Treasure Hunt

By: John Lescroart

Narrated by: Jeffrey Cummings

Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's Summary

Mickey Dade hates deskwork, but that's all he's been doing at Wyatt Hunt's private investigative service, The Hunt Club. His itch to be active is answered when a body is discovered: It's Dominic Como, one of San Francisco's most high-profile activists - a charismatic man known as much for his expensive suits as his work on a half dozen nonprofit boards. One "person of interest" in the case is Como's business associate, Alicia Thorpe - young, gorgeous, and the sister of one of Mickey's friends.

As Mickey and Hunt are pulled into the case, they soon learn that the city's golden fundraiser was involved in some highly suspect deals. And the lovely Alicia knows more about this - and more about Como - than she's letting on.

Treasure Hunt is both a nail-biting thriller and a coming-of-age story, filled with Lescroart's trademark San Francisco flavors. Mickey Dade, its young protagonist, gradually learns the hard lessons Hunt knows only too well, as the world he thought he knew unravels around him.

©2010 John Lescroart (P)2010 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Another murder in San Francisco

If you are fan of San Francisco, you will like this story that takes place in the city. You will be familiar with everywhere the characters go.

The first half of the book is a bit slow but the second half is worth the trip. The final crime solving methodology reminds me of Agatha Christie's Inspector Poroit (if you are old enogh to remember her). What I liked was the author provides you with the clues for the murder throughout the story...some of the clues are obscure, but they are there for the very careful reader.

I would have given it a 5 but the crime was not particularly clever and some of the characters and interactions were predictable in their behavior. Overall, a very enjoyable read.

Modern who-done-it

John Lescroart writes beautifully, and has a seemingly limitless supply of good stories to tell. "Treasure Hunt" does not break his perfect winning score, delivering complete satisfaction, as usual. It does mark a slight departure from his previous San Francisco-based legal thrillers, in that it focuses not on Lescroart's usual heros -- Dismus Hardy and Abe Glitsky -- but rather on one of their side-kicks' side-kick, Mickey Dade, aspiring private investigator. Hardy and Glitsky are barely mentioned, and never appear in the story. Instead, we are presented with a puzzling murder, several likely suspects -- a la Agatha Christie -- and plenty of red herrings. And, like Agatha Christie, we have to wait until the very end to find out which person we DIDN'T suspect done it. As with Lescroart's other thrillers, San Francisco, itself, plays a prominent role in "Treasure Hunt" -- almost like one of the characters, with all her moods, beauty, and political underbelly. I recommend this audiobook to all fans of classy thrillers, particularly to those who have ever lived in San Francisco. As one who has has that pleasure, I enjoyed visualizing each locale, street, and landmark as they provided settings for the story. I docked one star from my rating of this audiobook, only because I didn't like Jeffrey Cummings' reading as much as I had enjoyed David Colacci's interpretation of most of Lescroart's previous audiobooks. Cummings doesn't have quite the range of voice and accent that Colacci has; but, all the same, he does O.K., not detracting enough from the reading to reduce enjoyment of this audiobook.

The Narrator Ruined the Book for Me

I have read (or listened to, mostly) every John Lescroart book and was looking forward to this one. The narrator is really horrible. If I had never had an appreciation before now of what a difference the narrator makes - there is NO question that although a narrator can't make a bad book good, he/she can certainly ruin a good book. That's what happened here. I will make note of this narrator and never buy one of the books that he narrates again. Buy one of the other Lescroart books if you haven't listened to them yet.

I wonder

This book had me stumped, the idea seems good, but the writing style is "childish" with some of the worst asumptions and plots. This is a crime story for kids, young kids. Not realistic at all....honestly don't know. Despite that I finished the book no problem. Might try another by the author just to make sure. The narrator is of the mark, don't try to do different voices for the characters, I eventually got confused with the characters because he was not consistant with how they "sounded".

Close, No Cigar

Maybe it's the take provided by Jeffrey Cummings, but this one came across like a Nancy Drew teenage thriller. Deaths by bludgeon, corrupt charity moguls mixed with an strong undercurrent of sex, could not get this one beyond a pusillanimous farce. Might have worked better with a voice with a little gravitas, but I doubt it.

Worst Narrator Ever

I’ve read all of John Lescroart’s books and live the all. I decided to listen to the entire series, and so far have enjoyed them.

However, this narration is worst than cringeworthy. Very cartoonish. Every woman sounds like one of Georgia Engel’s high-pitched, breathy characters and several of the men —including Wyatt Hunt— are terrible, as well.
Don’t listen to this one, but read the book.

Go ahead

I know you've read so many of these they start to lose they're sparkle. But go ahead, this one is fun, intriguing and has a little twist. Plus, how will you understand the back story in the next Dismas book if you don't. lol.

Lescroart fan

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I think I would, but not as my first choice for this author.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Not really, it wouldn't be classified as a pageturner in my opinion.

Did Jeffrey Cummings do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Yes, he did a pretty good job.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No, nothing extreme about it really.

Any additional comments?

Not my favorite, but it was okay. So far I like the Hunt series, a little more suspense would be nice. Not much more I can say for this book, it was just okay.