Jim McLaughlin

Decent, but not as good as the best in the series.

Revisado: 04-22-25

Mark Greaney is great at writing espionage. No surprise there. But Midnight Black wonders into geopolitics and puts the protagonists into larger conflicts. In doing so, this story struggles to hold together some plausibility and reality, even for a Grey Man story. It does set up some great possibilities for the next book(s), and by the time the end of the story comes, the listener (or reader) is primed for the next adventure.

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Great premise, high school production

Revisado: 09-25-24

Greaney has constructed a very engaging and action packed story, that’s the good news. Unfortunately, producing this as a multi actor “radio show” and using the exposition approach with the wife came across as clunky and disjointed. The acting ranged from decent to amateur. If the audio book was organized as a novel with third person narrative, the story could be developed with more continuity and with less foreshadowing (I figured out the bad guys before the reveals every time). The presentation was very ham fisted jumping from scenes that were supposed to be the wife retelling the story to the FBI and scenes she would not have any knowledge of. Yet the format always came back to the exposition she was providing to the FBI agent.

Overall, lot’s of potential, but undercooked.

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Last of Us meets Lord of the Flies

Revisado: 03-28-24

Hill has created a very compelling story that seamlessly injects an apocalyptic event which takes unexpected turns in the beginning. With deft writing and effortless descriptions, we are given a view into the struggles and emotions of the protagonist as she tries to make sense of the world which is deeply divided between the infected and the healthy.

Unfortunately, this is where Hill begins to descend into what I can only describe as torture porn. As in most good stories, bad things happen and this is where Hill’s superior skill of a writer takes us through gruesome event after gruesome event in technicolor detail. Horror books are not my favorite, but I would have been fine with all the gore, if it truly contributed to a story arc. Hill’s story meanders from one slasher sub-plot to the next, only to serve up minor one-dimensional characters. Actually, make that caricatures. This approach to building the story only serves to frustrate us who are following along as Hill telegraphs every step of the hell our protagonist must plod through. And plod she does. On and on, as we struggle to even care where things are headed.

I don’t have any spoilers, but I will say the story ends, only as a mechanism to lead us to the next book in the series. This world which Hill has constructed would make an amazing movie or streaming service series, but as a novel, it becomes tedious and predictable.

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Nice Whodunnit

Revisado: 09-21-20

The plot is very intriguing and as a reader, I was really hooked and the story kept my interest every step of the way. Even when I lost all empathy for the main characters. And in some weird way, that made me want to know how it all works out.

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Great concept

Revisado: 01-09-20

I loved the concept and the world/events which where dreamt up in this story. However, it becomes one long exposition punctuated by moments of action. I think this has the potential to be a GREAT full length novel or even a series of books. (I’d go see the movie version!)

I love the author’s creativity, just not the delivery of the story.

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This story was so taxing

Revisado: 10-03-19

I wanted to like this story in the beginning. The plot setup was very enticing and has lots of promise. As the story moves along, the characters are thin and very one dimensional. There is no complexity to them. The dialog isn't bad but at times seems stilted and designed to push the plot in specific directions. After a while, it becomes exhausting. The story becomes predictable and at the same time, the listener will get frustrated with the obvious bad decisions made by the main characters.

Sorry, this is just a bad novel.

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Good Action, sloppy plot

Revisado: 02-13-19

The pace of this story was decent and the action really moved the story along. Unfortunately, that story was a unstable from the start. I enjoyed the profile of the main character, but the lengths the plot goes to keep Luke at the center of things was weak. If you follow that logic, Luke was the only capable and available operator in the entire US stable of operators. I was also disappointed in the supporting characters. I would have liked to had better character sketches but had to settle for thin characters with little or no background info.

I think Jack Mars shows promise and hope he can hone his obvious writing talents to produce increasingly good story lines with this character who has potential. Unfortunately, this first product gave us a rather bland, if not a down right common, protagonist.

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Meh

Revisado: 09-21-18

This has the core of what could be a good plot, but it felt hurried and slapped together towards the end. The motivations of the protagonists were thin. I also found the some of the dialogue to be very stilted and overly verbose at times. If the characters resort to overt exposition to explain why the plot is moving a certain way, then the author is forcing it. Overall, I enjoy the Jed Walker character, but I found this installment to be mediocre.

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More missed opportunities

Revisado: 05-16-18

What a waste of a good possibility. The story is one predictable scenario after another. There is a sliver of a good story in there somewhere, but it was lost along the way. Every chapter leaves me uninterested in the outcome. As Evan puts himself in one stupid scenario after another, I got to the point where I was cheering for the bad guys to finish him off. I just didn't care anymore.

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A complex plot with 1 dimensional characters

Revisado: 03-30-18

The dialog sounds like it was witten by a 15 year old. The character's decisions are not thought out and come across as emotional reactions and outbursts. The constant expositions are painful to endure. To top it off, the character of Royal is just to annoying to take. Just when I thought I couldn't dislike the story, the end of the book is a constant battle of stupid actions.

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