The Devil’s Noose

Plague Walker Medical Thrillers, Book 1

By: Michael Angel

Narrated by: Kelly McGaw, Parker Burningham

A life-threatening microbe. A desperate scientist. Can she isolate the disease before terrorists obliterate the world?

Epidemiologist Leigh Austen can’t shake her lasting guilt. As the sole survivor of her team’s encounter with the Black Nile virus, Austen is tormented with memories of her colleagues' horrific deaths. But when an unknown pathogen annihilates an entire Asian village, she must bury the nightmares and step up to help prevent a worldwide epidemic.

Joined by doctors, specialists, and a retired special-forces officer, Austen travels to the hot-zone epicenter a mile beneath the city’s surface. But with a crazed microbiologist and a former Soviet soldier after the dangerous organism, this scientist’s fight to save millions of lives could quickly cost her own…. Can Austen contain the killer strain before demented monsters unleash a deadly blight?

The Devil’s Noose is the suspenseful first book in the Plague Walker Medical Thrillers series. If you like intriguing mysteries, memorable characters, and science-based fiction, then you’ll love Michael Angel’s action-packed tale.

©2019 Banty Hen Publishing (P)2023 Royal Guard Publishing LLC

Awesome!

I really enjoyed this audiobook. It reminds me of the last of us on HBO sort of ,except there was so much more in this story and so many characters and the twists. The narration was great the accents spot on.

Fascinating plot

Multiple storylines and complex characters. Fascinating plot twists, with several cultures, diverse voicings and switching alliances.

A very good thriller

This is a fast-paced, entertaining thriller, with lots of action and funny characters. Although I must say this is not a medical thriller. Just because there are people from the World Health Organization doesn't mean there is a medical issue., really. It's more of a scientific thriller IMHO.

Other than that, this is the perfect read when you want something that will keep you amused with not a lot of effort on your part. It's easy to follow and has the exact amount of humour to cut excessive tension.

And even when there is not a cliffhanger (the book is self-contained) there is a thread left loose that I bet will be the starting point in the next books of the series.

The narration is good, and I liked that there were two narrators, one female and one male. That made listening to the story easier and more enjoyable.

All in all, a good story, worthy of your time.

One virus can change everything

Received as an audio review copy from Story Origin, this is an honest review. Exceptionally narrated by Kelly McGaw and Parker Burningham as both truly together elevate this intelligent thriller to an intense level. With a terrifying out break of a deadly pathogen, epidemiologist Leigh Austen finds her entering a battle ground of clashing agendas: as she and the World Health want to clamp down in a virus that's exploding in land once a part of the Soviet Republic and those whom view the virus as a tool to bring things to a new order of controlling the world. A in your face race against the clock with haunting, dire consequences.

Definitely highly recommended.

Entertaining!

This was my first Michael Angel's book. This is the first book in the Plague Walker Medical Thrillers series. The story original and captivating. The characters are well developed and intriguing. The storyline is fast-paced, action packed, and suspenseful. Kelly McGaw and Parker Burningham did a great job bringing this story to life. #StoryOrigin

Read or listen, this is a fun story!

I enjoy reading medical thrillers that have some good science behind them along with a healthy dose of imagination to propel the story into a good action/adventure tale and when there are interesting and diverse characters thrown in, it is a win in my book. This story held my attention from start to finish and I came away from it wondering what the author would dream up next – I consider that a good sign. I could easily have done without the dog/wolf fight scene but, aside from that, I found the story very enjoyable, the characters engaging, and the plot just the right combination of science and fiction with just a dash of outright horror. I chose to read along while listening to the audiobook version of this story and while I felt the story was quite entertaining, I felt the narration fell just a bit short. Some of the accents were a little over the top and there were several mispronunciations - mostly medical/scientific terms but also some common words like “agate”. At one point, “wearily” was pronounced as “warily” and soon after, “wary” was pronounced as “weary” – in truth I probably would not have caught that had I not been reading along as I listened, but that particular passage makes more sense the way it is written rather than the way it was read. For me, the most objectionable part of the narration was the way the onomatopoeic words were delivered. Every “thwack” or “plop” or “ping” was overly emphasized and pronounced as an imitation of the sound. While that type of delivery could have worked in a few places, for the most part it did nothing to enhance the listening experience, in my opinion. In all fairness, I did notice that the author italicized all these words in the book so, perhaps, he meant for them to be vocalized as an imitation of the sound but I felt, in most instances, it was disruptive to the narrative. On the positive side, I very much liked that there were two narrators – Kelly McGaw for all the female characters and Parker Burningham for the male characters. Often it is hard for one narrator to convincingly portray an individual of the opposite gender. Both narrators gave their all when it came to giving each character a unique voice, making it easy to keep the characters straight. Despite my criticisms regarding some aspects of the narration, I found this to be a very entertaining story and will be happy to dive into subsequent installments of this series.

While I did purchase a copy of this book, I was provided with a complimentary copy of the audiobook, for which I thank the author and StoryOrigin. My review, however, is completely honest and unbiased.

Excellent start to a new series!

Usually I listen to fantasy, scyfi, LitRPG, gamelit and Haremlit audiobooks. Sometimes though, you just need a break from your Go-To genres and listen to something different. I read The Hot Zone by Richard Preston over a decade ago and loved it. A pretty fast pace, science based, thriller of a book that kept me interested all the way through. This is just like that but with a subject matter that hits very close to home and deals with the monetary, military, commercial value of a virus or new bacteria. The team that was put together to investigate the deaths associated with this outbreak has to do so while dealing with political pressure, betrayal, espionage and murder.

I received a free code for this audiobook in exchange for an early and honest review. This is totally worth a credit.

How far should you trust what you see?

Recently I received a solicitation for a review copy of the Audiobook for The Devil’s Noose, after reading the description I realized I had read The Plague Walker, the prequel to this series, and had always wanted to read more stories of Leigh Austin, so I jumped on the opportunity to listen to this book. The Devil’s Noose is filled with action, intrigue, and plain old double dealing all presented through a cast of characters with their own demon’s or obvious shortcomings who make the story hard to put down. Along with a strong story line, having two narrators – Kelly McGraw and Parker Burningham -brings this story to life and breathes individual life into each of the characters. Kelly and Parker do an excellent job of playing off each other to the point if I closed my eyes, I could swear I was watching a movie. I received an audiobook review copy through StoryOrigin and chose to provide my review.

Excellent story

Great story. I really enjoyed listening to it. The narrators were perfect for their parts. Recommended!

Excellent read!

A fast-paced science/medical thriller adventure story. I know that's a lot of genres to toss out, but this story had something for everyone. I was involved and entertained for the duration of the recording because of the story as well as the brilliant dual narrating skills of Kelly McGaw and Parker Burningham. They worked well together.
Betrayal, politics, and mysteries abound. The cast of characters all had histories with one another and I liked their interactions. I hope to see more see more stories with these characters from Michael Angel.