dead. He just so happens to be a cop. The next day Henry's face is on the front page with the legend "COP KILLER ".
The police are after him, the mob is after him when the beaten man says that Henry took what the cop was after.
This all happens in the very beginning of the book.
Henry cons a young law student into giving him a ride out of NYC but it backfires and the young woman becomes a second target. From here on it becomes a race to find out the truth and to save their own lives.
Adam Verner does an outstanding job narrating.
With kindle unlimited this book was $7.49.
The book is excellent and has my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.
If you found this review helpful please indicate so.
Thank You.

A bit too soapy

I had to abandon this book. The narrator was probably a good choice, but for me his dramatic rendition and the overly self-loathing protagonist was a bad combination. The story is a strong one, even if a bit trite, and i would have liked to have learned the outcome, but I really couldn't listen to all the self-reproach and guilt and endless doubt in the soap-opera-voiceover breathy voice . . .

I love this novel!

Read Audible listener Shelley's review; I agree totally with her take. I want to discuss more this author and this series which are new to me.

The Mark, released in 2007, was the first novel by author Jason Pinter and it is Book 1 in the six novel (plus one novella) Henry Parker series. Yet, I had never heard of him. The first two novels in the series were recently released in audio format (as was the standalone The Castle by Jason Pinter). My hope is that all of Pinter's suspense thriller novels will be released soon in audio format.

The Mark has my highest possible recommendation.

Loved it!

Really great read (or listen in this case). I immediately download the second book in the series.

Henry Parker must die

I have never wanted a protagonist to suffer an agonizing end as much as I wanted the insufferably smug Henry Parker to die. Only Pinter's endless stream of hilariously bad similes break the monotony of his Millennial-grade narcissism. If there's any justice, in later books, boy reporter Parker finds himself caught up in the great downsizing that hit newspapers shortly after the time frame of this wretched novel's setting, and now finds himself writing clickbait for Vice as he rapidly approaches 40.

loved it

I've loved this book since I first read it back in 2010. Jason Pinter is by far my favorite author and all his books are amazing. I'm glad I can hear them now on my way to and from work.

Amateur mystery

This is the sorriest detective action novel I’ve ever read. The events are totally unrealistic and outlandish. Dialogue banal. First book I’ve read by Pinter. My last!

stupid plot devices

odd narration - almost cartoon like. Really stupid plot devices. I stopped at an absurd combination of fast pass and dust smudges in the back of a pickup.