Official Secrets

Novak and Mitchell, Book 1

By: Andrew Raymond

Narrated by: Toby Longworth

After a devastating political assassination, two journalists stand between the truth and a conspiracy that will shock the world.

Tom Novak and Stella Mitchell are covering the aftermath of a chilling terror attack on the British Prime Minister and the US Secretary of Defense. But the further the American and English duo investigate, the more holes they find in the official version of events.

When they link the attack to a series of suspicious deaths the night before, Novak and Mitchell find themselves the next targets in an extraordinary conspiracy involving the White House, the British government, and a shadowy deep-state organization.

With help from a maverick CIA officer and a whistleblower within British Intelligence, Novak and Mitchell must risk everything to track down the one source who can break their story and expose the shocking truth. On the run for their lives, they will find out just how far those in power are willing to go to preserve their secrets...

An Amazon UK No.1 bestseller for three straight months, Official Secrets is packed with globetrotting action and rollercoaster twists. If you like David Baldacci and BBC's Line of Duty and Bodyguard, this addictive series will leave you telling yourself ‘just one more page'.

©2018 Andrew Raymond (P)2022 W F Howes

Exceptional

I enjoyed this book tremendously and will listen to the other installments in the series. This is a complex story with multiple story lines working in concert to create a really gripping and fast paced book. I felt as though I didn’t get a chance to connect with the main characters to any extent, as only a smattering of back story is presented and we don’t get any “inner dialog” from anyone. Although the decision Novak makes at the end of the book does allude to the existence of a morality.
This performance is extremely well done! It’s a real pleasure for me as I’m a listener unwilling to endure horrible narration.

Enjoyed

I’m not a fan of political thrillers, but I really like the author so I thought I would try it. It was very good.

Fast moving read

The first few chapters were hard to keep all of the details in line, but then the story took off. Excellent.

wow. just….wow!

there’s so much going on in this book that i feel like there should be an appendix of characters and the agencies for whom they work. otherwise, it’s just an incredible novel. (it lost one story star because there were emotionally manipulative bits and i don’t care for being managed.

Absolutely awesome

This was an excellent listen. The story was interesting, the characters well developed and the narration top notch. My only quibble was when the author wrote: "semi-automatic submachinegun." But the story was so good this funny mistake evaporated faster than a glass of 16 year scotch set in front of me after dinner.

Great book!

Exciting and technically correct all the way through. Great narrator keeps a fast pace going. The tough CIA guy has a Southern American accent though--not Mid-Western.

Ending lays way for a sequel with the reveal in court.

Fun and twisted chracters.

looking forward to the next book now that the characters and stage are set!

good

The story is good, but narration is awful. I don't like his voice first of all and some mispronounced words and names are a problem. Mary Land instead of Maryland is one glaring example. I have caught up to all of my favorite authors so I have been looking for others. This is a one time thing here. Just not my thing.

Underwhelming ending

Lacking a satisfactory ending. I was hoping for a more dramatic ending. Boring ending in my book.