The Assassins

By: Gayle Lynds

Narrated by: Kate Reading

In 2003, in the chaos surrounding the Iraq War and the fall of Baghdad, a team of top freelance assassins infiltrates and then escapes the country with a near priceless treasure. Since then there's been barely a whisper of a rumor of those men, the treasure, and what it actually means.

A decade later Judd Ryder returns to the DC area from a covert operation in Iraq to see his doppelganger across the street, a man who is wearing his clothes, living in his house, and pretending to be him. Just as he's about to confront him, Ryder watches as his double is killed in an all-too-convenient car accident. Not only was someone pretending to be him, someone else wanted to kill him.

As he soon learns, the key to all of this is a legendary Cold War freelance assassin known as the Carnivore. Ryder and his colleague, Eva Blake, were the last two people known to have had contact with him. Now someone is trying to use them to lure the Carnivore out of retirement or hiding, wherever he might be. At stake appears to be a treasure of unimaginable value. And the players are the most dangerous freelancers on the world stage.

Now Ryder and Blake must use every resource at their disposal to outmaneuver the forces allied against them, stay alive, and, if possible, uncover the truth that lurks in the shadows of this deadly game of assassins.

©2015 Gayle Lynds (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Non Stop Action

Would you consider the audio edition of The Assassins to be better than the print version?

Yes

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes, very fast-paced and highly entertaining

Which character – as performed by Kate Reading – was your favorite?

The Carnivore

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

Watch your back

Any additional comments?

A very fast-paced Action Adventure Thriller with great characters that will keep you listening from start to finish. Gayle Lynds is a master of the Thriller and Spy genres.

Story is all over the place

This story bounces around and for a group of Assassins to get kill so easy and nonchalantly, it takes away how good these guys are suppose to be. Read another book, you will not enjoy this one.

Excellent Story & Performance!

Excellent story and performance I truly enjoyed your work both of you thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Jeremy B. Conner

this book will entertain you.

excellent story. kept me glued to my earphones.
was well reserached. the characters were real and the dialogue spot on.

Interesting premise but poor execution

Didn't relate to any characters. Implausible dialogue. Stakes that didn't matter. And I normally love Kate Redding but it seemed even she couldn't get into this story.

Enough Already!!

Torturous Cliché Riddled Junk!

Do Americans really say "arse" . . . ?

As lame and convoluted as this espionage fantasy may be, what I really take exception to is the serendipitous way people die in this novel.

Faces and heads explode and lives wink out with all the care and consideration and feeling of a light bulb being switched off.

With so many real people dying in real churches and real movie theaters and real school buildings . . . I find myself objecting to the casual, carnal mayhem, Ms Lynds so cavalierly imagines all across this pointless piece of garbage.

Maybe I've just grown up to the point where I don't find this kind of stuff entertaining anymore.

Cannot recommend

I chose this for a reading challenge that included the category of "espionage thriller." I was intrigued by the idea of a female author. However, this is badly written, even for a genre that is not known for high literature. There are words used incorrectly and full sentences that make no sense, and of course a couple of plot holes and a continuity issue. Unfortunately, the reader makes many missteps as well -- her reading of Judd makes him sound like a cousin to Spicoli, from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and everyone of Middle Eastern or Eastern European descent sounds alike. It was a chore just to finish it; I would not have if not for the reading challenge.