The Names of the Dead

By: Kevin Wignall

Narrated by: Michael Braun

Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

They locked him up. Now he’s out--for revenge.

Former CIA officer James ‘Wes’ Wesley paid the ultimate price for his patriotism when he was locked up in a French jail for an anti-terror operation gone wrong--abandoned by the Agency he served, shunned by his colleagues and friends, cut off from his family.

Now he is shattered by the news that his ex-wife, Rachel, a State Department analyst, has been killed in a terrorist attack in Spain. He also discovers that his young son, Ethan, is missing. But Wes didn’t know he had a son--until now.

Why was Rachel in Spain? And why did she keep his son secret from him?

Granted early release, Wes takes flight across Europe to search for the truth and exact his revenge. But can he catch the spies who betrayed him before they track him down? In order to find the answers and save his son, Wes realises he must confront the dark secrets in his own past--before it’s too late.

©2020 by Kevin Wignall. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“...One of the spy genre’s most able modern proponents...” (Maxim Jakubowski, reviewer for Crimetime)

An excellent performance of an excellent book

This is the first book I've read by Kevin Wignall & Michael Braun. It will not be my last. This is a wonderful, well-written, and well-perform story. It is a very had book to put down. If you like a lot of action and an interesting cast of characters this is the book for you.

This guy can handle a spy story

I like the uniqueness of every book. The novel characters and the moral delimas faced by the protagonist are fresh, and the pace of the story are perfect. These books are often bargains with the optional Audible file.

I wish I could give it more stars!

Great story, a perfect performance. This was my first book by this author, but certainly won't be my last

Ending was lacking

I enjoyed listening to this. I felt bad for Wes as everything unfolded and we were made aware of everything that had been done to him.

I loved Mia.

But the ending was just... lacking. The ending, itself, was really bad, but aside from being bad, it didn't wrap anything up. It felt rushed. It left a lot to be desired.

When I was in grade school, I'd read a book about a kid who saw a king on the lookout for his bio son, who had been adopted at birth. The kid thought it was him, and he became more and more convinced the more he learned. Then when he was about to meet the king to find out, he realized he couldn't be his son because the king had an accent and he did not. This is exactly what the ending of The Names of the Dead reminded me of. I can't believe more people didn't comment on the disappointing ending.

Wes and Mia. What a great friendship..

This was a pretty good story about a CIA agent that was in a prison in Spain for giving the order to shoot down a helicopter with bad guys, only to find out it was full of innocents. He found out he was given the wrong information and when he got out he went after the ones who gave him that information.

Even though it was good I won’t be reading anymore by this author. When books are full of killing and torture and the bad guys won’t even say sh*t, even if they have a mouthful, then I can’t enjoy it. Killing and torture but no swearing? That’s never going to happen.

So, for all of you readers who want killing but only clean talk you will enjoy this.

And there was no sex or romance. BUT I really liked Mia, Wes’s friend.

As to the narration: Michael Braun was fantastic when he was in Spain. The men sounded exactly like Antonio Bandaras. Then he left Spain. Bummer!

An older woman is impressed with this book

Enjoyed this book without sex scenes or obnoxious language yet great action, a storyline that keeps rolling and interesting characters to enjoy. Will watch for Mr. Wignall's future works.

Too violent for my taste

For a short adventure thriller, it was slow moving. I found it contrived, unrealistic, the main character unsympathetic.

Realistic adventure

The story and actions of the protagonist are believable. It is a good story of revenge. There are some leaps of logic and the fact that the Company could not find it people or know who characters were is a bit hard to swallow.
The story is well written, excellently performed. It is well worth you time to listen and the twist at the end leaves us interest to hear the next adventure.

Not bad, a bit short….

Good story and took a chance as it was a daily special. Normally I don’t spend credits on short books but will select daily specials occasionally, glad I did. Good story and strong main character. Here’s hoping more of his books hit the daily special or sales.

I found an exciting new author I found it was interesting and not predictable

This story kept my interest and the action was fast moving without a lot of violence