The Orpheus Deception

By: David Stone

Narrated by: Erik Davies

CIA cleaner Micah Dalton returns for another go-round of the international espionage, government cover-ups, and high-intensity pursuit that have cemented this series in the best of spy fiction.

©2008 David Stone (P)2008 Penguin

Almost as good

Almost as good as The Echelon Vendetta which was a six star book. I found that changing the narrator took away from this book. But this narrator was not bad, I liked the narrator for Echelon better.
David Stone is a quality writer he just needs to write more.
Vince Flynn has competition!
Stone, if you read this, get busy!

The Orpheus Deception

Let me get start by saying...The book was great! The Echelon Vendetta (an excellent novel) had the listner on the edge throughout the book, you only knew as much as Micah did on his quest. Orpheus was a tad bit leading and rehearsed, except for a brilliant beginning. I perfered the first narriator Bamji, he had more range than Davies who warmed up towards the middle of the book. I want to see more of Captain Dalton.

Just as intense as reading a recipe for soup.

The plot is good. The style of writing kept moving from location to location which kept my attention.

The story does NOT involve the reader enough to really care about the characters or the love interests.
Emotionally I was neutral towards both the heros and the villians...

Many better espionage/thrillers books to listen to on Audible before choosing this one.

Try the following authors: (un-ordered list)

Vince Flynn
Lee Child
Nelson DeMille
Daniel Silva
Robert Littell
David Baldacci
Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

If you are looking for a 6 star (book on a 5 star scale) gripping story about a couple of soldiers which is very intense. Read Brother Fish by Bryce Courtenay.

Publisher's description of Brother Fish is vague, and the title of the book is not exciting but give this book a try!

...Shriek Only Audible to Nancy Pelosi's Hearing

What did you like best about The Orpheus Deception? What did you like least?

Sigh. Another one of these books wherein a conservative author shouts his politics at you. There were so many of these cheap shots (don't get between Al Gore and a ham sandwich, harder to find than Michael Moore's neck, etc.) that it really got tedious and completely distracting. FWIW, at least he's not yet gone the full Michael Crichton (State of Fear) and turn a "novel" into nothing more than an Atlas Shrugged-type of political manifesto (Vince Flynn has came close in Extreme Measures).

Anyway, there is a story buried in here and it's actually not that bad though somewhat overly convuluted, anticlimatic and lacking in action (compared to the first Dalton), but still not a bad listen or a complete waste of time.

Another gripping plot by David Stone

I wish he would write more Micah Dalton sequels.
Narration wonderful too. I have to confess I enjoy them the second time around as well.

Disappointing after Echelon

After being very impressed with "Echelon Vendetta", I couldn't wait to read this one. However, this book is not nearly as good. They both have nice long twisting story lines, but this book feels like the author didn't spend near enough time on developing and refining the moving parts. Characters and dialogue are thin. The book has at least 4 characters portrayed as sexual deviants... a little too much focus in that area.

A bit disappointed...

I had high hopes for this sequel to the Echelon Vendetta, as I truly enjoyed that one. I was a bit worried about the new narrator, as the one they used on Echelon was fantastic. However the new narrator was pretty great too.

Unfortunately the story, although a basically good spy novel, left a lot to be desired. The dialogue was not as strong, not as smart and devoid of the humor that made the Echelon Vendetta so great. Also, the author seemed to try and get barbs in against Democrats every chance he got. Hey, I'd concede that most spies are probably no fans of liberals, but the jokes seemed petty and gratituous -- they didn't really flow with the dialogue, like someone went in after the book was done and added them in. He also seemed to despise every Eastern country the characters visited, the way they're described. It makes for a stark contrast to the beautiful depictions of the Western US that he gave us in the last novel. If the author was going for dark, depressing and bitter, he definitely achieved it! Overall, I would highly recommend The Echelon Vendetta, but The Orpheus Deception was a bit of a let down.

pass on this weak writing

IF you take out the lame political jokes and the fortutuitous use of nigger or sand nigger to describe Somali pirates this could be a good listen. But I have to agree with other reviews that none of this adds one iota to the story pretty lame writing.