When I heard this was coming out, I checked the blurb, being a big fan of this author. I got super excited about the premise, and couldn’t wait to get it. Well, I got a copy and listened to it in one sitting. It blew me away, it was that good.
The story revolves around Agent G, an assassin who works for the Society, a charity front that arranges high tech assassinations for large sums of money. If you have the money, they have the assassin for you! Assassins, named A to Z, are mind wiped, and are told they will be well paid and get their memories back after 10 years of service to the Society. This is the scenario G finds himself in. All the agents are cybernetically enhanced, both mentally and physically, and have beyond imagination black technology, real secret squirrel stuff.
This is the situation G finds himself. After he is ambushed at the Boston airport by a rival organization, the Carnivale, during a recall of all Society agents, it is discovered the Society has a mole in its midst. The mole is uncovered, and G is tasked with infiltrating the Carnivale and assassinating its leader, the Caesar and his daughter, a killer assassin in her own right. What commences is a wild ride of betrayals, plans within plans, gunfights, killer cyborg duels, torture and discovery for G, as he discovers more about the past that was wiped from his mind. In the end, he finds who he can really trust, and it’s not who he expected. He has to decide what he really wants to be, and if the price for being that person is worth paying.
As always with a CT Phipps book, the story is very character driven. Whether its G, who is conflicted on many levels, his handler Marissa, with a shady past G is only becoming aware of, Persephone, the shadowy ice queen director of the Society or even the Caesar and his children, the characters are well defined, their actions making sense in context with their characters. They are fleshed out in subtle but important ways, being much more than just two dimensional cardboard cutout stereotypes of spies, assassins and villains. The setting is interesting, with locations and action occurring around the world. The dialogue is also crisp, swinging between serious and snark easily, depending on the situation. The story never lags with unneeded exposition, keeping a taut thriller feel.
As far as narration goes, Jeffery Kafer was definitely at his best for this one. Whether the voices were male or female, cyborg, computer, Italian or a variety of American accents, Jeffery nailed them all. He brought each character to life, giving them a vibrancy you get really attached to. His narration of the story never lags, keeping a good flow and is never monotonous.
Overall, I would have rated the whole effort six stars on Audible and Amazon if they had that rating. As it is, get this book if you like sci fi or thrillers!