Audiobook Review: The Librarian by Judith A. Barrett

The Librarian
Author: Judith A. Barrett

Narrator: Virtual Voice
Series: Maggie Sloan Thriller Series (Book 1)
Publication: Wobbly Creek, LLC (February 4, 2019)

Length: 10 hours and 20 minutes

Description: Vigilante Justice: Librarian Style

Maggie was a quiet librarian until a heartbreaking murder woke something dangerous inside her. Now she’s out for blood, not for herself, but for those who deserve justice.

She survives an explosion and begins the slow process of healing with the help of her unusual team. When her world is shattered by a heart-wrenching murder, Maggie's team trains her to fight to win, whatever the cost.

Her grief and rage transform her from prey to relentless hunter, and her brilliant observational talents threaten a complex criminal scheme.

As Maggie closes in on the truth, she realizes she's on the trail of a mastermind, a dark puppeteer of serial killers, whose intellect threatens to match her own. It all comes down to kill or be killed.

My Thoughts: The first Maggie Sloan thriller begins when she is a small child who wants to grow up to be a spy. She wants to wear black - an unusual color choice for a young child - and have her hair dyed black too which her mother doesn't allow. 

She grows up, gains a Library and Information Sciences degree, and begins hunting for a job. But Maggie is a bit of an odd duck being quite literal minded but very observant. With library jobs thin on the ground, Maggie finds herself applying for a wide variety of other positions including work as a bank teller. 

When a library job opens up, Maggie, now in her grey phase, leaps at the chance to work in her own field. But she saw something, or heard something, in the interview process and now someone wants her dead. 

She barely escapes dying in the explosion that ruins her library and kills her fellow librarian. She manages to work her way through rehab with the help of two imaginary companions - Palace Guard and Spike - and gains the attention of a police detective and his FBI Agent sister who befriend her. 

When her police detective boyfriend is murdered, she and his sister are determined to find the killers who murdered him and want Maggie dead too. 

The narration for this audiobook was Virtual Voice which made it an interesting listening experience. Mostly it sounded very human, but there were some things that didn't work quite as well. I think that some of the dialog should have been humorous but came out as a virtual deadpan. 

This is the first book in a series. 

I got this one May 24 via BookBub when the Kindle book was free. I added on the audiobook for $1.99. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: The Librarian by Judith A. Barrett

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

Beginning:

My eyes snapped open. I glanced around my room. The light of breaking dawn scattered the shadows. A sound. From the kitchen.

Friday 56:

"Oh, Maggie. I expected you to take longer. You know, at the church." Olivia spoke in short bursts, and her hands fluttered. "There's an investigator. In my office. He wants to talk to all the staff. Go on in."

This week I am spotlighting The Librarian by Judith A. Barrett. As a retired librarian, I am drawn to books about people in my former profession. Here's the description from Amazon:

Vigilante Justice: Librarian Style
Maggie was a quiet librarian until a heartbreaking murder woke something dangerous inside her. Now she’s out for blood, not for herself, but for those who deserve justice.

She survives an explosion and begins the slow process of healing with the help of her unusual team. When her world is shattered by a heart-wrenching murder, Maggie's team trains her to fight to win, whatever the cost.
Her grief and rage transform her from prey to relentless hunter, and her brilliant observational talents threaten a complex criminal scheme.
As Maggie closes in on the truth, she realizes she's on the trail of a mastermind, a dark puppeteer of serial killers, whose intellect threatens to match her own. It all comes down to kill or be killed.

ARC Review: The Gatekeeper by James Byrne

The Gatekeeper
Author: James Byrne
Publication: Minotaur Books (June 7, 2022)

Description: James Byrne's The Gatekeeper introduces Dez Limerick in the most anticipated new thriller in years.

A highly trained team of mercenaries launches a well-planned, coordinated attack on a well-guarded military contractor - but they didn't count on one thing, the right man being in the wrong place at the right time.

Desmond Aloysius Limerick (“Dez” to all) is a retired mercenary, and enthusiastic amateur musician, currently in Southern California, enjoying the sun and sitting in on the occasional gig, when the hotel he's at falls under attack. A skilled team attempts to kidnap the Chief legal counsel of Triton Expeditors, a major military contractor – in fact, Petra Alexandris is the daughter of the CEO – but their meticulously-planned, seamlessly executed scheme runs into the figurative 'spanner-in-the-works,' Dez himself.

After foiling the attack, and with nothing better to do, Dez agrees to help Alexandris with another problem she’s having – someone has embezzled more than a billion dollars from her company and left very few tracks behind. But Dez is a gatekeeper – one who opens doors and keeps them open – and this is just a door of another kind. And the door he opens leads to a dangerous conspiracy involving media manipulation, militias, an armed coup, and an attempt to fracture the United States themselves. There’s only one obstacle between the conspirators and success – and that is Dez, The Gatekeeper.

My Thoughts: This was a fun and fast-paced thriller reminiscent of James Bond but with a very different sort of hero. Dez is a former mercenary who is currently in LA playing bass in a variety of bands. When he stumbles on an attack on a woman he rode in the elevator with, he manages to throw the attack in disarray and rescue the lady. 

Petra Alexandris is the chief legal counsel for Triton Expeditors, a major military contractor. She's also the daughter of the CEO and heir apparent to the company. She calls on Dez to help her investigate when she learns that more than a billion dollars is missing from the company's books. She doesn't trust her own company's security to look into the problem.

Dez's investigation leads to a major conspiracy including corrupt media, some members of the armed forces who are both right wing and racist, and an attempted coup. It is up to Dez to break up all the various plans and solve the problems.

I liked Dez who is an intriguing character. He's smart and talented at his former profession. He's also a man of mystery who is trusted by the Secretary of the Navy but who doesn't show up in any sort of database. 

I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot and the exciting action. 

Favorite Quote:

Now, this is familiar territory to Dez. Do well, and the people above you remember that you delivered. Do poorly, and the people above you feed you to the wolves. Same as it ever was.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Book and Audio Review: Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz

Orphan X
Author: Gregg Hurwitz
Narrator: Scott Brick
Series: Orphan X (Book 1)
Publication: Minotaur Books (January 19, 2016); Brilliance Audio (January 19, 2016)
Length: 416 p.; 11 hours and 15 minutes

Description: The first in the international bestselling series!

Who is Orphan X?

The Nowhere Man is a legendary figure spoken about only in whispers. It’s said that when he’s reached by the truly desperate and deserving, the Nowhere Man can and will do anything to protect and save them. But he’s not merely a legend.

“Excellent…A smart, stylish, state-of-the-art thriller…might give Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books a run for their money.”—The Washington Post

Evan Smoak is a man with skills, resources, and a personal mission to help those with nowhere else to turn. He’s also a man with a dangerous past. Chosen as a child, he was raised and trained as an Orphan, an off-the-books black box program designed to create the perfect deniable intelligence asset: An assassin. Evan was Orphan X—until he broke with the program and used everything he learned to disappear. But now someone is on his tail. Someone with similar skills and training who will exploit Evan’s secret new identity as the Nowhere Man to eliminate him.

My Thoughts: Evan Smoak was taken from a foster home when he was twelve and trained to be an assassin. He was part of the Orphan Program which was an off-the-books government program. After some years and the death of his mentor, he goes rogue. 

To spend his time, he has become the Nowhere Man. When someone has a problem that they can't solve, the Nowhere Man steps in. But now, someone seems to have tracked down the Nowhere Man through some people who have come to him with problems.

Evan has to decide which of the people with problems is legitimate and which has been set up by his enemies so that they can get to him. 

The story was action-packed and very fast-paced. Evan is a great characters in the tradition of dark heroes of the past. He's a man who is alone because he doesn't know who he can trust. But people with smaller problems in the building where he has his tricked out condo are chipping away at his isolation by becoming people he can care about. But caring means putting them in incredible danger because his enemies don't care who they have to kill if they manage to kill him too.

Scott Brick did a great job narrating this one. He had distinct voices for the many characters and he had great pacing as the suspense and danger built throughout the story.

Favorite Quote:

The Post-It beside the wall-mounted phone had been replaced. The new one read: "Make friends with people who want the best for you."

He thought, What a goddamned luxury that would be.

I bought this one January 7, 2017. You can buy your copy here.