The Third Wave

Nick Sullivan Thrillers, Book 2

By: Karla Forbes

Narrated by: Craig Bowles

Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's Summary

Charles Morgan is small operator in the vast computer technology industry, but he has big ambitions. He borrows heavily from the Mafia to finance his dreams of becoming a big player, but when he fails to make the expected profit, they are quick to demand their money back. Desperate to save his own skin, he hatches a plan that will cripple the competition and propel his new product into the ranks of market leader. 

Bryony Elliot is a brilliant but naive British student who has the skills he needs to bring his plans to fruition, but she is refusing to cooperate. With time running out and his creditors’ threats becoming increasingly vicious, Morgan gives up on persuasion and employs deceit instead. 

Unaware of the true situation, Bryony launches a catastrophic virus attack on society. When she discovers that she has been used, she frantically attempts to stop the carnage she has wrought, but she is up against violent men who are intent on stopping her. Bryony must dig deep into her mental reserves to stay alive and reverse the damage, but first she must conquer the fears and demons that rule her life. For Bryony has dark secrets of her own....

©2007 Sue Parussel (P)2018 Sue Parussel

Second book is as good as the first!

Enjoyed Book two of the Nick Sullivan Thrillers. Interesting ending. Good mystery thriller.
The narration was excellent.

I will listen to more books by this author and narrator.

I received this book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

more twists and turns

So here is my review for the second book in the series. The Third Water, read the review for the first book here. Nick is back, this follows on nicely from the first. I enjoyed this storyline much better than the first, more of a techonothriller, full of action, nicely fast paced with lots going on, so much so Nick is unstoppable. There are more twists and turns. This storyline could be real in this modern world.

I enjoyed that Analise was back for this book, will she be there in the future??? it was an interesting mix with Analise and Bryony.

Great follow on

Loved the first Nick Sullivan book, Fallout. It really captured the imagination. The Third Wave was a captivating listen as well, but because I'm a Luddite, I struggled more with the subject matter. I missed AnnaLise and am thrilled she's back and I hope we'll hear a lot more from her in Book 3, (is there a Book 3? I certainly hope so). I felt ever so sad for Bryony; what a horrible life she'd had. Ms Forbes laid out her heartache in a compassionate and careful way and it never once even edged close to mawkish sentimentality. Craig Bowles once again does an excellent job of narrating and listening to him felt like I was catching up with a friend. This is shaping up into a great series and I'm very hopeful and excited for a third book. Fingers crossed!

Great 2nd book

Nick is certainly someone who doesn't like a quiet life! Sent to keep surveillance on Bryony a brilliant PhD student, he soon becomes embroiled in far more than he'd imagined. To keep an eye on Bryony he has to become involved in her life, but she's not the quiet studious type everyone thinks she is. This assignment soon descends into non-stop action and adventure. As with the first book, the pace of the story moves along really well, keeping you wanting to know what happens. A great 2nd book in the series, looking forward to book 3.

Great read

Really enjoyed this read. Fast paced story with no time to get bogged down with unnecessary detail. WARNING - can cause late nights

Really good read

Thoroughly enjoyed this second book. Really pacy and entertaining. I’m looking forward to book three

Another excellent thriller

Another great book by Karla Forbes. The tension grows throughout the book, with lots of twists and turns. Thoroughly recommended.

Good story

Good story
enjoyed this book very much
narrator was also very good
worth a read

Really addictive series

This is my second book that I have listened to in this series and I actually enjoyed it more. I think listening to it in the context of the recent pandemic was interesting and I had to check when it was written. Although it is based on a computer virus, the exponential impacts and the impact on every day life - supermarket scalping etc, it was all so familiar.

The animal rights section was very well written and it also brought back to memories.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the book the narration so really suits.

I was given a free copy by the narrator but this in no way impacted my review.

Animal rights & cyber attacks, oh my!

Note: Even though this is Book 2, it works fine as a stand alone novel.

Nick Sullivan is an adrenaline junky. He fell into this life in the previous book but loves the action and danger. In his own head, he is the hero but it’s the rush that motivates him, not any quest for justice. I don’t really like Nick but he is a bit more interesting in this book than he was in Book 1, Fallout.

Meanwhile, Bryony (a computer genius) is an animal rights activist. Nick is assigned to keep an eye on her. There’s also Charles Morgan who wants to use her, well her computer skills, to get the Mafia off his back. Nick and Charles instantly dislike one another, and that will turn into despising one another later on.

I really wanted to like Bryony. On the surface, she looks like a strong character (in many regards) – PhD computer student (focusing on computer viruses) and a very active and daring animal rights activist. But I found her pretty whiny throughout the story. She often stamps her foot in frustration. Her stubbornness is her most endearing trait. In many scenes she acts more like a 15 year old than a PhD student.

Then we have Nick. He isn’t good with women at the best of times. Often he’s condescending and enjoys mansplaining things. And, indeed, he is this way with Bryony. While I understand that Nick is written as a self-centered adrenaline junky, I still found his dismissive nature towards Bryony annoying. I need to like one of the main characters and for this book, I didn’t like either of them. Meanwhile, there are few other women in the book, all with minor roles. Annalise (Nick’s new girlfriend) has a small role as well… and I think she would have something to say about Nick’s relationship with Bryony. Once again, the ladies are sexualized in one way or another, instead of standing on their other traits.

I did like the main plot, which involves this crippling computer virus. Bryony is vital to the plot (yay!) but she needs rescuing, reassuring, bedding, and having the raw truth of the situation explained to her again and again. Much of this would have been OK if she was in her teens, but she’s supposed to be an adult with some life experience under her belt. I did like how her phobia was written into the story, why it’s integral to the plot, and how she grows from the experience. I didn’t like how Nick is the one to mainsplain it to her, more than once.

The pacing is good. Plenty of action and I liked the betrayal. 3.5/5 stars.

The Narration: Craig Bowles once again voices Nick Sullivan and he’s a perfect match for his voice. Bowles had distinct voices for all the characters and his female voice (which he uses for all the ladies) sounds feminine. One thing that niggled was the consistent mispronunciation of Heckler and Koch. This gun company has the correct pronunciation under their FAQ section. The correct English pronunciation, according to the company, is ‘coke’. The pacing was good and there were no tech issues with the recording. 4/5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book. My opinions are 100% my own.

Fast Paced Action

In this novel, Nick Sullivan has a new job working for security, the first job babysitting a student who has a PhD in AI,and she is also an animal rights activist, and she has 2 new friends? They in turn work for a man called Morgan who owns a computer technology and is in debt to the mob, but he has big ideas and sets out a plan to make himself a billionaire. The time now is of the essence and he tells his thugs the time is right for Bryony Elliott to do her stuff i.e. she writes viruses for computers, and they have orders to make her release her virus. Nick takes her home after being in an animal raid of her making that went wrong and before Nick leaves the thugs decide to turn up and to Bryony's horror, they insist she releases the virus. Nick is very astute he knows as soon as she has done this she is dispensable, so she thinks up a way to try and defer it, and to there horror they end up in a sawmill in Dorset.with Nick being bashed and battered about, so as to make Bryony work. They get into many a tight fit and this time Nick seems to come off very badly, and it does begin to wonder if he will make it thru.
Annaleas has not really been mentioned in this 2nd series but Nick now knows that he loves her but will he get to tell her.? Great series and brilliant narration and could all be listened to as standalone, the only bugbear with this is Nick's constant quotes.

Even better than the first Nick Sullivan book

I don't know if its because i know the characters more or if the author is more developed but i thought this book was even better than the first. I really enjoyed the development of Nick and the new characters even with the tragic backstory!
The story is fast paced and engaging, I love the tech stuff!
Great narration from the reader, i enjoyed his performance on the first book but it was even better this time. Good character voices and a pace in keeping with the story content!
Highly recommended!