Final Target

By: John Gilstrap

Narrated by: Basil Sands

Length: 14 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

"Rocket-paced suspense." (Jeffery Deaver)

"Gilstrap will leave you breathless." (Harlan Coben)

"A great hero, a really exciting series." (Joseph Finder)

Freelance operative Jonathan Grave faces his fiercest challenge yet in best-selling author John Gilstrap's explosive new thriller....

The mission: Drop into the Mexican jungle, infiltrate a drug cartel's compound, and extract a kidnapped DEA agent. But when Jonathan Grave and his partner, Boxers, retrieve the hostage and return to the exfil point, all hell breaks loose. Ambushed, abandoned, and attacked on all sides, their only hope of survival lies inside a remote orphanage where innocent children have been targeted for death. Even if Grave can lead his precious cargo to safety across a hundred miles of treacherous jungle filled with enemies, he can't shake the feeling that something bigger is at play. A vast conspiracy of international power players who take no prisoners - and leave no survivors....

Cover Design by Lou Malcangi.

©2017 John Gilstrap, Inc. (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

One of the best so far!

I love the character development in this series. Humor, drama, intrigue and just enough tactical info keep me wanting more.

Excellent sequel

As usual, this was an excellent adventure mystery. It is a standalone novel, but it does help if you read the ones prior and in order. Looking forward to the next book.

Great Story - each minute exciting

Great suspense from minute one till the end. Each book is good as a standalone but better as a series. The writing and story has improved continuously. The narration is perfect and fits each character. Must listen!

...one of Gilstrap's best Jonathan Grave stories.

Audiobook Review - Final Target - John Gilstrap/Basil Sands
As an author of action/suspense thrillers, John Gilstrap is consistently good at writing consistently good stories, especially with his Jonathan Grave series. Book 9, “Final Target” in the series is an outstanding listen. It is set mostly in Mexico where a murderous drug kingpin kills people for his own entertainment. In this story, Jonathan Grave and his partner ‘Boxers’, are sent to Mexico to rescue a DEA agent kidnapped by a drug cartel. After retrieving the federal agent, they are then hunted them down by the drug lord while trying to escape. They take refuge in an orphanage and later try to escape again but this time with the orphanage children in tow because Grave knows the children will be killed if left behind. There is a bit of conflict between Grave and Boxers because Boxers’ priority is to save the ‘precious cargo’ (PC) - the DEA agent and Grave can't leave children behind to die. Gilstrap developed a richer character of ‘Scorpion’, code name for Grave in this tale and a more sensitive and emotional character for ‘Big Guy’ (Boxers) as well. Their character development fir this narrative was very well done without either losing any of their ‘badass’ attitude. I love this storyline with its twist and turns, suspense, and action. The pace complimented the plot and the ending was explosive! Basil Sands is does another superb job in narrating. Again, Gilstrap’s Jonathan Grave series is consistently good and Final Target is proof of the consistency.

Fantastic! My first Gilstrap listen.

Wasn't expecting such a great book. Great plot, character development and narration. If you like Mitch Rapp, Dewey Andreas, and the like, you will definitely like this book.

Now excuse me while I click to the next screen and order another book in this series.

Best in recent titles

It's the best of this series. I hope there are more with the new characters.

a solid entry

This book isn't going to redeem the western world or improve life for anyone, but it was a solid 13 hours of narrative entertainment, with a plot straightforward enough to follow yet convoluted enough to be interesting, with apparent hopeless hurdles overcome with the right amount of derring-do by a cast large enough to engage the senses.

Wow. Jack Reacher eat your heart out!

Love the Jonathan Grave series. Can't wait for the next one. Keep them coming. Digger and Boxer are my heroes.

Favorite To Date!

I always enjoy the adventurers of Scorpion and Big Guy, but this book is my favorite in the series. In past books, involving children, they are whiney and annoying. The children in this book are tough and have immense personal character, especially Tomas. There was also a richer development of Scorpion and Big Guy's emotional character. It was very well done without either losing any of their badass attitude. Well worth a credit!

Very enjoyable book, awful performance

Would you consider the audio edition of Final Target to be better than the print version?

The print version of this book was thoroughly enjoyable as usual for Gilstrap's Johnathan Grave novels. However, the performer of the audio book was so bad that I stopped listening halfway through the first chapter and considered the credit I paid for it wasted. Later, because I could hardly bear to put the book down to drive, I tried listening again and still could not bring myself to listen to the awful performance.

What other book might you compare Final Target to and why?

This book is right on par and in theme with the other Johnathan Grave books. It is not as deep or nuanced as a Vince Flynn or Tom Clancy, but is more fast-paced for it. At the same time, it is certainly a "smarter" book than Brad Thor's Scott Harvath books. A comparable series would be Ben Coes' Dewey Andreas books, though the characters in Gilstrap's novels are much lighter and more likable. Coes' books are kind of like the dour DC comics movies and Gilstrap's are more like the Marvel cinematic universe.

What didn’t you like about Basil Sands’s performance?

His voice does not lend itself to differentiation and his gruff personalization of the characters is out of sync with the serious but playful nature portrayed in the writing.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

This was a book I wanted to READ in one sitting, but could not stand to listen for more than 10 minutes before I turned it off in disgust and waited for an opportunity to open the print version.

Any additional comments?

I sincerely hope Mr. Gilstrap or his editors find a more worthy reader for his future novels. They are highly enjoyable and it is a shame to have to stop experiencing the story whenever I get in the car, but all the enjoyment is ruined by a bad performance. I highly encourage customers to read the books.