Death in the Congo

Assassin Series, Book 5

By: David Nees

Narrated by: Jonathan Beville

Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Dan Stone has a new assignment. In Africa. He's to cripple the Chinese incursions into the continent. The only problem is he might trigger World War III.

This high-stakes thriller, set in the wild world of the DRC, pits Dan Stone against a complex array of forces, all vying for power and influence.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, holds some of the largest coltan deposits in the world. It is the source of two rare Earth metals, niobium and tantalum, vital to modern economies. Now the Chinese are trying to corner the market and hold the western world hostage.

Dan Stone has experienced many dangerous missions as a CIA assassin, but this one may be his most difficult. He has to navigate a strange country in a strange continent where he stands out among the people. His assignment: take down a Chinese general and get out alive...without getting caught.

©2020 David E. Nees (P)2021 David E. Nees

So Many Layers! Like Listening to a Movie!

I have read or listened to the other books in this series, and Death in the Congo was excellent--but different from expected. While the other books in the series focus overwhelmingly on Dan, the CIA Assassin who is the main character of the series, this book had a richer cast of main characters. No-longer a lone wolf who gets occasional back-up, this book really reflected the spirit, interpersonal dynamics, and ups-and-downs of a close knit team. This story really surprised me with twists and turns that seem like they could have been a story on their own. The narrator uses so many voices convincingly that sometimes it felt like listening to a movie. Definitely a Must Read!

Good VS Evil

It’s Good VS Evil in this non-stop, action-packed book, and Dan is here to save the day.  Death in the Congo is full of action, espionage, twist and turns, and a bit of romance.  While it started off a tad bit slow, I was hooked pretty quickly.  David Nees really hits home with his descriptions throughout. He weaves a thorough story leaving the listener a bit breathless.   

Jonathan Beville narrates this book fantastically.  There are many characters, and he lends a different voice to each.  It really felt like a movie more than a book.  Great Job!

If you enjoy espionage, twists, action, and a little affair of the heart, this is the book for you.

There were no issues with the quality or production of this audiobook, it was clear and well produced.

Disclaimer: This Audiobook was provided free of charge by the author, narrator, and/or publisher in exchange for a non-bias, honest review.

Excellent

Excellent narration and story. He has the voice for this type of mystery. Enjoyed and thought it was well done. Given audio for my voluntary review and my honest opinion

Not A Bad Listen

This audiobook was well written and had good character development. The story was interesting, but If I want to get the full benefit of the story, I guess I would have to get the books that came before it. Jonathan Beville does good with the narrating... I was provided this audiobook for free in the authors promotion and I am giving my voluntary review.

So much more, fuller, than I expected!

I really enjoyed this. I'm used to thrillers, but the twists in this really kept my attention. I read this book first - so as the 5th in the series, I really now want to go back and read the others. I really felt like I got to know the different characters. I felt like I was brought into this story, into the life of the Congo. The environment, as well as the chaos, trauma, corruption, unexpected twists, and even some happy stuff. I call this, full-bodied!

The narrator was fantastic. I really thought initially there were different narrators, but it was just really well done. I felt each person had their own persona, and that helped keep me in the moments. I did listen to this at like, 1.2 speed, but don't let that detract. The accents and attitudes were really impressive. I laughed at some of this alone!

Really, I enjoyed this a lot. I recommend. Now I'm going to back to the others :) Thanks for the fabulous listen!! Seriously, please keep writing!!

Disclaimer: This Audiobook was provided free of charge by the author, narrator, and/or publisher in exchange for a non-bias, honest review.

Along for the ride

Listening to this book is like going on a cross-country African adventure with Dan, his special forces teammates, and their local guide Santu. This was not your every day assassin story and proves that getting there is half the fun. This was a great listen with many fun characters good and evil, unexpected turns, and great finish. In the end this story is more about the things that happen while trying to accomplish the mission than it is the mission itself.

I was given a promotional copy of this audiobook in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Wanted to like this more

I rate according to Audible's own star system: so wo stars means "okay".

I discovered this was part 5 when I got it, so I decided to take a chance and spent a credit to at least listen to book 1 first; after that I purchased parts 2-4 as ebooks - which obviously means I liked them enough to keep purchasing the next novel. Finally, I arrived at this one, part 5.
Frankly, I'm disappointed with part 5. Only a few (out of many) chapters are centered around the core mission, while the rest of the story is derailed by some sort of cross between a road movie, a travel guide and a lot of culinary details, plus quite a lot of borderline preachiness about nature, culture, politics and religion.
Moreover, this is no longer about Dan the lone wolf assassin, but he's joined fulltime not only with the two ex-Delta Force guys from previous novels, but also with a local fixer who we are constantly told is a true team member as well - although I still don't know why, exactly.
Also, way too much repetition and exposition; a lot of characters explaining the plot to eachother.
Worst of all was the romance, that was truly unbelievable to me - that a trained and experienced professional on such an important stealth mission could behave in such a very emotional and unprofessional way, basically from the moment he lays eyes on his love interest - who he has never met before. What were the whole team doing anyway, being out drinking and scouting nice places to hang out so many nights on this mission?! Nah, didn't buy it at all. It feels very forced on the author's part, meant to add some kind of "rescue the damsel" plotline. This actually takes up more time in the novel than the true mission.

In short, this storyline really fell flat for me, pity.

The narration is okay; he's very good at African accents as far as I can tell (as a non-African) but on the other hand he's not conveying the 'bad ass factor' a story like this requires imho (e.g. his heroes all sound quite chipper and friendly, not like hardened killers/fighters/warriors). To my ears, there's no menace conveyed in the narration at all - at least not with the three heroes.

All in all this story is not for me, sorry. Sincerely wanted to like it more.

~ I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. I was not required to write a positive review and this reflects my honest opinion of the work.