Box 88

Lachlan Kite Series, Book 1

De: Charles Cumming

Narrado por: Charlie Ansen

A secret agent comes of age - and reckons with the legacy of his first mission - in this thriller by New York Times best seller Charles Cumming, "the best of the new generation of British spy writers" (The Observer).

Lachlan Kite is a member of BOX 88, an elite transatlantic black-ops outfit so covert that not even MI6 and the CIA are certain of its existence - but even the best spy can't anticipate every potential threat in a world where dangerous actors lurk around every corner. At the funeral of his childhood best friend, Lachlan falls into a trap that drops him into the hands of a potentially deadly interrogation, with his pregnant wife, also abducted, being held as collateral for the information he's sworn on his own life to protect.

Thirty years earlier Lachlan, then just out of the upper-class boarding school where he was reared, was BOX 88's newest recruit. In the haze of a gap-year summer, in which the study of spycraft was intertwined with a journey of self-discovery, he cut his teeth on a special assignment on the coast of France, where a friendship allowed him special access to one of Iran's most dangerous men. Today, Lachlan's nostalgia for the trip is corrupted by recollection of the deceit that accompanied it, but in order to save his family, he'll be forced to revisit those painful memories one last time.

©2020 Charles Cumming (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Good story in need of an editor

This book has an interesting premise—a secret agency more secret than the CIA, MI6 etc and its recruitment of a young man to get inside an Iranian plot to blow up an American subway. It’s just takes too too long in setting up the story of the 18 year old recruit. The jumping back and forth between the past and present and multiple action points deprives the story of suspense. If I were reading this I would have skimmed a fair amount of it, but listening makes it a slower process. It was interesting overall but tightened up it would have been a lot better.

A good modern spy story with ties to historical Iran and the Shaw

The structure in which the story was told. Stopping the modern day narative and flashing back to the past in a just in time / need to know manner. It kept you from guessing the plot line.

Excellent

A very well written story inspired by actual events that keeps you on the edge, without sounding farfetched. A great sequel to The Spanish Game, which up to now I thought it could not be surpassed. Also, a great job by the narrator Charlie Ansen.

not a lot of excitement

Not a lot excitement to make you want to keep listening. Struggle to keep playing .

Wooden Protagonist

Maybe some of Cummings other books are better. This one seemed pedestrian with a wooden, uncompelling protagonist it was difficult to care much about.

Dull, flat, uninteresting

I’m always amazed by how two people, even if they otherwise have much in common, can come to such vastly different conclusions about a book! One of my favorite books, for instance, I recently loaned to my good friend, who returned it half read saying it was so dull she couldn’t get through it. Anyway, I’m leaving this review not because I think it’s THE TRUTH, but because it is my honest appraisal, and because it seems to contradict this book’s more or less universal appreciation. I found all of the characters 2-D. Also much irrelevant meandering. It was decent writing but that wasn’t enough to save it. If it hadn’t been free with my Audible account, I wouldn’t have finished it. Where the story is uninteresting and the characters so lacking in plausible humanity that you don’t care whether they live or die, what’s to love? I’m baffled by all the praise this book is getting. But then I remember my best friend and how she loathed my fave book and I smile and shake my head at how quirky folks are.

Talented story telling from last to present

Really enjoyable characters and story line. I could visualize it as a movie… loved the narrator.

A great story as a base for future series.

Great writing and story which flowed well, despite jumping from present to past. Can’t wait for future adventures of the Box 88 team.

Espionage — down and dirty

5 stars — I wish there was more than that. Diabolical? Yes. Believable? Yes. Any holes in the plot? If so, I missed them.

Cannot wait for Book 2

I loved this story. It really kept my attention and had so many twist and turns. Looking forward to book 2.