The Lost Throne

Payne & Jones, Book 4

By: Chris Kuzneski

Narrated by: Dick Hill

In 1890, a man collapses near the Piazza della Santa Carita in Naples, Italy. Strangers manage to revive him, but he is unable to speak. Police carry him to the nearest hospital, where he is not admitted because he has no money or identification. Frantically trying to communicate, he scribbles notes in ancient Greek and German that would have told the world about a discovery of immense importance - if anyone had read them...

Reaching from the wonders of ancient Greece to a harrowing quest in modern-day Europe, The Lost Throne features Jonathon Payne and D. J. Jones former members of a top secret, very special unit of the armed forces. Now as private citizens they still get recruited from time to time for the most delicate - and dangerous - missions. Payne and Jones must race to recover the lost treasure that could rewrite history, before it is destroyed by a group of men who will stop at nothing to conceal the secret.

©2009 Chris Kuzneski (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Great Listen

Kuzneski has written a seriously non-formulaic actioner. The premise is pretty much hidden from the listener until well into the book, but that is not a problem since the action and the characters drive the plot. There's a compelling - real world/not so real world - mix of story lines which all converge without strain. I enjoyed The Lost Throne and will listen to more of Kuzneski (who uses his own name in a character's mispronounced reference to the unibomber - clever and funny).

Great!

I really love the character interactions with one another. Exiting story line. I would recommend the whole series.

very enjoyable

This is a great travel book, not too girly for the guys, enough likable charecters for the girls and a fast paced mystery for all.

High adventure, ancient secrets

What did you love best about The Lost Throne?

Chris Kuzenski shares some really interesting historical facts that I knew nothing about. So I learned some new things about ancient Greece and the Byzantine era. I also loved the non-stop action.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I loved the interaction between Payne and Jones. Lots of humor and a great team with an almost psychic bond that aids them in their adventures.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Dick Hill?

Unfortunately, some of my favorite writers use Dick Hill as a narrator. I don't care for his narrations, but what can you do? He is fine on "he-man" type of voices, but terrible on voices that require an accent or are another gender. They come out sounding whiney and squeaky and very annoying. It boggles my mind that he narrates so many books. I have actually returned some books that he completely ruined the story by his narration. In my opinion he ranks as one of the worst narrators.

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

High adventure and ancient secrets.

Any additional comments?

I had read a book several years back whose author and title I couldn't remember, but really loved. I searched around on Audible trying to find it and when I found that this one took place in Greece (which was the setting of the one I read before) I purchased it. When I had listened for awhile, it seemed to veer off to Russia and so I thought that I had purchased the wrong book and returned it. Later I did some research on the internet and found out that, indeed, this was the book. So I repurchased it and patiently progressed through it,until it returned to the setting in Greece ( Mount Athos) that I found so intriguing. I wasn't disappointed. This is one of the best adventure stories I've read/listened to and I will definitely purchase the others in the series. Besides lots of great history, non-stop action, globe trotting adventure, and interesting characters, there is lots of humor which is a must for me. The only down side is that it is narrated poorly.

The best Kuzneski yet

I liked this fourth Kuzneski thriller the best so far. I enjoyed the idea of using the Greek monastery from the James Bond movie "For Your Eyes Only" in the plot. Kuzneski brings two independent ongoing investigations of the same crime together in the story's exciting denouement. The relationship between the two main characters -- Jonathan Payne and David Jones -- has developed since the beginning of the series, so that they not only save the world, but provide comic relief in the process. Even Dick Hill's reading, which previously annoyed me in earlier audiobooks, has improved. He is now providing excellent voices and accents without over-acting the way he used to. Altogether, I recommend "The Lost Throne" to anyone who likes well-researched, well-written thrillers.

Messy trip through Europe

Dick Hill and Chris Kuzneski team up to produce a darn good historical thriller. Rather than the usual Catholic church related intrigues of many contemporary thrillers, this one takes place all over Europe excluding Italy. As such, it lends itself to abit more interest, learning and fun.
Somewhat violent in places, it held my interest to the end, and the narration is up to Hill's usual fine standards.
Worth it for what it is for , which is entertainment!

Worth the read!

This book is fast paced and has the cool historical/conspiracy aspects to it much like Dan Browns novels...though you don't fall in love with the characters as much as Browns...

The best Kuzneski yet

I liked this fourth Kuzneski thriller the best so far. I enjoyed the idea of using the Greek monastery from the James Bond movie "For Your Eyes Only" in the plot. Kuzneski brings two independent ongoing investigations of the same crime together in the story's exciting denouement. The relationship between the two main characters -- Jonathan Payne and David Jones -- has developed since the beginning of the series, so that they not only save the world, but provide comic relief in the process. Even Dick Hill's reading, which previously annoyed me in earlier audiobooks, has improved. He is now providing excellent voices and accents without over-acting the way he used to. Altogether, I recommend "The Lost Throne" to anyone who likes well-researched, well-written thrillers.

Good easy listening mystery

Despite a few places where the violence and gore are a little too much for my tastes, this was an easy, enjoyable listen.
No great literature; it won't change your life, but if you have some tedious task to preform (I was loading a kiln) it will improve the experience.
The narrator was good and character voices were distinct which helps me follow the dialogue and change in location.

Half thrilling mystery; Half boring history text

Kusneski can spin some odd and wonderful plot lines and has a fertile imagination. His stories are like nothing I've listened to before. On one hand he's on a par with the likes of David Baldacci, John Sandford and Lee Child. The problem I have listening is his compulsive need to inundate the reader with more history and facts (assuming they are true) than anyone wants or needs to know. He can't go 5 paragraphs before we find ourselves reading yet another boring history fact about every single person, place or event. The old expression, I ask for the time and he tells me how to make a watch, is very evident in every one of his novels. His 11 hour average length could be (and should have been) edited down to 7 hours and the reader would miss nothing in the plot. How or why his editors don't take note of that is beyond me, Because it starts early on in the books and continues all the way though it. He can't just have a character walk into a restaurant and enjoy a meal. Oh no... He has to tell you the history of the place and then the history of the owners and where they came from. In a previous novel, he had the characters come upon a tourist shuttle where they could hear the tour guide giving the riders his speil and then proceeded to recite, for the next 8 pages, exactly what the tour guide said. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the plot. It adds nothing to the story. You can't just pull up to the gate of a monastery. You have to hear the 200 year history of where it came from and how it was built, His characters can't just walk by a statue standing in a corner of the room. We have to hear who it is and how it got there and how many years it was in storage before it was placed out in public. It gets old quickly. The only saving grace is the plot and the characters. More than once I have been tempted to click "mark as finished" and move on because I came to be entertained, not to sit in a college history professor's lecture. The fact he is/was a high school teacher might explain his compulsive need to inform rather than tell, but hopefully, he will get that out of his system and go back to the basics of writing. He should read the very authors I mentioned to see how the masters craft the plot without being unduly tedious in the telling. I don't care what a box looks like from all four sides and I especially don't need the next 5 pages describing every single mark and scratch on it. It's not relevant to the story. It's as if he's getting paid by the word. I get it. He does research and he wants to push it up the reader's nose. I like the story lines from the first three I read (The Plantation, not so much) but when I find myself talking to the book as I'm driving telling it to "get on with it already", it may be time to Kusneski back on the shelf.