The Prophecy

Payne & Jones, Book 5

By: Chris Kuzneski

Narrated by: Dick Hill

Length: 11 hrs

Publisher's Summary

Michel de Nostredame, the French apothecary commonly known as Nostradamus, has gained a cult-like following, a loyal band of enthusiasts who credit him with predicting numerous world events - the Great Fire of London, the rise of Napoleon and Hitler, and the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima. However, his most important collection of prophetic verses has remained hidden...until now.

In the year 2009, a letter was mailed to a woman who does not understand why she has received the puzzling correspondence, written in a series of codes and ancient languages. She enlists the help of Jonathon Payne and David Jones.

Relentlessly hunted by those determined to protect the secret, the duo has no choice but to fight back. In an adventure that spans two continents and several centuries, Payne and Jones must locate the sacred text that may change everything we know about the future.

©2010 Chris Kuzneski (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Kuzneski: fabulous, as usual

With "The Prophecy" -- Kuzneski's fifth Payne/Jones novel -- the author continues his winning streak of highly entertaining, intelligent stories. Even though Kuzneski gives us far-fetched plots, we willing suspend disbelief just for the fun and entertainment he provides. We can't help but love the relationship between best friends and co-protagonists Payne and Jones, with their witty dialogue, and the perfect way in which they work together on their missions. These guys are TOUGH -- seemingly indestructible (although Payne does suffer a minor bullet wound this time around) -- and they always thwart the bad guys, yielding a very satisfying read every time. The narrator, Dick Hill, has a slight tendency to over-act, but otherwise does a good job of voicing all the characters. I recommend "The Prophecy" to any thriller-lover, to anyone in need of good escape-fiction, and to any Nostradamus aficionado.

Prophetic Review

Not too many BOT make me laugh out loud for real, but this one did, and for good reasons. It is witty, fast moving, and Dick Hill owns Payne and Jones. Hill clearly has a feel for these characters, and the story moves them along in a variety of directions that keep the listeners interest right to the ( slightly ) disappointing finish.

Kuzneski can get a bit graphically violent, but the characters are so compelling it makes up for it.

Recommended.

Not Worth Your Time

I was looking forward to this book as I enjoyed the previous three by this author. Dick Hill as always read this perfectly; that said, this book really never went anywhere or ever explained some of the earlier mysteries in the book. Also, I'm not sure if others had this problem but near the end of the book on at least two occasions there was a "dead spot" in the recording that lacked sound for at least 5 seconds or so. Not a huge issue but annoying. Overall, just not all that good.

I should have known better, but.....

Sometimes I don't take my own advice. Even though I know what I'm about to get into, I read it anyway. As usual, Kusneski's novels are 40% story telling and 60% research thesis. I feel like I'm sitting in a history professor's lecture. His penchant for giving the reader the intimate history of every single object in the story is getting out of control. He can't just tell you the character has walked into a building. He has to describe the size and the color and the architecture and the designer and the number of floors and how high the windows are and how many bathrooms it has. Not just once, but each and every other page. He can't go 5 paragraphs without going into minute detail of something that has no relevance whatsoever to the story line. His 11 hour books could be edited down to 7 hours and the reader would not miss a single plot point. The adversaries don't just carry assault rifles. They carry Belgian assault rifles and then we get the history of the manufacturing process. I've made this comment in other reviews, but with each new book I keep thinking that maybe.... just maybe... he'll get the need to teach rather than entertain out of his system, and each time I discover I'm wrong. Whatever his characters come up against or drive by or visit or see in the distance requires a long and boring description covering what it is or where it came from or how it came to be or what ancient monarch created it. It gets old. Why his editors have not whittled these ad nauseum history lessons down I have no idea. I don't even know if most of them are even factual, as I haven't felt the need to fact-check them myself. It's a novel. It's supposed to entertain. I don't want to feel like I'm studying for a quiz. It's bad enough the plots are so off the wall unbelievable and Payne & Jones are so unbelievably bullet-proof as to make the reader realize nothing bad is going to happen to them, which takes away any sense of caring about the pair as people. Enough. I've finally learned my lesson. I'm done being educated.

The best yet!

I have enjoyed all the books so far, but this one was particularly intriguing and thought provoking.

Enjoyable ride

This book is enjoyable and easy to listen to. A fun story with little depth. I was only dissappointed with 2 chapters where the audio just cuts off mid sentence and then continues on into the next chapter. Not having the words in front of me, I'm not sure what/if I missed anything. Since the story is simple, it ultimately did not effect the listen, just annoying.

One of my favorite books of the year

Kuzneski writes a great book - the play or banter between best friends Payne and Jones is awesome. very similar to John Corey in Demille's books. Its a fun book to listen to, well worth it! Dick Hill does a great job reading the book or I should say preforming the book with different voices for each character.

Another great book in this series.

Kuzneski writes another great book. I would recommend this series to any adult (language would prohibit me from recommending to young adults). Wonderful story teller and easy to follow. Only complant with this one is that it seams to end rather abruptly. Maybe more time developing conclusion than in beginning especially description of Ashley who later doesn't have anything to do with rest of story. My two cents. Dick Hill one of the best readers ever. Thanks for the entertainment!

Wanting more The number you have texted has been disconnected and is no longer in service.

Loved it! Great plot, lots of action.
Leaves you wanting more. Looking forward to more Payne and Jones.

sooooo slooooow

The book seems like it went at a snail's pace. Why? Maybe it's the narrator, maybe it's the fact that the exposition is so sparse and uninteresting that you feel like you're constantly waiting for something to happen... I don't know. What kind of bugs me about this book is that there really isn't one likable character--- maybe the villain. The two protagonists are supposed to be ex-special forces badasses who are longtime friends. The author seems to take extraordinary pleasure in writing long-winded, chummy banter between the two which serves little to move the story along or give us any reason to like them. This is just a small example of the generally casual and sporadic exposition. I just checked the book description on Amazon and it appears that the book is 416 pages long. This is a problem as a good editor might have stripped this down to 200 after taking out all of the boring, meandering dialogue. Maybe Kuzneski gets paid by the page?

As far as the narrator is concerned, he's tasked with producing several disparate voices, some foreign. Burdened with a natural, grandpa-ish avuncular white guy voice, some of the characters are really a bit of a stretch. For instance, one of the protagonists is a black man and the narrator's rendition sounds like an old white guy doing an impression of Danny Glover, filtered through some off-color take on jive-talking smart-alecs straight out of the Jeffersons or Good Times. Now imagine you got that guy drunk and jammed a bunch of marbles in his mouth. That's what he sounds like. Total squirmfest.

In the end the story itself is kind of mediocre (as these things go) and there really isn't much of a sense of urgency in what one would expect to be a thriller. Getting through to the end just seemed like a chore fueled by my unreasonable, OCD-like need to finish what I started.