The Silencer Series Box Set Books 1-4

By: Mike Ryan

Narrated by: Brian Hutchison

This set contains the first four books in The Silencer Series, including:

The Silencer

Fully Loaded

Hard Target

Blowback

The Silencer:

CIA Black Ops agent John Smith is on his latest assignment in London. Little does he know - it'll be his last. Barely surviving an attack on his life, Smith lays low for six months until he returns to the United States. His flight is strangely diverted to Philadelphia where he meets a mysterious stranger who knows all about his past and recruits him for a job.

Needing a new identity, Smith becomes Michael Recker. He then tries to prevent bad things happening to innocent people while also interacting with the city's different crime factions. All the while, Recker plans his revenge on the mysterious Agent 17, who committed an act so heinous that Recker will never forget it.

Fully Loaded:

After being ambushed, Recker goes missing for several days and is presumed dead. Once he returns, he seeks retribution on the men responsible and turns to an unlikely source to help him get his revenge. As he embarks on his plot for revenge, he must not only carefully navigate around Mia's growing feelings for him, but also his own feelings for her.

While still not forgetting his main goal of helping the innocent, Recker also further cements his relationship with Tyrell by helping him with a family problem. Though he still keeps Mia at a distance, they can't help but become closer as Recker investigates the disappearance of one of her closest friends.

As Recker embarks on his deadly rampage, Jones worries about The Silencer's growing reputation amongst the public and government agencies.

Hard Target:

Recker finally reaches his boiling point and confronts Jones about his lack of progress in finding Agent 17. The professor, feeling guilty about not locating him, admits to a secret he's been hiding. As Recker is trying to find Agent 17, Mia launches her own investigation into her friend's death, frustrated that the killer still hasn't been brought to justice. Her lack of experience causes a major mistake - one that may cost the life of both her and Jones. Recker must not only find Agent 17, but save the lives of his friends before it's too late.

Blowback:

After the circumstances of Agent 17's death, the CIA turns to a specialist to help track down the man they think is responsible - John Smith. Though Recker knows Centurion is coming, he doesn't change how he operates and winds up on police surveillance cameras. Feeling the walls closing in, Jones wants to pack up and move to a new city, though Recker has reservations about leaving. It all boils down to a final confrontation between Recker and his former employers - one he may not survive.

©2017 Mike Ryan (P)2020 Mike Ryan

Great series

It allowed me more time in my morning walks. Aging out and enjoyed the company

it's a third person narration like a crime tv show

The story is decent but the narrator is no better than average. Also, it is told almost like a TV cop drama. Nothing subtle. Emotions explained instead of illustrated by the actions of the characters. Nothing R-rated except all the killing.. Suitable for teen gamers who play first person shooters.

The Silencer is supposed to be a highly trained CIA black ops operative. However, his situational awareness is abysmal. His tradecraft is virtually non-existent. He inserts clips instead of magazines into his Glock. Although armed, he allows himself to be punched and grappled with by bad guys--sometimes to the point of nearly losing. He doesn't seem to know about tasers, saps, batons, flex ties or handcuffs. He thinks that knocking someone on the head will keep them unconscious for long enough to finish a house search. Because he lacks the rudimentary equipment to immobilize a prisoner, be has to resort to primitive methods like locking him in a closet and blocking the door with furniture--wasting time he could be using to leave the scene.

The author thinks that shots to the chest always result in "killing him instantly" and "dead before he hit the ground."

The author takes painful pains to explain emotions, motivations, and thinking of the characters instead of exposing them through action and dialog--although there's plenty of both.

I'm most of the way through the second set, books 5 through 8. The concept is good but the story telling is mediocre at best. The author obviously doesn't know his subject matter. The banter is weak. And the Silencer pretty much is a one trick pony. Kill the bad guys. Problem solved!

Why do I keep reading? I like to see bad guys get their due. And I can count on that happening in these books.

A Person of Interest

Very similar to the TV program, A Person of Interest. Well written and the narrator did a great job.

Good Listen, Great Narrator

A very enjoyable listen offering an escape where the good guy gets to win big time.

entertaining

It's good enough for the action filled books junkies like me. Some things we annoying like the female character being so insistent in being a non-priority for the protagonist. The narrator was really good!