The Damaged

Jonathan Quinn, Book 13

By: Brett Battles

Narrated by: Scott Brick

From USA Today best-selling author Brett Battles comes another exciting adventure in his award winning Jonathan Quinn thriller series.

Jonathan Quinn is the best at what he does: making bodies disappear. Within the espionage world, his reputation is impeccable.

There was a time, though, when that reputation was still being built under his mentor, Durrie. A time when the very man who had taught Quinn all he knew could have derailed the young cleaner’s future.

Fifteen years ago, Quinn was offered a job. On the surface, a straightforward mission to stop a terrorist. But the client gave Quinn the additional task of taking on Durrie as his number two, as a last chance for the veteran agent to be rehabilitated.

Durrie had been on a downward spiral, going from being a highly respected operative to an unreliable has-been. These changes threatened to destroy everything - not only in Quinn’s life, but Orlando’s, too. She was Durrie’s girlfriend, and Quinn’s best friend.

Both she and Quinn were desperate to help Durrie return to the person he once was. They hoped this job would be the answer.

Durrie had other plans.

©2019 Brett Battles (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

least enjoyable book in this series

Disappointed in this prequel book. ok story but characters less developed than in the past books. And ending was abrupt and unsatisfactory. Recommend moving this in sequence to its proper chronological order and giving it a x.05 designation.

Brett Battles and Scott Brick

There are a lot of good writers out and, to a lesser degree, some good readers. But Battles and Brick together tell stories every bit as well as any of them out there. For anyone who loves listening to Clancy’s stories about the Campus and Jack Ryan Jr., the Jonathan Quinn novels read by Brick are just the fix you need. I have listened to them all in order and you feel connected to the strong characters that Battles has created. And the stories make it hard to listen only an hour or so at a time. If you want stories that are hard to put down or turn off, Battles has written them and Brick has read them. Can’t wait to listen to the next one….The Unknown. Rod C

Filing in the earlier time!

All series by Brett Battles are addictive! THE DAMAGED is the second out of chronological order novel in the Jonathan Quinn series. The first was Becoming Quinn which was about his introduction to his mentor Durrie. This one occurs years later when Quinn is on his own and is called to help his former mentor who has gone off the deep end. The Damaged also fills in some of the early Quinn interaction with Orlando. For a listener who is just beginning the Quinn series I recommend listening to Becoming Quinn followed by The Damaged and then moving on to other novels in the series. But the series can be listened to in any order. Narration by Scott Brick is stellar as usual for him. I very highly recommend this novel.

I joined Audible in December 2006. The third novel I purchased, from an author I had never heard of, was The Cleaner which is Book 1 in the Jonathan Quinn series. Since then I have purchased 33 other audio books by Brett Battles. I have never been disappointed.

The Damaged was released in paperback and Kindle versions on July 9 (over 4 months ago) and I have been waiting for the audio book release. I purchased the Kindle version the day it was released so I have been aware of the plot since mid-July.

All of Brett Battles novels except for the Project Eden series can be listened to as standalone. The 7 novel Project Eden series must be listened to in order.

Another terrific story from Battles

The revenge tale behind this is so good. I continually get lulled into his stories (and Scott Brick is just the best reader). The backstory, and the quest for justice here propel the story forward. I'm addicted to Quinn and all the supporting characters for me are at this point, alive in my mind.

Already looking forward to the next Night Man Chronicles (I've already devoured The Vanished in print, so I'm up to date).

Backstory to Book 1

This is the backstory to Book 1, but I would not recommend reading this book first. I suggest reading Becoming Quinn, then all of the other books in order. Reading this book first will spoil parts of Book 1.

I have enjoyed most all of the books in this series, however this one was slow and not suspenseful. If you have read Book 1, then you know how this story ends. The ending tried to explain Orlando's reaction to Quinn, but it wasn't very satisfying. The story definitely shows how unstable Durrie had become in both his personal and professional life. Paranoid barely begins to describe the man.

I understand why the author wanted to write this short book in order to fill in some details from Book 1, but I wish there had been a little more action and substance to it. If there were half stars, I would have rated this 3.5 stars. I rounded up because I like the series and the author.

Brick did a good job like he has done for all of the books in this series, but I did think some of his characters sounded the same. Sometimes there was not a lot of distinction between Quinn's and Durrie's voices.

As a fan of this series

I completely enjoyed this every bit as much as the others! Very well done, I really like that the people are realistic, as is the story line. Not many action/adventure stories are, this isn’t at all over the top and that makes it all the more enjoyable. Mr. Brick as always delivers a stellar performance. Thank you both!

Great read!

I didn’t think I’d enjoy anything quite as much as this book and was a little confused at first thinking “How did I miss this book?” Until I realized it was a prequel! Great background on Dury and Quin and no one, absolutely no one, narrates as good as Scott Brick!

Another great Quinn addition

If you enjoyed the other Quinn books you will learn a lot from this one. Keep them coming.

Back to the beginning...

For anyone who is a fan of the Jonathan Quinn series. We all know about Durrie, Quinn’s mentor. For anyone who is not a fan I would suggest listening to this book after the prequel BECOMING QUINN. This is the missing story about the fallout between Quinn and Durrie and the beginning of Quinn and Orlando. Excellent story. Durrie was one messed up guy who couldn’t tell the difference between his friends and enemies. Betrayal at it’s finest!
Scott Brick does an excellent job narrating.
This book has my HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.
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Good book and narration..

This really was more of a romance than a usual Quinn book, but I liked it, and didn’t like it. I always liked Durrie but in this one he’s a complete jerk. I know it’s from his bump on the head, but he’s still a jerk. And Orlando was an jerk too. She blamed Quinn for what she thought happened and it wasn’t Quinn’s fault. This was not a favorite Quinn book, but it was still good.

No sex! And no swearing to speak of, which makes the book less exciting. So many bad guys and no serious swearing? Never gonna happen in real life.

As to the narration: Love Scott Brick but he really has to practice his female voices. He doesn’t change his tone at all when Orlando talks. Otherwise, he’s awesome.