King of Swords

Assassin Series, Book 1

By: Russell Blake

Narrated by: Dick Hill

King of Swords is book one of the Assassin series - an epic assassination thriller framed against a gritty backdrop of brutal drug cartel violence in modern Mexico.

The G-20 Financial Summit is planned for San Jose Del Cabo. The world's pre-eminent finance ministers will attend, along with the presidents of the U.S. and Mexico. Captain Romero Cruz of the Mexican Federal Police uncovers an assassination plot against the attendees. In a roller-coaster race against the clock, Cruz must track and stop El Rey, the "King of Swords" - a faceless super-assassin responsible for a string of the world's most spectacular killings, before he turns the G-20 into a slaughterhouse.

King of Swords is a rule-breaking rush that shatters convention to create a richly-drawn story that's sure to shock and delight even the most jaded intrigue/adventure thriller fans.

©2012, 2013 Russell Blake (P)2013 Russell Blake

Sean Penn fantasy cartel

Despite the earnest and foreboding forward the author provides to try to give this fantasy some moral weight, the book comprises every movie and television cliche about drug trafficking, combined with wet-dream fantasies of cartel life and run-of-the-mill sadistic excess in creating scenes of mindless violence. There are actual books out there that treat this subject matter in the kind of gritty reality this author aspires to, but the weak plot cadged from watching too many episodes of Miami Vice renders this a scarcely-tolerable descent into a sub-standard imagining of something real. Dick Hill unfortunately gets into the spirit of the faux-macho prose and the trite tough-guy dialogue, doing nothing to offset the over-the-top nature of the authorial stance toward the material.

Great book made even better by Dick Hill

Dick Hill's performance of King of Swords was top notch. The story itself was about as exciting as any I can remember, and I'll be buying more from this author.

Viva El Rey!

Where does King of Swords rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is my favorite series by Russell Blake. I read the book but wanted to read it again, so I bought the audiobook version. Will listen to the rest of the series on Audible.

What did you like best about this story?

The writing. It's top-notch.

Which scene was your favorite?

Every scene with El Rey.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A gritty, realistic look at drug cartel violence in Mexico.

Any additional comments?

Enjoyed all the accents Dick Hill did while reading.

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Set in Mexico, King of Swords: Assassin Series Volume 1 is a face paced thriller involving trying to catch the infamous assassin El Rey. Russell Blake's attention to detail paints pictures that make you feel as though you are right there in the story.

Dick Hill is one of my all time favorite narrators and he gives another 5 star performance here. His accents are spot on and he added even more color to the story.

I would highly recommend this book to friends and family.

Good as Reacher / Davenport

This was my first introduction to author Blake, and I am pleasantly surprised. This isn't too over the top like Gray Man book. It has a bit of a different take on the thriller because it's set in Mexico. With Dick Hill as the narrator, it reminds me a bit of Lee Child's writing. Conspiracy is well done. It's not perfect, but a breath of fresh air to the genre, and I will be reading the rest of the series.

Narration and intrigue

Characters, description of Mexico and the narrator’s voice and accents are top tier. Enjoyed the character development and length of the book.