The Abduction

By: James Grippando

Narrated by: Paul Hecht

US Attorney General Allison Leahy is the Democrats' best chance for holding on to the Oval Office. But she's running neck and neck with her opponent, Republican Lincoln Howe, a retired four-star general and bona fide African American hero. Then, days before the election, disaster strikes.

Twelve-year-old Kristen Howe, the general's granddaughter, is kidnapped. As the nation's leading law enforcement officer, Allison launches a nationwide manhunt - even as her opponent publicly questions her motives. For Allison, though, finding Kristen isn't about politics. It's a personal crusade that taps in to terrifying secrets buried deep within the past - secrets that can shatter all of Allison's hopes, twisting them into a nightmare of lies and the ultimate betrayal.

©2008 James Grippando (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Okay but narrator is not the best

Not my favorite James Grippando but it was interesting enough. My primary issue was with the narrator. He has odd pronunciations of a few words, including “grimace” which was used an inordinate number of times in this book. It was like nails on a chalkboard every time he said the word.

Pronunciation of grimaced drive me nuts!

First of, this author uses the word grimaced about 100 times (maybe more) in this book and the narrator pronouncing it grim ACED, was so ridiculous I couldn’t stand it! The story/plot are ok, nothing super great, I finished only because I had the time invested.

Just Okay… and the narrator cannot pronounce “grimaced”.

I really like this author but this was clearly an early book and without much of the wit and wisdom I’d usually expect from him.

And I can’t believe no one has corrected the 30+ times the narrator mispronounced the word “grimaced”. If you want to emphasize how much a word is over-used in one book, say it wrong every time!

Terrible narration

The narrator kept misprounancing all forms of the word grimace as "grimayce." It was very distracting and annoying. I would grimayce every time I heard it, and there was a lot of grimaycing in the novel. I don't understand how a professional narrator did not know how to say such a simple word correctly, and why the audible book was not edited to correct mistakes. I feel sorry for Gripando that it spoiled what was otherwise a great story.

teach Paul Hecht to pronounce "grimace!"

James Grippando should put out a hit on this narrator. His repeated use of grimace only stands out as a flaw in his writing because the narrator mispronounced it over and over and over and over. Story was good, but listening was maddening by the end.

Narrator drove me crazy!

The story was good. Lots of twists! The narrator, however, was awful! There was no emotion whatsoever, and I thought if he mispronounced "grimace" one more time, I was going to scream! There a few other words he screwed up too. Was very distracting!

Very Engaging

Good depth of characters. Depicts the crazy political and selfish world of today. While the author over used the word grimace and the reader mispronounced it, I could overlook the blunder because the story outshined the error.

Lanora Wright , Texas

Outstanding political mystery/thriller!

Author James Grippando is best known for his legal thrillers in the Jack Swytek series. This novel, published in 1998, is about the fictional year 2000 US presidential election. The publisher's summary sets it up well. Narration by Paul Hecht is excellent. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Good story

Yes grimaced was mispronounced several times but the story and the reading were still excellent. Perhaps it should have been picked up by the director along with the chapter changes. I still live the readers voice

I 'grimaced' listening to it

I've listened to many many audible books and never felt compelled to write a review until now. The book was good but I learned very quickly that the other reviewers were not exaggerating when they described the horrors of listening to this narrator (mis) pronounce the word 'grimace.' OMG. Why the author had to use that word so much in this one book is beyond me, but if you can somehow get past that annoyance throughout the book, you may enjoy the story.