Radicals Audiobook By Nik Korpon cover art

Radicals

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Radicals

By: Nik Korpon
Narrated by: Scott Aiello, Isabel Keating
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Jay Brodsky is an enigma. To his fellow agents at the FBI’s cybercrimes division. To his new partner. Even to himself. For someone whose skills are beyond question, he often seems just on the edge of losing control. He seldom speaks about his family and his personal life, but he seems to be hiding something. And he has an unusual obsession with even the most obscure punk rock.

So when a mysterious cyber-terrorist organization begins erasing Americans’ medical debt, Jay must put his personal issues aside to focus on an attack that threatens to destabilize the US economy. But when the trail leads to his own family, Jay will be forced to confront everything he never knew about his parents and his long-missing sister and decide where his true loyalties lie.

With his country and his mind racing toward a breaking point, can Jay find the answers before everything descends into chaos?

©2020 Nik Korpon (P)2020 Audible Originals, LLC. Suspense Thriller & Suspense

About the Creator

Nik Korpon is the author of Wear Your Home Like a Scar, The Rebellion's Last Traitor, and Queen of the Struggle, among others. He lives in Baltimore.

Scott Aiello
Isabel Keating

About the Perfomer

Scott is an actor and writer living in NYC. Best known for recurring character Tommy Barkow on Showtime’s Billions, Scott’s other television credits include The Good Fight (CBS, recurring), Blue Bloods (CBS, guest), The Deuce (HBO), The Path (Hulu), God Friended Me (CBS), The Newsroom (HBO), and Person of Interest (CBS). Scott has also narrated over one hundred audiiobooks. He received a 2015 Earphones Award for his narration of Small Mercies by Eddie Joyce. Through numerous projects at Audible Studios, he has also been nominated for two Audie Awards (Best Nonfiction, 2013 and Best Fantasy, 2018). His first full-length play, Bernie and Mikey’s Trip to the Moon received its Off-Broadway debut this past fall at 59E59 Theaters. Scott is a graduate of The Juilliard School of Drama (Group 41).

About the Performer

Isabel Keating has twice been a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for excellence in narration and is the recipient of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, having recorded over three dozen audiobooks, including Marilyn Monroe's collected letters, Fragments. She has starred on Broadway in Wicked, It’s Only a Play, Hairspray, Spider-Man, Enchanted April, and in The Boy from Oz (Tony Award, Drama League, Outer Critics nominations, Drama Desk and Theatre World Awards) with Hugh Jackman. Off Broadway appearances include Atlantic Theatre Company, Primary Stages, and Rattlestick, among others. Isabel won the Helen Hayes Award for Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink and has played theaters across the United States. Her films include Indignation and The Nanny Diaries. Among her television appearances, Keating guest-starred on The Path; 3 lbs. (opposite Stanley Tucci); Law & Order: Criminal Intent; and the Emmy-winning PBS American Masters Judy Garland: By Myself.

All stars
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well written and well performed not as predictable as many in this genre. I want another

bent

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I didn't think it lived up to it potential. not a bad read though and excellent performance, frankly, that carried it.

Good character development, forgettable story.

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I was already a huge Nik Korpon fan--from the gritty realism of his Baltimore stories to the dystopian worlds he manages to create without needing hundreds of pages of "background." This one has the added character of the punk music scene--a much-appreciated add in a year without The Fest. Thoroughly enjoyable story, you don't need to be a punk fan to enjoy it, though it's a bonus if you are.

More great stuff from Nik Korpon

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A fast paced thriller with an intriguing backdrop of punk rock, family history and current day anarchism. Our main character is Jay, an FBI agent. He is currently investigating some hackers who are causing mayhem by wiping out insurance debts. Each subsequent attack increases the threat to the economic stability of the country, irrespective of the rights and wrongs and morality of some of the companies suffering the losses. There's some real sleazeballs getting their comeuppance. While frowned upon and feared by the authorities, the actions attract some level of public sympathy.

Somewhat inevitably the crimes escalate and increase in ferocity ie murder and as a consequence the pressure on Jay and his unit multiplies.

I quite liked the main character, Jay. He's a loner and has several peculiar OCD tics which he has to enact, particularly when stressed. His part in the investigation, reveals to the reader, much of his past.... difficulties with his parents, a maverick upbringing of protest and rebellion, grief and bereavement, deep roots in punk rock and a strong bond with his sister, which fractured when Jay signed up to be an FBI agent.

As the investigation progresses and circles closer and closer to the old music scene he and his sister inhabited, our man is conflicted. Do his job, stop the anarchists and possibly do damage to his estranged sister or put absent family before duty. Uncomfortable family secrets are uncovered, a work partnership has potential for more, but only if he can open up his secret self.

As well as the quirkiness of the main character and his emotional baggage, I enjoyed the depiction of the music scene and the ground level participation in it....... band membership, gigging, touring, friendships, the collecting element and also the point at which for some people it stops. You grow, you move on, you depart the scene, you rebel back into normality and a career. The other fork in the road, you stay, you play, you live the doctrine, you submerse yourself in non-confirmity and embrace anarchy and you reject and despise the sibling that took the other path.

Family reunions can be fleeting and not always happy events, but blood can prove thicker than water.

Lots to like..... pace, plot, character, history, a nostalgic look back at a fascinating musical genre, which on this side of the Atlantic this reader embraced (albeit a dipping of a toe in the water, as opposed to a head first total immersion). There's a decent outcome to round things off. I'd be happy to see a second book with Jay Brodsky in the future.

Radicals was my first time reading author Nik Korpon's work. Irrespective of a sequel, it won't be my last. Old Ghosts and Wear Your Home Like a Scar sit on the pile already.

4.5 from 5

Read - (listened to) November, 2020
Published - 2020
Page count - unknown (6 hrs 45 mins)
Source - Audible freebie purchase after receiving a download code from the author
Format - Audible

Punk rock, anarchy, hacking and an FBI investigat

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got this one on sale, otherwise I would have passed as it is a bit short for me to spend a credit on. All together I enjoyed the story, characters and pacing.

Short but entertaining

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First time experimenting ending this author. Great, gripping storyline with excellent narration. Characters really came to life.

Radicals

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I forced myself to complete the book and am glad that I did because the last few chapters made worthwhile.

Terrific narration of what could have been a good back.Too bad the first 2/3 were not even close to the quality of the last 1/3

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I really enjoyed this story until Jay neglected his post-bomb injuries to run home and decrypt a hard drive completely ignoring his job and then opening his door in the middle of the night without checking first. REALLY? An FBI agent in the middle of a case who is acting super shady DOESN'T CHECK FIRST? Come on. From there it went downhill. Jay's obsession with "protecting" his sister crossed into bizarre territory. And the ending was completely compressed. His encounter with his boss was odd and stunted and his "trip to Applebee's" felt totally out of the blue. I would have listened to a sequel to get more out of wrapping up the story lines, but alas.

Head Scratcher

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I like the story but there's too much profanity and swearing for my taste. a little saltiness may be needed when criminals speak but 90% of it was unnecessary. I did like the fact that they featured the lead with an emotional challenge like Tourette's.

too much profanity / swearing

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Yet another book that uses the word F**k constantly to describe every strong emotion. The story was unbelievable and uninteresting. No more Audible Originals for me.

uninteresting

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