Not So Dead Trilogy

The Sam Sunborn Series, Books 1-3

By: Charles Levin

Narrated by: Daniel Greenberg

The Not So Dead Trilogy includes the first three thrillers in the Amazon best-selling Sam Sunborn series: Not So Dead, Not So Gone, and Not So Done!

Have you met Sam Sunborn? He is a problem-solver obsessed with life, death, and everything in between. The man the US Department of Homeland Security calls on to help stop a family of sociopathic terrorists - the Leopard, the Cub, and their brilliant yet sadistic sister. When Sam helps invent a way to digitize personalities so people can live digitally forever, the terrorists and the government want it at any cost.

Caught between helping his country and protecting his wife Monica from assassins and his son Evan from determined kidnappers, will Sam stop a global disaster and save his family or lose everything?

If you like heart-pounding action, mind-bending inventions, and terrifying villains, then you'll love Charles Levin's gripping saga.

©2020 Charles Levin (P)2020 Charles Levin

Critic reviews

"There's a cutting-edge current to every page that's hard to resist, so get ready to engage your heart and your mind." (Steve Berry, New York Times best-selling author)

”A spy technothriller for the modern age that you won't be able to put down....” (San Francisco Book Review)

An intense cat and mouse games with consequences

Received as an audio review copy from Story Origin, this is an honest review. Narrated brilliantly by Daniel Greenberg, brings this realistic, harrowing, futuristic journey that Sam Sunborn, his colleagues, their families and then entire world face that could have dangerous consequences. After Sam, his friends Frank and their colleagues create a company that enables a person create a digital version of themselves; so that if you die, as long as you have an uploaded counterpart- your loved ones can still have a relationship with you. This amazing technology becomes a key piece that Sam, his trusted team and various government agencies need a disturbed and deadly terrorists are hellbent on bringing the world to its knees... no matter how it's accomplished. If people due in their crusade, the Leopard and his band of warriors will benefit. Packed adrenaline laced action and poignant personal adventure, this trilogy of stories will have asking questions of why this happening, hungry for the answers. Highly recommended.

Well worth binge listening

I think investing 27 hours of my time listening to this story was some of the most entertaining listening I’ve done in a long time. Each of the three stories on its own is great, but when you can listen to all three back-to-back you realize how well done this series really is.

Not So Dead
This first book in the Sam Sunborn series is quite a tale filled with plenty of action, fascinating characters, and technology that makes the reader wonder if it is possible or what might occur if it were possible. I honestly wasn’t expecting to be so taken by this story, I knew I would enjoy it, but how much was an unknown – after listening to Not So Dead, all I wanted to do was plug in my earbuds and lose myself in the next two books.

Not So Gone
This second episode follows Sam, Frank, Rich, and Michelle as wells as several other characters in pursuit of the Leopard’s operation. If you have read/listened to the first story in the series you may be saying, Sam Is dead, how can this occur. Well grab a copy and settle in to see how Frank brings Sam back to the physical dimension. There came a point in this story where the author took a direction with a few characters that had me angry with him. But that’s my issue to overcome and I won’t say any more about it to avoid providing any spoilers.


Not So Done
Book three is just as action packed as books 1 & 2, not to mention contains more twists and turns than its predecessors. If I had to pick my favorite of the series to this point Not So Done would bet my vote – maybe because I was “intimately” familiar with all the characters and what they all seemed capable of accomplishing. However, there were a few instances where character exhibited new traits that took me by complete surprise. Once again, the technology from the story left me hoping that we never deploy anything like this in my lifetime.

Along with this being a story built in a very original fashion around technology that if it exists is frightening to say the least, Daniel Greenberg does an excellent job bringing the characters and story to life through his narration. I intend on looking for more books Mr. Greenburg has narrated when I’ve finished this Trilogy.

Furthermore, I’ll be actively looking at more books by Charles Levine to see what other tales he has created.

Almost unbelievable

It’s almost unbelievable that the technology mentioned in these novels actually exists Charles Levin has used this to create an “edge of your seat” series that takes place at breakneck speed The narrator was excellent with his many foreign pronunciations and the pace he used to tell the stories. I appreciated Levin’s after story notes as they gave additional insight into the novels. If you like thoughtful adventure, suspense and intrigue, don’t miss this excellently narrated trilogy.

An enjoyable, unique 4 1/2 star read

Not So Dead: A Sam Sunborn Novel (Sam Sunborn, #1), my first read from author Charles Levin. An enjoyable 315-page/7-hour 18-minute high-powered techno-thriller. In places reminiscent of Nelson DeMille. ”

NOT SO GONE: A Sam Sunborn Novel (Sam Sunborn, #2), my second read from author Charles Levin. An enjoyable 467-page/10-hour 35-minute high-powered techno-thriller.

NOT SO DONE: A Sam Sunborn Novel (Sam Sunborn, #3), my third read from author Charles Levin. An enjoyable 330-page/9-hour 14-minute high-powered techno-thriller. ” I received a free Audible copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review." The gifting of this book did not affect my opinion of it. I look forward to reading more from this author. Next up, Still Not Dead: A Sam Sunborn Novel. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018).

Gripping - I couldn't stop listening

I've followed this series from its inception - it's gripping I just had to keep listening!

Not So Dead - Before I write my review of this book I have to admit to several things, I'm not a hi-tech person. I can use my laptop, my tablet and phone but sometimes I have to ask my grandson for help! So the premise of this book was and still is way out of my comfort zone but that in no way limited my enjoyment of this wonderfully engrossing and exciting story.

Sam Sunborn is a techno person, he runs a company that works in cyberspace, he employs geeks for want of a better word. He meets and forms an alliance with Frank Einstein, yes Einstein. Together with Sam's team, they begin to develop a way of digitizing people's personalities. Why? Well, the idea stemmed from a program allowing people to upload memories of loved ones after their deaths, rather like a perpetual memorial. The next step - upload the person's personality and make it possible for friends and family to still be able to communicate with their loved ones as well as the deceased person being able to watch and interact with his family and friends via the technology of the cloud. The idea itself is perfectly harmless and helpful even … that is until terrorists become involved.

When terrorists attack their lab and kill Frank the story takes off. The baddie in this story is The Leopard, his plan is to destroy western civilisation. He is a cold-blooded terrorist who has no compunction against killing anyone, even members of his own team and what he plans will make the attacks of 9/11 seem like small change.

Sam helped by the digitised Frank along with his team, and people from the police and DHS work together to foil the plans of the Leopard. The story takes you on a real rollercoaster of a ride and will in places take your breath away. There are so many twists and turns to the story that just when you think you know what is going to happen, you guessed it, the story goes in a totally different direction.

I NEVER GIVE SPOILERS especially to a book like this one but what I will say is that I can not stress enough how much I enjoyed this book or how engrossed I became in the story. The writing style was excellent, so much so that even a person with little or no digital knowledge could still follow along and enjoy this gripping tale.

The end of the book whilst not a cliffhanger leaves the door open for more which I for one really want to experience.

Not So Gone - This second standalone book in the Sam Sunborn series of cutting-edge techno-thriller series has lots of heart-pounding action, mind-bending inventions, and terrifying evil villains.

It's an incredible story that is every bit as gripping and exciting as its predecessor, Not So Dead in this sequel, Sam Sunborn has to rescue Evan his 11-year-old son from the clutches of The Cub, an insanely demonic sadistic terrorist whose main aim in life is to avenge the death of his brother La Salam aka The Leopard whose own plan was thwarted by Frank, Sam and the team in Not So Gone resulting in the deaths of La Salam and the supposed death of The Cub himself. A task that is even more complicated than it sounds because technically Sam is dead, well his body is dead, but his mind, his intelligence, his very essence is alive and well, living and working still in the Cloud alongside Frank Enstine our resident genius.

The Cub wants to cause the deaths of millions he also wants to cause as much panic and disruption to the United States, as possible but it won't be contained to the United States this plan will have global consequences and will if it works, make all previous terror attacks on the United States look minor. His plot is even more twisted and imaginative than The Leopards. So how will Sam, Frank, and Homeland Security agents, Michelle Hadar and Rich Little and the rest of the team, stop him?

Firstly Sam needs a body to enable his re-emergence from his virtual state, that's assuming that our resident genius Frank can think of a way to get Sam's very essence/memories and intelligence into one, but whose body? Both Frank and Sam have high moral standards and neither of them is willing to cause the virtual death of a person so they can implant Sam, they are faced with a true moral dilemma! Our genius hero Frank Einstein decides to put Sam into the body of an inmate from the Guadalajara Asylum for the Criminally Insane, a man who effectively has no real life to live. What happens next and how things go for Sam and the rest of our unlikely heroes is a gripping exhilarating rollercoaster which I for one could not stop listening to.

Not So Done - This third book in the Sam Sunburn series blew me away, it felt so frighteningly real and had me totally hooked from beginning to end. It's a fast-paced thriller from beginning to end so be prepared to put everything else aside while you listen to this one.

Sam and Frank learn that The Leopard has returned using Frank's body transferring technology and has a nefarious scheme to exact his revenge, will they be able to stop him? There is also another threat from the Leopard's sister, an equally brilliant and determined terrorist, who has enlisted the help of a group of white nationalists to carry out her plan to spread a killer virus which makes COVID 19 look like the common cold. So Sam, Frank, Rich and the rest of his friends from DHS and other law-enforcement agencies need to discover who/where the Leopard is, then stop him and his army of body-jacked soldiers from taking over the country and then the western world. While at the same time trying to stop his body-jacked army as well as tracking down his sister and trying to stop the virus from indiscriminately killing millions. If that's not enough Sam also has to deal with marital troubles as Monica informs him enough is enough and she's leaving him, I have to say her attitude was quite irrational and annoying most of the time.

I've already said that I'm not into tech, but the tech in this story is explained well and in a way, I found it easy to follow. The body-jacking and pathogen scenarios feel frighteningly real. At the start of the story the author informs us that nearly all technology in the book is real with very little fiction, what's more, he provided links at the end for the reader to check on their own.

The narration is performed by Daniel Greenberg who has done a wonderful job on all three books in this series. The story remains topical of current events and has caused me to wonder, what if?

I was given a copy of this audiobook as a gift and am voluntarily writing my review.

Fascinating, thought-provoking techo-thriller

NOT SO DEAD
I enjoyed it, terribly. The premise is fantastic, the plot really good and, even when I knew what was coming, the ending still managed to surprise me.

I loved the concept of a full personality uploaded on the net, and how this would affect that personality. I found really interesting the idea that these virtual persons would still be suffering from their mental issues, and the way in which Frank Einstein deals with it (No, seriously, that's his name :P). But he has been thinking about it for a long time:
“Let me just rattle off a few. Who would get the privilege of being digitally or virtually immortal? Who decides? How much does it cost? What if a DigiPerson becomes sick mentally and becomes destructive? Who are the police, judge and jury? What about viruses?”

My head was already spinning and all I could muster was, “Oh…I had not thought about those things.”

He continued. “Another thing. Would the person be completely digital or would she at least retain the sense of a physical self?”

He seemed to be gathering steam. “Here’s my ‘favorite.’ What if somebody creates multiple instances of themselves? How do they coexist? What kind of problems would multiple ‘yous’ cause? We know twins or even clones aren’t exact matches and diverge immediately from being real copies of their counterparts the minute they are born. But the kind of copies we are talking about are exact. I think these and many more problems need to be solved before we let the genie out, or it could literally destroy the world as we know it.”

He took a breath. “I’m not sure who’s competent to solve these problems, who doesn’t have a special interest. If you tell the government, i.e. my bosses, they’ll think about how to make a weapon out of it. If you tell the university, who knows what they’ll do. From a business perspective, it’s worth billions. Now you know why I have been acting strangely.”


This is a fascinating thriller, fast-paced and filled with action but it's also a thought-provoking, captivating tale about what make us human, about our dependence on technology and by the end I find myself wondering, as San Sunborn does, what's next?

NOT SO GONE
the story is great, and I really liked the ethical issues that are brought by this new... technology? I'm not really sure it's technology what we are talking here. It's something so new and different that it's hard to categorize.

The characters, particularly the secondary ones, those that found themselves in something bigger and a lot more radical than what they thought at the beginning, are very well presented and it's easy to see how they ended there. And, surprisingly, I found myself sympathizing a lot with Juan :D

NOT SO DONE
Sam and The Leopard are 'alive' again, in a development that, as one of the characters says, moves this from science-fiction to dystopian future. Although I'm nothing if I'm not old school, so I'd call it CyberPunk :P

Dual threats, non-stop action and old and new characters running against time made this story impossible to put down even for a second.

Original, challenging, exciting and pushing the limits of both reality and ethics, this third instalment of the series doesn't disappoint.

Daniel Greenberg 's narration is truly great, a big range of different voices, all of them easy to individualize, and all of them nice to the ear. Which is not an easy feat with so many characters. Kudos to you, Mr Greenberg!

A Rather Scary Peek Into The Near Future!

This trilogy is very well written, the characters could be people you know, and the storyline absolutely riveting! I'm glad to have the trilogy on audiobook, as I couldn't tear my self away! What makes this so thought provoking is that the entire storyline could easily be something that shows up in the news! Much of this reads like a prophecy as very similar events have already taken place (in one form or another). Not to mention that there is ongoing research into how to digitize the human mind! Both extremely entertaining AND thought provoking at the same time!

A gripping series!

This absolutely thrilling trilogy deals with incredible technology and how it comes into play in some terrorist plots. Each story can certainly stand on its own, but when listened to in order, you’re in for a real treat. I was on the edge of my seat throughout!

Charles Levin did an incredible job with his research for this series. He accurately described the technology that is currently available, and, in my opinion, presents some that will probably be available in our very near future. The personal note shared at the end certainly put some things in perspective.

Daniel Greenberg’s performance was outstanding. His pacing and timing were spot on. I really felt like I was experiencing everything that was happening.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

Suspenseful

Sam is one of a kind when it comes to solving mysteries. Intrigue, fast paced, page turning suspense. The Narrator definitely made all of this come true.

Excellent interpretation of “cloning” into the fut

Trilogy is great- even for a NON-sci-fic guru like myself.
The plot draws you in and the narrator’s smooth voice also helps.
Without giving too much away, series is about a group of scientists who are intent on proving cloning of brains but allowing physical body to perish.
The evil villains in series make it all the more exciting -
If you are looking for a chance to read about world denomination in a fun way- you will enjoy series.