Tp
- 26
- reviews
- 123
- helpful votes
- 28
- ratings
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The Lost Relic
- ENIGMA Files, Book 1
- By: Joshua James
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 114
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 99
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Story4 out of 5 stars 99
Indiana Jones meets The X-Files in this thrilling, globe-spanning adventure about the greatest treasure hunt of all time—where ancient secrets collide with cutting-edge technology. In the high-stakes world of ancient artifacts and clandestine organizations, a trio of unlikely misfits are drafted into a desperate race to prevent the assembly of a long lost device.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Riveting Technothriller
- By Laura on 12-22-24
- The Lost Relic
- ENIGMA Files, Book 1
- By: Joshua James
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
Borderline Youth Fiction & All Accents Are French
Reviewed: 04-16-25
This belongs on a Youth Fiction list.
The plot is both predictable (an international team with a cranky Frenchman) and a never-ending series of deus ex machinas.
Despite the multiple nationalities of the team and the books characters, they all sound like Peter Sellers version of a French accent.
I almost didn't finish it.
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The Fix
- By: David Baldacci
- Narrated by: Kyf Brewer, Orlagh Cassidy
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 17,329
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 15,652
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 15,588
Amos Decker witnesses a murder just outside FBI headquarters. A man shoots a woman execution style on a crowded sidewalk, then turns the gun on himself. Even with Decker's extraordinary powers of observation and deduction, the killing is baffling. Decker and his team can find absolutely no connection between the shooter - a family man with a successful consulting business - and his victim, a schoolteacher.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The Fix
- By BookReader on 05-21-18
- The Fix
- By: David Baldacci
- Narrated by: Kyf Brewer, Orlagh Cassidy
A bit disappointed in this Baldacci outing
Reviewed: 08-21-24
The male narrator just doesn’t “fit” Decker. Way too much convoluted exposition and repetition as well.
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The Templars, Two Kings, and a Pope
- By: Grigor Fedan
- Narrated by: Robert M. Clark
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 45
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 42
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Story4 out of 5 stars 43
The Templars, Two Kings and a Pope is the novelized reconstruction of a crucial 25-year period in Templar history, before the Order of the Temple was disbanded. At one level, this is the story of a covert war, of the secret organization known as The Brotherhood, and of the one man who stood at the center; a Swiss named Lord Otto de Grandson who became England's King Edward I's right-hand man. At another level, this is a spiritual story about Jesus' secret teachings that he reserved for the select few.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Mediocre
- By Anonymous User on 05-07-23
- The Templars, Two Kings, and a Pope
- By: Grigor Fedan
- Narrated by: Robert M. Clark
Reads like young adult fiction
Reviewed: 01-04-23
I've read many Templar-specific and Templar-adjacent books over the years. This is an interesting premise which isn't delivered well. The blurb's description of "historical reconstruction" is a stretch. The pacing of the action is erratic, too much time spent on side quests and peripheral characters. Much of the dialog is at a young adult fiction level. And if you're going to have a treasure hunt for a McGuffin, do something with it. The narrator's style made it hard to finish.
This premise from the keyboard of Follett, Brown or Steve Berry would be a blockbuster.
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Northwind
- Robert Hoon Thrillers, Book 1
- By: JD Kirk
- Narrated by: Angus King
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,078
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 975
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 971
Former soldier. Ex-copper. Current man on the edge. Shunned by his old colleagues, and dividing his time between a dead-end job and the bottom of a whisky bottle, former Police Scotland detective superintendent Bob Hoon’s life is a mess. Then an old face from Hoon’s Special Forces days turns up asking for help: His teenage daughter has been missing for months, the police have drawn a blank, and he needs the kind of help that only Hoon can provide. And besides, Hoon owes him one.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A great new series
- By Maine Knitter on 10-25-21
- Northwind
- Robert Hoon Thrillers, Book 1
- By: JD Kirk
- Narrated by: Angus King
Like William Shatner voicing Braveheart
Reviewed: 01-13-22
This is a mediocre "war buddy" obligation story. The characters are pretty flat. The plot is slow to start and not that original. Be prepared for extensive and repetitive profanity.
The narrator is HUGELY frustrating. His attempts to switch between accents from across the British Isles is poor. The protagonist is Scottish. Imagine William Shatner impersonating William Wallace in Braveheart to voice over Nick Nolte in 48 Hours set in London.
Apparently, the author intends to set up a series based on the protagonist. Won't be listening to the next one.
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Wayward Galaxy
- Wayward Galaxy, Book 1
- By: Jason Anspach, J. N. Chaney
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 8,697
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 7,985
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 7,972
A company of Army Rangers is sent on an interstellar colony ship to secure a foothold on a dangerous, alien planet through violence of action. Leaving behind a warring Earth flung headfirst into a conflict of mutual assured destruction, the Rangers and the accompanying crew of first colonists are guided on a 40-year journey by an unprecedented artificial intelligence. But when they emerge from the frigid embrace of cryosleep, they awake to a nightmare, finding themselves greeted by the same ruthless enemy that brought about the ruin of Earth.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A breath of fresh air
- By Anonymous User on 09-29-20
- Wayward Galaxy
- Wayward Galaxy, Book 1
- By: Jason Anspach, J. N. Chaney
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
D-D-D-Deus Ex M-M-Machina around EVERY corner!
Reviewed: 09-13-21
Military procedural set in space with Earth's wars following the colony ships. Lots of promise and missed opportunity to explore the new world.
Never fear, there's always a new technology to save the day and plug the plot holes. C+. Beach read.
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The Others
- By: Jeremy Robinson
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 10,034
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 9,272
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 9,244
Dan Delgado is a private investigator. When it comes to finding cheating spouses, corporate thieves, or runaway teenagers, he’s unenthusiastic, and unmatched. As a former San Francisco detective, he misses more meaningful work, but he hasn’t had the heart for it since his wife’s death five years prior. That is, until a phone call from a distraught mother, an illegal immigrant who can’t go to the police, puts him on the hunt for a missing little girl. By the time he reaches the mother’s small home, she’s missing, too. The circumstances are strange....
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4 out of 5 stars
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Action packed humor
- By Breezybealle on 07-31-18
- The Others
- By: Jeremy Robinson
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
Deus ex Machina cubed - on steroids
Reviewed: 07-04-20
Interesting characters and a narrator I love couldn’t save this farfetched farce.
It started as an interesting take on what’s behind lights in the sky, livestock mutilation and disappearing people. Then it got weird, then it got stupid. Any more details would give huge spoilers. Wish I hadn’t wasted a credit, or the hours.
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The Real History of Secret Societies
- By: Professor Richard B. Spence, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Professor Richard B. Spence
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,121
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 966
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 963
Welcome to The Real History of Secret Societies, a historical look at the true-life groups which, if you believe the myths, are the unspoken power behind some of the world’s major turning points, from controlling the British crown to holding back the electric car and keeping Martians and Atlantis under wraps. Prepare yourself. In this course brought to you in partnership with HISTORY®, you will be visiting some of history’s deepest rabbit-holes, across centuries and continents, in search of secret societies in all their varieties.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Far more politics than fraternity.
- By Tp on 11-25-19
Far more politics than fraternity.
Reviewed: 11-25-19
The Professor starts with a definition of secret society broad enough to include Lenin's Bolshevik movement.
So this is one part fraternal history, one part "here's how power hungry people work using secrecy," and one big part speculation - which he readily admits as such.
Far more politics than fraternity. Strikes me as more late night TV than university course material. Least impressive of the Great Courses item I've ever downloaded.
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87 people found this helpful
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Hyperion
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Allyson Johnson, Kevin Pariseau, and others
- Length: 20 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 25,211
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 21,436
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 21,476
On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.
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4 out of 5 stars
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The Shrike Awaits. Enter The Time Tombs...
- By Michael on 10-13-12
- Hyperion
- By: Dan Simmons
- Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Allyson Johnson, Kevin Pariseau, Jay Snyder, Victor Bevine
Canterbury Tales 2750 by Stephen King&Larry Niven
Reviewed: 05-28-19
That's 20 hours of my life I'll never get back. Be warned: For all the build up, the full resolution is pawned off into the sequel - which I won't be reading.
Two bouquets for the author: (1) a very creative take on human civilization, economics and religion 700 years from now, and (2) there are some very well written descriptive passages. The rest is a train wreck.
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1 person found this helpful
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Forward the Foundation
- By: Isaac Asimov
- Narrated by: Larry McKeever
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,966
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Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 2,686
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,682
As Hari Seldon struggles to perfect his revolutionary theory of psychohistory and ensure a place for humanity among the stars, the great Galactic Empire totters on the brink of apocalyptic collapse. Caught in the maelstrom are Seldon and all he holds dear, pawns in the struggle for dominance. Whoever can control Seldon will control psychohistory - and with it the future of the galaxy.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Love the story. Can't stand the narrator!
- By Christine on 03-14-12
- Forward the Foundation
- By: Isaac Asimov
- Narrated by: Larry McKeever
Listen at 1.25x speed
Reviewed: 02-22-19
I recently set out to listen to the entire Robots-Empire-Foundation series from start to finish. Fortunately, Audible has added to the list of available titles.
Asimov did a great job - decades later - of inserting this title as a jumping off point into the classic Foundation Trilogy.
The narrator is decidedly the low point. He reads it as if he were reading to third graders. Also reminds me of the old joke about the letter home: "I am writing slowly, as I know you read slowly... ." I used the iOS Audible app to move the speed up to 1.25x normal. This made the pace tolerable.
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2 people found this helpful
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The Sparrow
- By: Mary Doria Russell
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 4,142
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 3,597
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 3,601
A visionary work that combines speculative fiction with deep philosophical inquiry, The Sparrow tells the story of a charismatic Jesuit priest and linguist, Emilio Sandoz, who leads a scientific mission entrusted with a profound task: To make first contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life. The mission begins in faith, hope, and beauty, but a series of small misunderstandings brings it to a catastrophic end.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Superbly Written and Thought-provoking
- By Jim N on 08-15-12
- The Sparrow
- By: Mary Doria Russell
- Narrated by: David Colacci
Jesuits on Gilligan's Island - In Space
Reviewed: 05-21-18
This was a very frustrating story. It's hard to go into much more without risking spoilers. The premise is an intriguing take on first contact stories; but it gets detoured into a crisis of faith.
And veeerrryy sllloooowww to get going. Be prepared to persevere.
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3 people found this helpful