Going Dark

By: Neil Lancaster

Narrated by: Guy Mott

Going Dark is the debut crime thriller from former covert specialist Detective Sergeant Neil Lancaster.

Tom Novak is a troubled soul with a dark and bloody past. A former refugee, Royal Marine and member of the elite Special Reconnaissance Regiment, he now finds himself struggling with the deadening routine of day-to-day policing. When he is deployed undercover to infiltrate a gang of people traffickers, things go badly wrong. Faced with an impossible choice, his cover is blown, and he finds himself on the run from the Serbian mafia and even his fellow police colleagues. With no-one to trust, and his enemies using all the resources of the state against him, Tom has only one option: to Go Dark.

©2017 Neil Lancaster (P)2019 W. F. Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"If you like your thrills fast, gritty and authentic as all hell, then Going Dark should be top of your reading list." (Tony Parsons)

character development

😅🥱🫦🤣🤑😒. 😒😒😒😒😒. 😒😒. 😒.
😫😫😫😫😫. 😫😫😫😫. 😁😫

. 😫😫😫😫. 😫😫😫😫😫😫😫. 😎
Since this was my first read of this author and series, I carefully read and commented. The emojies show the slow but delibarate character development for me. It was a slow and fun process.

A book you can’t put down.

Great characters, great plot and great detail. Read very well considering all the different accents.

Better than I expected

This was good. I was surprised by what I thought was going to be more of a police procedural. Instead, it was a former Royal Marine special forces police detective who gets caught up with some bad people during an undercover assignment. Tom is very resourceful and has some even more resourceful friends. It was refreshing that the most helpful, a computer expert named Pet, was a smart young woman and there was no romantic entanglement. But what will happen in subsequent books?

I was a bit put off by the audiobook. I’m not sure if it was the narrator or the dialogue that sounded very staccato and artificial. It wasn’t bad enough to stop listening but it was a tad annoying. Otherwise the narrator did a great job with various accents.

Enjoying this series

I've been at a loss to find something new in this genre and am happy to have found Neil Lancaster. I started with his other series featuring DS Max Craigie and was impatiently waiting for the 3rd book to come out on audible. While waiting, decided to give this series a try, which I am enjoying as much as the other. Check Neil Lancaster out on Google. He was a cop in the UK for 25 years, a detective.

Beware the Dark

It’s good, really good. An undercover police story with a lot more than just policing. Well written. Dirty cops, Serbian mobsters & revenge make for a superb story. Excellent characters & good detail. I’m going straight to the next in the series.

Good story, bad narration

I had read the reviews about the narration but thought “how bad can it be.” And then I heard Pets voice and almost had to shut it off. I felt like a surly teenager whenever he did her voice as I rolled my eyes and grumbled. Story is well written and I have enjoyed Neil’s other series so will stick through to the next book since it has a new narrator;)

Interesting

First time with this author and narrator. I will definitely be listening to him again. I loved how it circled around, and I learned more of Tom’s backstory.
The Only dislike: the slight changes in Pet’s accent. Again, just a SLIGHT dislike.
During one of their interactions, the movie “Jumping Jack Flash” (which I love) popped into my mind. A very nice surprise.
A great listen, entertaining, and,for me, believable characters.
Thank you both!!

Zee narrator ees terrible 🤣

The story is fine but the narrator us terrible. It ruined the book for me

Narrator not great!!! I cringed when Pet spoke!

Main character was good, but the other characters with different accents were not good!
I struggled to listen to the end.

Terrible listen!

The story was good but the narrator was terrible. I will not buy another book with this narrator