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jgintrovertedreader's review against another edition
3.0
Will Robie is a sanctioned assassin for the US government. Needless to say, if he screws up he's officially on his own. He gets an odd assignment amidst the cartel bosses and terrorists that are his usual hits. He's assigned to take out a woman who works for the Department of Defense. The official story is, she's got terrorist ties. He walks into her apartment and realizes something isn't right. He freezes and re-evaluates as her child wakes up and starts to panic, just in time for a second sniper to kill both him and his mom. Robie goes underground to find out what's going on. He climbs on a bus and watches a teen girl board as well. Shortly behind her is a man who looks like a professional. Robie watches as the man prepares to kill the girl, ready to act if he needs to. It turns out, she's capable of taking care of herself but now she's on the run with Robie.
I wanted something pretty exciting and fun to listen to and I have to say this did fit the bill. It took me by surprise when the sound effects started though. I can't recall having sound effects in many other audio books and I'm not sure if I like them. Mostly they just yank me out of the story as I look around, wondering where the gunshots are coming from. (I live kind of in the country in the South. It's not unusual for neighbors to indulge in some target practice.) I liked David McLarty's narration quite a bit. He has a gruff kind of voice that I thought suited the story perfectly. I also liked that Orlagh Cassidy read the female dialog but I occasionally felt too much like she was actually reading to me. I know, it's an audiobook and she is reading to me but I don't want it to sound that way. Mostly I enjoyed her narration too though.
While the book itself was exciting and I never did figure out exactly what was going on until the end, I saw too much of it coming from way too far away. There were a couple of times where I caught myself thinking, "Heaven help us if this is the best and brightest our country has to offer" and rolling my eyes. I might not have put all the pieces together but I did at least know what the pieces were. I'm pretty sure the whole thing was supposed to be a big surprise.
I don't know that I'll be running out to read or listen to more books by this author but if the mood strikes for another thriller-ish read, I'd give him another try, either in print or audio.
I wanted something pretty exciting and fun to listen to and I have to say this did fit the bill. It took me by surprise when the sound effects started though. I can't recall having sound effects in many other audio books and I'm not sure if I like them. Mostly they just yank me out of the story as I look around, wondering where the gunshots are coming from. (I live kind of in the country in the South. It's not unusual for neighbors to indulge in some target practice.) I liked David McLarty's narration quite a bit. He has a gruff kind of voice that I thought suited the story perfectly. I also liked that Orlagh Cassidy read the female dialog but I occasionally felt too much like she was actually reading to me. I know, it's an audiobook and she is reading to me but I don't want it to sound that way. Mostly I enjoyed her narration too though.
While the book itself was exciting and I never did figure out exactly what was going on until the end, I saw too much of it coming from way too far away. There were a couple of times where I caught myself thinking, "Heaven help us if this is the best and brightest our country has to offer" and rolling my eyes. I might not have put all the pieces together but I did at least know what the pieces were. I'm pretty sure the whole thing was supposed to be a big surprise.
I don't know that I'll be running out to read or listen to more books by this author but if the mood strikes for another thriller-ish read, I'd give him another try, either in print or audio.
katrenia's review against another edition
3.0
3.5. The book was fine, just not my cup of tea. I like a good mystery / detective, but this leaned too far into world politics. The ending was rather abrupt relative to the overall length of the book.
lucija_le's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
jen_is_booked's review against another edition
5.0
[bc:The Innocent|12849385|The Innocent (Will Robie, #1)|David Baldacci|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1329854216s/12849385.jpg|17594837]
What an excellent start to a series!! Will Robie is a government assassin, and he's very good at his job. Suddenly he's the target and is caught up in a very dangerous cat and mouse game. No one is safe after talking to him and the answers are few and far between. Enter a 14 year old girl who seems to also be a target in the same game and the questions multiply. This book kept me guessing with every page, I literally couldn't put it down! Very fast paced, excellently tight writing, great descriptions without being overly verbose, all in all, excellent work. Continuing the series is not even a question, Baldacci is now on my list of must read authors.
What an excellent start to a series!! Will Robie is a government assassin, and he's very good at his job. Suddenly he's the target and is caught up in a very dangerous cat and mouse game. No one is safe after talking to him and the answers are few and far between. Enter a 14 year old girl who seems to also be a target in the same game and the questions multiply. This book kept me guessing with every page, I literally couldn't put it down! Very fast paced, excellently tight writing, great descriptions without being overly verbose, all in all, excellent work. Continuing the series is not even a question, Baldacci is now on my list of must read authors.
debstubb's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
beanspuss's review against another edition
characters were predictable and clichéd.
kimball_hansen's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. I'm glad this is a series because I can't wait for the next ones. I don't know how I found out about this book but I'm sure glad I did. It reminded me a lot of the movie my British B word coworker had me watch, called Leon. Not sure if one was based off the other, though. This book was also similar yet a tad milder than the extreme Mitch Rapp series of [b:American Assassin|7959473|American Assassin (Mitch Rapp, #1)|Vince Flynn|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1510373140l/7959473._SY75_.jpg|11771611] that I love but still good nonetheless. The narrator sounded a lot like Robert Redford (and I had been watching a bit of The Old Man and the Gun the night before) so I kept picturing the main character, Will Robie, as him. Another neat thing about this book is that it had special effects and music mixed in certain parts, primarily gunshots and tension music. I liked it, wasn't too distracting either. Plus it had two narrators. You don't find that in audiobooks much these days.
The thing that got to me with this book is Julie. She's way too street savvy for her age. I don't like when young people are prodigies because it just simply never happens. I will admit that it would be great to find a woman who was like Anna.
And once again, this was another clean novel not filled with inappropriate actions nor filthy language. I like that there are people who don't see the need to add those to their stories.
But that ending though. Delivers one punch after the other until your up against the ropes and bleeding ready to take the final blow, right Jana? You described a book like that once. So many twists at the end. All because of. I still don't know who this Abdullah guy is.
The thing that got to me with this book is Julie. She's way too street savvy for her age. I don't like when young people are prodigies because it just simply never happens. I will admit that it would be great to find a woman who was like Anna
Spoiler
as long as she wasn't a terrorist like we discoverAnd once again, this was another clean novel not filled with inappropriate actions nor filthy language. I like that there are people who don't see the need to add those to their stories.
But that ending though. Delivers one punch after the other until your up against the ropes and bleeding ready to take the final blow, right Jana? You described a book like that once. So many twists at the end. All because of
Spoiler
dilated pupilsshelovedtoread's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
lisasaurusreads's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0