Flash Point

By: James W. Huston

Narrated by: Adams Morgan

Sean Woods and Tony Vialli are F-14 pilots stationed aboard the USS George Washington in the Mediterranean. During a port call in Naples, Vialli falls for a beautiful woman he meets on a train who tells him she's Italian. She finally reveals she isn't Italian at all, and lures him out of the country to visit her. Vialli submits false leave papers, swears Woods to secrecy, and flies off to see her. His lover's trip becomes a nightmare when Vialli and the woman are brutally attacked in what appears to be a terrorist action.

Enraged over his friend's vicious assault and furious at the lack of American response, Woods thinks the United States should retaliate against the man claiming responsibility, who says he is part of a secret society of assassins founded in the 11th century. Woods wants his country to declare war against this man personally, but his congressman pays no attention. A group of Israeli Air Force pilots offer Woods the chance to exact his own revenge by flying a section of F-14s with the Israelis, without the US Navy's knowledge. Woods' flight turns into one of the biggest air battles since World War II. He must fight for his life, then fight to keep what he has done secret from the Navy and the rest of the world, all because of a woman whose identity and motives continue to elude him.

©2000 James W. Huston (P)2000 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Huston's third military thriller is also his best...superb action, crackling hardware speak, and just enough American heroism." (Kirkus Reviews)

"If you like Tom Clancy, Houston is a good step up." (Washington Post Book World)

"Huston combines high tech, high adventure, and high style with soft romance to produce a fast-moving thriller that will delight." (Booklist)

Narration could be better

Mr Morgan must be a good narrator or he wouldn't have been chosen for what I consider a good read. He comes up very short on this one. It sounds like it is read at the local library.
Apologies to Mr. Morgan but I am just calling it as I see (hear) it.

Good Story, Bad Writing

The storyline is awesome, but I found myself having to force it. I usually blow through books and want more, but Huston's passive voice and short sentence structure made listening feel choppy and unengaged. I didn't feel the characters, so when things happened, I felt meh. It was a good story, though, and had parts that were edge of the seat with suspense and wanting to know what happened next.

Wish I'd read this first.

Three stars, because I like the story.

Not four because the narrator is HORRIBLE. To re-hash, Long pauses are left in while the reader takes a drink...which you get to listen to, and NO pauses are placed between plot shifts. I also had a hard time placing dialogue at times, only to realize a minute later that I was hearing a totally new conversation.

My other major gripe, there are places where the editor overlaped audio. In two distinct places, you get to try and pick out the same voice reading 30-40 seconds off of itself. Just bad all around.

The story is good, read the book and save yourself a headache.

Yikes

What did you like best about Flash Point? What did you like least?

While Huston is an excellent writer, this story takes the concept of

What was most disappointing about James W. Huston???s story?

Not in the range of believability

Could you see Flash Point being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No

Liked this book

This is an interesting book about the military and terrorism. Unlike another reviewer, I found the narration to be superior. What I really appreciated about this book was the lack of profanity. Some military novels are so filled with profanity that it distracts from the book.

Poorly produced

The book itself is pretty good. Fun, easy to follow despite lots of technical jargon (aviation buffs will love it), with an interesting plot and obnoxious protagonist. However, Adams Morgan is a below average narrator. He struggles especially when reading dialogue; his reading of narration is marginally acceptable, I could see him narrating a self-help business book. What did the book in was the production. The producer messed up in many spots, leaving unnecessary gaps, background noise etc., and forgetting to leave gaps on switching between scenes.

Good story if a little dated. Truly painful naration

A good well rounded story if just a little dated and predictable. The narration was almost unbearable. I suffered through for the sake of the story and it probably did warm up a bit after six hours or so. I will actively avoid any books narrated by Adams Morgan.

Authentic military fiction...

There's plenty to like about FLASH POINT, especially for fans of authentic military fiction. Huston has the jargon down pat, and it's obvious he either spent a lot of time on an aircraft carrier, or knows someone who did. It's a good storyline, populated with well-developed, realistic characters. Unfortunately, it's not without problems.

First, a specific audiobook issue: The narrator. In addition to the "aristocratic" tone of voice that's totally out of place in a novel like this, he has a tendency to speak very slowly at times, and he often makes the problem worse by leaving long gaps between sentences. On the flip side, he'll often leave no extra space at all between scenes. The end result is one sentence takes place on an aircraft carrier and the next may take place halfway around the world, with zero transition for the listener. These spacing issues may be the fault of the audio editor, but it's supremely irritating.

Another problem is the fact that it was obviously written before 9/11. Events are described as fantastic, and they may well have been considered so before 9/11, that are now mild by comparison to what we've actually experienced. This isn't the author's fault, of course, but it still affects the reader/listener experience.

The worst problem, however, must fall squarely to the author. He has a habit of of getting on some issue and just refusing to let go. He goes over it and over it and over it and over it and over it, as if the reader is just too dumb to understand it the first time through. Or the second. Or the third. Characters will get into a discussion/debate on something, and they just say the same things many, many, many times. To an avid, intelligent reader (the very type of reader who buys and reads long books like this), this is beyond irritating. It's downright offensive. Mr. Huston is truly a good writer and I very much want to remain a fan; I hope he addresses this problem in the next book.

ANOTHER FANTASTIC PAGE TURNER! AND ITS CLEAN.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I love Huston's style. I can listen to it in the car with my grandkids and not be embarrassed by the gratuitous profanity and sex. A solid story that pulls you in and keeps you in the car after you arrive home.

Story OK, narrator the worst

Wow! What could have been a lightweight but technically interesting story was totally ruined by the narrator. This guy doesn't speak like anyone you've ever heard except perhaps someone who's competing in a (mind numbing) diction contest.

The previous reviewers have it right--the author's work is worth a credit for purchase, but never will I choose another of his, or anyone else's books, narrated by Adams Morgan.