Steve Manke

The book was on par with the rest of the series for the most part. Sitting through a literal sermon in a church service was a little too much for me. I might have been able to tolerate that if that part of the story had any impact at all on the plot... but it didn't. I openly admit to not having patience for that sort of thing in real life so I don't appreciate being ambushed with it in a novel. Admitting that I deducted a star for this, I hope you will adjust my rating based on your own tolerances.

Put simply, I hope this is the start of a new series. The protagonist is interesting and has a personality and backstory that could easily fuel another couple of books at minimum. This book not only sets up the character for future tales, but this book delivers a first-class stand-alone adventure all its own. Another quality novel from Baldacci.

A clever and fun concept: a brain implant that gives the user instant internet access and the ability to read minds. Who wouldn't want that? You can see where this might make the protagonist's life a little complex. Particularly when he didn't volunteer to become the world's first test subject.

The story is largely character driven, which is a big win in my opinion. The protagonist is likable, even if even he doesn't know his own name at the start of the story. I was excited to jump right to the next book in this series.

This author is new to me, and if the first book is any indication, I'm going to enjoy the series. It reminds me of the Chase & Wilde characters in Andy McDermott's long running serial. It's not just the English author feel, either. There's a similarity that will feel very comfortable to fans of McDermott's books.

A fantastic follow up to the first book. The story goes in directions entirely unexpected given where book one left off. That said, the plot was creative and engaging. I can't wait to read book #3!

A killer adventure with mixes of history, mysticism, and mythology. The series continues to impress.

This book concludes in a way that suggests there might be a book 4 in the series. But given how long it has been since this edition was released, that appears questionable. Either way, this was a fantastic addition to the series. If we only get a trilogy, it's a fantastic set of books that I'm happy to recommend to any even remotely interested in the summary provided on Amazon. Each book delivers the goods.

Sam's honeymoon is put on hold when a terror plot holding the entire continental United States hostage takes center stage. It's an ambitious concept, but the plot holds up surprisingly well for the most part. There are no small cases for this detective.

I like time travel stories and thought I had read at least a sampling of every take on the concept. Split Second managed to bring something new to the sub-genre and wrap it in a compelling adventure at the same time. This was a fun book, a fantastic adventure, and a fresh look at what time travel could mean to the modern world.

The dangers in this book are out of this world. Alex Hunter is up against more than just agents of a hostile nation as he faces something sent from the Void. Beck flexes his creative muscles with the creepy crawlies spawned by his imagination and birthed in this book. Readers are in for as many chills as they are thrills. And as always, we're left wanting more. On to book #8!

Part 1 & 2 felt like they should have been a single book. The separation of volumes felt like an artificial break rather than one dictated by the narrative. That continues to confuse me.

The book was on par with my expectations for the series so I was satisfied with the story overall. The serial killer was a little two-dimensional in that his motivations always seemed synthetic. Still, and entertaining listen.

I listened to the audio version of the book. Since the plot involves a detective investigating the disappearance of a band's lead singer, it's no shock that there are references to the music played by the band. It's a little unconventional to actually have the songs appear in the audiobook. Given the audio is geared for voice rather than music, the quality of the music isn't all that amazing. But credit to the audio production team for their unconventional approach when it came to including what I can only guess to be original tunes in the book. I was a little surprised when there was no postscript explaining the source of the music.

Part 1 & 2 felt like they should have been a single book. The separation of volumes felt like an artificial break rather than one dictated by the narrative. That continues to confuse me.

The book was on par with my expectations for the series so I was satisfied with the story overall. The serial killer was a little two-dimensional in that his motivations always seemed synthetic. Still, and entertaining listen.

This one went in a lot of unexpected directions, all of then interesting. The book kept me listing well beyond the time I intended to be doing something else. That's always the mark of a great audiobook!

Clever and fun, this book explores the mystery that is Manuscript 512 while tackling the Last City of Z at the same time. More ancient wonders are covered as well, but mentioning those would border on spoiler territory. It's enough to say this book covers an clever and well-written adventure that keeps the pages flying by. Just be prepared for spiders...lots of spiders...many, many, shapes and sizes. Shiver...

This book is creative... maybe a little too creative for my tastes. It was so out there for the first half of the book that it just didn't click with me. I liked the protagonist enough, even if I didn't really understand him or his ways. The book was well written enough. I'm a fan of Dirgo's other books, so that wasn't the problem. And by the very end of the book I'll admit to liking things a lot more. I think that if the first part of the book had been written more like the last 15%, I would have enjoyed the entire book more. That said, if the book's description sounds like something you would enjoy, give it a shot. It's creative as all getout. That will likely resonate with most folks more than it did with me.

Looks like I found a new series to embrace. Compelling characters, and the first book kicks off with a bang. Literally a bang—Crazy hick bombers running amuck in the US as part of a vendetta. Quality action/thriller material and first class writing.

This series is proving to be one of my new favorites. McBride's comes back with a vengeance when it has to face off against the man who mutilated him years earlier. It's a great opportunity to explore the character's motivations and better frame the series. I suspected this might happen when I was reading the first book in the series. I thought the faceoff would take place further in the series. I'm glad Peterson decided to tackle the subject early on. It's an opportunity to help readers better understand the protagonist, and this is done to great effect.

This book is interesting and engaging from page one. Just a fantastic launch to the story. McBride receives a text message from a strange who knows his classified callsign. The message claims the sender has been kidnapped. It's enough to cause McBride to take immediate action. And where things go from there? It's clever, and it will have repercussions throughout the rest of the series. Great character development, well-developed suspense, and outstanding action.

In short, another outstanding Nathan McBride book.

McBride faces a more of his past in this novel. Snipers he was tasked with training years ago. One of them has gone rogue and is supporting the cartels. He and Harv are sent to deal with this problem. It's a compelling story that's not exactly a mystery, but it's nowhere near predictable. An enjoyable read overall.

This book takes the characters back to where it all began: beneath the dark ice. It's a fantastic adventure with high international stakes and unrivaled peril for the heroes of the series. I'm putting this down as my favorite book in the series so far. High praise given I'm a big fan of the series overall.

This release is perhaps more character driven than even the last character driven release in the series since the threats faced by the survivors are not entirely represented by the infected. The protagonists really go through the grinder on this one, and it makes for great storytelling.

The plot for this story is launched by a character who was at best peripheral way back in book number one. For fans of the series, they will likely recognize the character soon after reading. It's interesting to see the author have fun with an old throwaway character, then use him to such great effect in this book. Where things go from there is a massive shift in scale as a new, large-scale military contractor is pulled into the story for the first time. And thanks to the politics of the situation, McBride's father plays a big role for the first time.

This series continues to impress me. The characters continue to evolve and the proverbial pages fly by.

Nate and Harv come to the rescue of a team member from their time in the CIA. There's some solid adventure but a couple of the fights are overly protracted. Unnecessarily so, it felt to me. Maybe I just wasn't feeling it with this book. Though the twist that takes place at the end was entertaining. I can't say it came entirely out of nowhere, but it was a nice additional payoff that pulled some of the threads together at the close.

I'll admit to being disappointed that this audiobook wasn't narrated by Kristen Bell. Having the actress from the show/movie narrate that previous audiobook added to the experience. That said, this book fits with everything viewers/readers have come to expect from the world. There's a clever mystery at the heart of the story, great character-based writing, and most of our favorite characters are represented. The timeline dovetails masterfully with the series, subsequent movie, and previous book, so there's a cohesiveness that's also highly rewarding to fans. And with another web streamed season of the show upcoming, it will be interesting to see if that season is a rehash of one of these books or if it builds on the events which took place in the books.