Killer Thriller

Ian Ludlow Thrillers, Book 2

By: Lee Goldberg

Narrated by: Adam Verner

In #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg’s action-packed sequel to The Washington Post bestseller True Fiction, a hapless writer is pitted against an enemy nation mounting a treacherous plot lifted from one of his thrillers.

Everybody loves Ian Ludlow’s action novels—especially the CIA—because the spies know something the public doesn’t: his fictional plots have a frightening tendency to come true. Ian is in Hong Kong with his resourceful assistant Margo French to research his wildest story yet—a deadly global conspiracy by Chinese intelligence to topple the United States.

What Ian doesn’t know is that his horrifying scenario is happening and that the Chinese mistakenly believe he’s an undercover superspy assigned to foil their scheme. Now Ian is trapped in his own terrifying thriller, on the run from assassins, and racing against time to prevent an epic disaster. He’s written himself into a corner that could cost his life...and his country.

©2019 Adventures in Television, Inc. (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“The pleasure here is watching Goldberg mock the thriller form while creating a first-rate one, boiling with chases, fights, sweaty-palm tension, snappy dialogue, and glamorous, exotic locations—this time, post-Maugham Hong Kong and its stunning outdoor escalators. It’s really a sophisticated exercise in metafiction: commenting on narrative while creating it.” (Booklist)

“Killer Thriller grabs you from page one with brilliant wit, sharply honed suspense, and a huge helping of pure originality.” (Jeffery Deaver, New York Times best-selling author)

Love this book!

I listened to the audio version of both book one and two of Lee Goldberg’s Killer series. They are so entertaining that I wanted to listen to them in one sitting (or gardening session.) At first I thought the narrator had an odd voice, but I soon adjusted and decided that his voice was just right. He was able to convey the humor that was frequently needed. Now, on to book 3.

pretty good!

The stories are just getting started! Looking forward to Ian and Margo's next adventure! I laughed and was on the edge of my seat. Loved it!

What a HOOT!

The appealing characters Goldberg draws and the believable current national and international crisis situations he creates are waaay beYOND engaging and hilARious! His send-up of the VP Pence/Penny troglodyte is PRICELESS! And Ian’s partnership w/Margo!!! My daughter and I laughed till we cried. We hope to follow the Adorably HILARIOUS pair through Many more adventures.

Adam Verner’s voice is resonant w/a lovely timbre,
and his Ronnie voice in the last novel as well as his Damon-the-actor voice in this one are excellent. That said, in future efforts, please prevail upon him either to master accents or to read all characters w/his natural American English accent. His attempts at Turkish, Australian, British, French, and Chinese accents were unfortunately affected, mannered, and simply embarrassing. Also, it should not be too much to ask that he pronounce the name of the French city, Marseilles correctly.

Still, we luuove Goldberg’s sendup of all things cretinous in our current social and political culture sooo much that we definitely will listen to his first two Ian/Margo adventures again and look forward to collecting all future adventures. Thank you for a great treat!

Killer Thriller

Fun,Fun,Fun, I'm loving this series. I would recommend this book and series, great audiobook.

Excellent narration.

Good Story

Is this a multi-part story? Yes
Does it end in a cliffhanger? No
Genre(s) : Action Suspense

3.75 Stars for me!
My rating range of this story... 3 - 4 Stars
If significant, why?
Biggest deduction? n/a

Main Character Ratings...
H (Ian Ludlow) = 7-10
h (Margo French) = 8/10 - 9/10
TSTL Moment(s)? No

Narrator Rating(s)
M (Adam Verner) = 9/10
F () = n/a
If below 5/10, why?

If Comedy... Type? Funny parts
Funny, Cute, Cringe Inducing, Mixed or Just No!

Angst Level? Moderate
Light, Moderate, Heavy or Please Stop

Internal Monolog/Dialog? Moderate
Light, Moderate, Heavy or Please Stop

Scenes with heat... Light

The back story... The H&h have gone to China for the filming of his next action novel. He is working on a story in which the Chinese are fitting surveillance into all electronics leaving China in a bid to gain control over the US. The Chinese Government snooped his laptop, saw the story and determined that he was a spy and the chase is on

Gist: Still no romance for the H as the H is a out and proud lesbian and she has a much better game than the H. She does have some fun in this story. The h has a much bigger role and pulls the H through several situations.

The drama explosion... The MCs have to go on a mission to stop an assassination.
Did it feel Real, OK or contrived? Ok
Was it OTT? Yes, in a fun way
Separation involved? No
Was it resolved properly or rushed? Mostly properly

Final Notes... The only drawback for me is that it looks like the author is getting a bit political. I am not a fan of the President during the time this story was being written but I like fiction for the escape from reality it provides.

HEA or HFN? N/A
Book Source: Kindle Unlimited

Love This Character

Ian is on another hair raising run for his life and its AWESOME. You will truly enjoy this book.

Book okay for what it is, narration awful

If you realize this book is a tongue in cheek spy novel type, I assume using stereotypes on purpose, and has quite humorous situations and dialogue and action scenes that defy credibility....on purpose....ok, that's what I'm assuming....then this book accomplishes what it set out to do. Come on people, take it for what it is, and don't take it seriously! It is quite entertaining and even clever at times. That said, the narrator is HORRIBLE. Melodramatic much? The worst is the voice of Margo French. I read the first book and the voices in my head were nothing like how this narrator reads it - so overdramatized. It was extremely distracting and took away from the enjoyment of listening to the story. If I hadn't already purchased this I would have stopped and read the book instead.

This series gets better and better.

Really enjoyed this light hearted story. Not sure if I would call it a "Thriller" but it was very good. Corny in a few places but overall you'll like it

Fun story, poor performance.

I listened to the first in the series when I started a home refresh. Perfect book for that task. I went right to book #2 to when I started painting.

As in #1 the characters are entertaining and the storyline fun. BUT, the accents are weird and inaccurate; characters intermittently speak as if every sentence is an interrogative or have a weird singsong cadence—almost as if they’re trying for a Kardashian affectation. Also, Higgins from Magnum PI doesn’t have an east coast upper crust accent-his is British accent and the one used neither sounds like Higgy-Baby or Cary Grant, both used as a description in the book.

Quite honestly, had I not been distracted by a physical task I would not have finished the book because the performance was so inconsistent and frequently distracting.

enjoyed

the story was great. It was believable to the extent it was believable. It was humorous when it needed to be humorous. I struggle with the inflection of the narrator when the characters are actually talking. It sounds sometimes like the characters are asking a question when they should be making a statement. Sometimes it sounded like the characters were whining. It didn't detract from the book it was just noticeable. Overall I enjoyed it