Abandoned

A Thriller (Smoky Barrett, Book 4)

By: Cody McFadyen

Narrated by: Joyce Bean

For FBI Special Agent Smoky Barrett, the wedding of one of their own was cause for celebration. Until a woman staggered down the aisle, incoherent, emaciated, head shaved, and wearing only a white nightgown.
No one knows who she is or where she's come from - or why she's chosen to appear in a church filled with law enforcement agents. Then a fingerprint check determines that the woman has been missing for nearly eight years - that once she was someone's wife, someone's mother...and a cop. Imprisoning her in a dark cell, depriving her of any contact with the outside world, her enigmatic captor was a man she didn't know and who seldom spoke, who punished her only when she failed to follow his most basic instructions designed to keep her alive.
Cold, businesslike, seemingly indifferent to his victims, he's a predator with an M.O. as terrifyingly inscrutable as any Smoky has ever encountered. As she fits together the pieces of what remains of his victim's fractured life, a chilling picture emerges of a killer every bit as calculating, masterful, and professional as Smoky and the team she leads - a professional psychopath who doesn't take murder personally and never makes a mistake.
There's a reason he let one of his victims go free. And by the time Smoky pierces the darkness of his twisted mind, it may cost her more than she can bear to lose to escape. For a trap snapped closed the moment she took this case too much to heart.
©2009 Cody McFadyen (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Omg stop with the sex

The story line is great and the overall pilot keeps you guessing, but omg the sex is way overdone and you can tell only a man could ever write this stuff. He keeps going overboard with it and uses so many juvenile terms.

Abducted

Some crazy nut job throws a young woman from a car right at a wedding reception where Smokey and her whole elite crew of FBI agents are attending. Obviously this deranged person is trying to get her attention. The despondent, young woman has been held captive in the dark for seven years and the message to Smokey is to not investigate or the rest that they still have imprisoned will end up dead or worse. Of course it is ludicrous to think that Smokey will not be involved, but the case is still considered to be under local police jurisdiction. But it turns into a serial kidnapping case the following week when the young woman's adulterous lover, who has also been missing for seven years, is dropped of at a hospital lobotomized, she and her team are on the case.

I thought this book in the series was as good as the first and hope that the next book comes out soon. I recommend this to those that like crime procedural, but beware it is not for the faint of heart. A gritty, torturous and gripping story that flows at a good pace.

good but disturbing

mcfayden's book always leave me a little disturbed but this one in particular... a bit more than usual. i think i may even retire from his novels if he decides to continue the series. why? because i never feel satisfied in the end. i usually like my thrillers to end with at least some form of justice and i never get that with cody mcfadyen.

with that said, i do recommend this book because it did have the shock value and an ending i just didn't see coming... ever.
the narration was wonderful, imo.

can't put the book down

love her and her team. the story is amazing and sad. can't wait to listen to the next book

Intense psychological thriller

Somewhere when listening to the book, you recall the title and wonder about that one word. When you've finished the book and think about it late into the night the title will finally come into it's own meaning. This book is not for the faint of heart and mind. It opens new ways of thinking and more complexities in what makes a killer, a cop, a parent and a victim. The story moves and has a great pace. The characters are interesting and vivid. I'm going to go see what else this author has written and get around to reading those books too.

Wow just wow

This was an absolute brilliant book and the narration was perfect I can’t say anything negative about this book it’s just a brilliant written book

Great!!!

This was my first introduction to Cody McFadyen and I liked this book so much when I was finished I bought the first Smokey Barret book that was written. Joyce Bean did a great except that all the men's voices sound like they're little old crotchety men, even hunky Tommy

A thriller that will keep you listening

Yes, this is a thriller and it will keep you listening. You will become engaged in the plot quickly and will be invested in the characters and will want to find out what happens to them. So, why only 3 stars? At the end of the book I thought to myself that this would not be the type of book I would be interested in reading again. The killer is just way too insane and scary and thinking that there are people out there who are like that is just too much. Not your run of the mill scary character.

Interesting plot

I found the narrator to be adequate. She did tend to have a similar voice for the male characters but it wasn't annoying to me as some commented. While I enjoyed the story, I want to mention that there is a lot of reflective commentary by Smokey which develops the character. I have left with a desire to find out about the characters in the story but not a burning need. It was ok. I didn't feel like I had to plow through it forever, and I am glad I listened to it but I can't put it up there with the top ranks of stories I've read. If you're looking for something to read and you like slower action plots, I think this one would be ok.

Obscene garbage

Would you try another book from Cody McFadyen and/or Joyce Bean?

No.

What was most disappointing about Cody McFadyen’s story?

I rarely abandon a book, but I stopped early with this book. It is nothing but sadistic gore - a stream of vignettes of awful crimes, most with a domination and perversion theme - without any redeeming social value. I'm not a prude but there has to be a point. This book has no point; the material is obscene in the old, true sense of the word.

How could the performance have been better?

Attempts to do male voices by female narrator were dreadful.

What character would you cut from Abandoned?

Characters are shallow, stale and uninteresting.