A Scourge of Vipers Audiobook By Bruce DeSilva cover art

A Scourge of Vipers

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A Scourge of Vipers

By: Bruce DeSilva
Narrated by: Jeff Woodman
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To solve Rhode Island's budget crisis, the state's colorful governor, Attila the Nun, wants to legalize sports gambling, but her plan has unexpected consequences. Organized crime, professional sports leagues, and others who have a lot to lose - or gain - if gambling is made legal flood the state with money to buy the votes of state legislators.

Liam Mulligan, investigative reporter for The Providence Dispatch, wants to investigate, but his bottom-feeding corporate bosses at the dying newspaper have no interest in serious reporting. So Mulligan goes rogue, digging into the story on his own time. When a powerful state legislator turns up dead, an out-of-state bag man gets shot, and his cash-stuffed briefcase goes missing, Mulligan finds himself the target of shadowy forces who seek to derail his investigation by destroying his career, his reputation, and perhaps even his life.

Bruce DeSilva's A Scourge of Vipers is at once a suspenseful crime story and a serious exploration of the hypocrisy surrounding sports gambling and the corrupting influence of big money on politics.

©2015 Bruce DeSilva (P)2015 Audible, Inc. Crime Thrillers Genre Fiction Hard-Boiled Literary Fiction Mystery Sports Thriller & Suspense Exciting

Critic reviews

"The versatile Jeff Woodman provides an outstanding narration of this crime story.... This masterful reading will charm most listeners even if the corruption exposed does not." (AudioFile)
Enjoyable Series • Gritty Storytelling • Authentic Accents • Earthy Narrative • Realistic Justice • Convincing Dialogue
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It’s 2:00AM and I’m tired so I’m not going into detail.
I enjoyed the plot, characters, and narration. I recommend reading books one and two first. They could be stand alone but reading in sequence is best.

Just Three Words: Listen To It

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This is a fun read and a great performance. DaSilva has a way of telling a story in an earthy, almost gritty way much like talking to friends in the old neighborhood. The reading is as good as the book and complements itto the point of making the listener feel comfortable with the main character as though hearing the story while sitting across from him in your local pub or favorite diner.

Another good tale by Bruce DeSilva.

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Terrific (end?) of a three story series. I really hope there turns out to be more adventures of my favorite newspaper reporter. Go ahead and spend your credit here, you won't be sorry!

Bruce DeSilva scores again!

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DeSilva has written a very enjoyable series featuring Liam Mulligan, an old-school investigative reporter for a Rhode Island daily paper that has a great legacy, but is slowly dying. (The series in order: Roque Island, Cliff Walk, Providence Rag and A Scourge of Vipers.) This is the final in the series to date -- and in it a 40-something Liam gets into one scrape after the next as he seeks to report the truth about corruption and crime -- but his outlook is always pretty positive as he figures the way out of the troubles. Truth doesn't always prevail and justice isn't always served, but that's what makes these stories so good. They are realistic (for the most part) and believable. Jeff Woodman's narration as always is great -- invoking various NE dialects and drawls and even provides a good rendition of women's voices. Don't start the series with this one -- although it can stand alone. You will find that listening to all four (I just re-listened to the first three in order before starting this one) will add much to your experience.

Loved this Fourth Book of the Series . . .

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Just get it and ignore the Naysayers!The Author and Narrator combo here is first rate.DeSilva delivers yet again and Woodman is an amazing narrator - particularly suited to this text/genre, but I suspect is great in a variety of contexts.Woodman convincingly manages rapidly exchanging dialogue across gender and context.DeSilva is a great writer. A key observant 'eye' on society.Eagerly awaiting the next listen from these two great artists.

Top Stuff Yet Again!

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I have ALL of Bruce DeSilva's books on Audible and pre-ordered this one almost two months in advance. They are raw, funny, realistic, and just plain ole good reads! Hope he doesn't stop writing them. Muligan's humor, wit, laid-back attitude and height is everything I need a man. Lol!

I'm in LOVE with Mulligan!

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I forgot how much I love this Bruce DeSilva’s series. Jeff Woodman’s authentic New England accent adds just the right flavor. I look forward to reading more as the main character’s personal and professional life evolves.

Sharp-witted fun!

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Loved it. Bruce De Silva books are my go to for light hearted reading. Mulligan is hilarious and smart. Can't wait for next one.

Quick fun book.

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I blew through the first three books of the series and gave each one a rave review. So I am confused at why I found this book more juvenile and trite. It coud be the book, but It suspect it is my demeaner. Alot has happened to me since I finished the last novel.

So if you are a fan of The Providence Rag series, take this review with a grain of salt. However, if you havent read any of the novels in the series, start with Providence Rag and stay far away from this one.

Maybe Im just tired of the series... It must be me

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Wow! Did you miss bashing anyone that wasn’t a liberal. If I wanted politics, I would have selected something else yuck!

Politics Anyone?

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