Noble Intent

Jake Noble Series

By: William Miller

Narrated by: Adam Verner

Jake Noble is back.... And this time, he's hunting a friend!

When Sam Gunn is accused of murdering a fellow intelligence officer in cold blood, the new CIA director charges Jake Noble with tracking her down. But Jake isn't the only one after Sam. A trio of highly trained freelancers wants Sam dead before she can blow the lid on their operation. It's a heart-pounding race against time to see who will find her first.

To clear Sam's name, Noble must pit himself against a murderous criminal organization and corrupt intelligence agents with nothing to lose. The chase culminates in an action-packed finale that will change Noble's life forever!

©2018 Literary Rebel, LLC (P)2019 Literary Rebel, LLC

Another enjoyable Jake Noble listen!!!

I’m writing this review after listening to all 6 books. I read 1-5 on my Kindle and was super stoked to see book 6 roll out. William Miller did NOT disappoint!!! So I’ve written a review that really applies to all 6 books. So you’ll read this on the other books. Like any good book (IMO) there are characters you like and characters you’d like to slap up side the head with a large fish, preferably a Lionfish, at minimum a large catfish. I like Jake Noble, he’s not like some hero typecast characters who invariably beats the evil and rarely gets a scratch. Jake often has to work hard for his victories and rarely is much given to him. You know the books, the weaponless hero gets to the cache site and finds a HMMWV with a MK19, M4’s with EOTechs and 20 gazillion rounds. Jake’s gets to his caches and finds 40 yr old K-Rats and eats them. Like I said he has to fight for his wins. He’s got a good cast around him, usually ready to support him or leave him to his own devices with thoughts of firing him always overshadowing him. My favorite character in all 6 books is The Wizard. I’m my time with n I have ran across old intel codgers just like him. Guys that have been around the block so many times they should have named 4 streets after them. Now for the Golden Globe award for “Most Irritatingly Irritating Characters”. And that award and Lionfish slaps gots to Ezra. Smart as a whip and with less horse sense than a rock. Not to mention he’s the whiniest human I’ve ever listened to. Now I know why I started and enjoyed this series on my Kindle before in Audio. At least I could give Zee a more manly voice as he whined, complained and basically peed his pants at the sight of the most benign beings, God forbid a threat with a weapon! All that aside I thoroughly enjoy William Millers writing style and I have been patiently waiting for Will to pick up this series again! A couple of years ago I exchanged some emails with William and he is as good a human as they come, and that makes listening or reading his books all the more enjoyable. Now for the constructive criticism:
- the narrator shouldn’t make every female character sound so dang whiney. Even the non-whiney/weak characters had that whiney trait that went counter to the persons character.

- it wasn’t this book, but there was book 4 that there were Russian characters than had zero Russian accent (I hope I’m not thinking of a different series but I don’t think I am.) the narrator should apply appropriate access to the various nationalities regardless. It lends more realism.
- I would give - free of charge - a military/tactics review/edit of the Noble series gladly. Trust me when I say that nowhere in this universe would an 18 series MOS (US Army Special Forces) ask someone firing an MP5 if they can accurately or effectively engage a threat at over 700 meters. That question would never come out of their mouth. Also there was a portion of book 5 wheee if I’m not mistaken Jake and another character (DF) were engaging threats with short barrel AK’s at distances those weapons cannot reach, much less effectively. I could have misheard that, so take that with a grain of salt I guess. My point is that authors who include current or former SOF soldiers or even SOG operators who are almost always former SOF, should have someone who understands that world to provide editing - reviewing to ensure that storyline doesn’t go into the realm of impossibility when it’s not necessary. That’s just my 2 cents.
I m sure there are haters who might complain about Jake’s mom or Sam for their Christian faith and quoting bible scriptures but I thought it added an element that many authors are afraid to add, and it wasn’t overboard or over saturated, so if you do read a negative review mentioning that, just know that whoever left that review is really going overboard and likely just a God-hater. It was seasoned without being over salty. I’d you know what I mean then you know what I mean.
I truly hope there is a Jake Noble 7, 8, 9, 10…. I want to know what happens to Sam! And yes Jake is getting on up there at 36, he still has some gas in the tank!!!

Interesting, but still not up there

Adam Verner makes the women sound unpleasant, whiny and bitchy with every upturned sentence ending. He mispronounces many words and fails at the basic French "comment allez-vous". William Miller wouldn't know a past perfect if it hit him in the head, but he does know cliches (like that one). Miller also doesn't know the verb "lie" and its forms, using "lay" and "laid" for everything.

The title is good for the story, but we all know where good intentions lead. There are some good action scenes, some good use of Bic lighters (I'm going to try that at home), and some chases. But it still fails to measure up to our expectations.

Sam's religiosity still jars, and it is hard to believe that she has become one of the best agents in such a short time (2 years since Jake met her). And I maintain that wanting a quickie with a virgin is not a noble desire.

Decent story with the critical caveat...

Unfortunately for the listeners, the caveat is that although the basic reader's voice is tolerable and sufferable, his constant attempts to develop characters and nuances using his voice fails miserably. Picture a soprano or tenor attempting to disguise his (or her) voice to portray an alto or bass speaker. This gives virtually every character aside from the main character, a "Vinnie Goomba" voice, zapping any and all intellectual potential from even College Professors! Horrible performance ruins decent (at best) writing.