The
Russian – Ben Coes (MacMillian Audio)
Lethal
Agent – Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills (Simon and Schuster Audio)
My new daily work commute has me delving back into audio
books to pass the time; the longer trip allows me sit back and have someone
tell me a story. My two most recent jaunts into audio thrillers come from two
of my favorite thriller writers; the late Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp character
carried on by Kyle Mills, who I was a fan of in his own right, and a bit of
departure from Ben Coes.
The
Russian, tells the tale of Russians who are trying to impact and
interfere in the U.S. Presidential election, but its not what you might think.
The departure for Coes comes in the form of his normal tip of the spear
character Dewey Andreas, taking a back seat to his second fiddle Rob Tacoma.
The Russians Tacoma goes toe to toe with aren’t hackers
but, are members of the Russian mob who assassinate a high profile,
Presidential candidate at a campaign rally and a powerful, mob-busting Senator
by poisoning at a New York steak house. While the numbers are clearly lopsided,
Tacoma is a man on a mission and that keeps that action boiling on the front
burner.
Narrator Ari Fliakos deftly handles multiple Russian
accents that really raise the production bar and the feel of the book.
Lethal
Agent, once again finds Flynn’s Mitch Rapp character going at it
with middle eastern terrorists hell bent on the destruction of the United
States and the seemingly inevitable Washington, DC swamp dwellers hell bent on
his destruction.
The lived in feel of the story, while comfortable, also
ends up with a I’ve been here before and maybe one too many times tinge.
Veteran narrator George Guidall even comes off a bit tired; his voice
noticeably changes at points in the proceeding, moving from strained to strong
and back again.
The bio-terror attack storyline is wholly believable, but
ends up just short of the normal direct hit target.
