*received for free from netgalley for honest review* It took me awhile to get into this story but it wasn't bad, would read while at work

Hack is great! Stopped me in my tracks, twisted and turn through out the following pages that kept me entertained all the way.

A thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this audiobook.

Perhaps not you, but a few of us have experienced the total let down of a movie where going in we tell ourselves this is not a movie we should waste our time on, but decided to give it a try at least for the first couple of minutes. We tell ourselves we are going to bale after 10 minutes and 30 minutes later we are still watching all the while rationalizing that it will get better as it goes along and when it doesn't we tell ourselves we have come this far, might as well see how things turns out. In fact, this recently happened to me watching an Amazon Prime movie with Sylvester Stallone. Total waste of my rare movie time, but I had gotten so far into it that I had to find out how it ended. Uggh!!!

Hack is not as bad as the example above, but it gets close. I've never been into news reporter novels, this is the first one and suffice it to say, probably the last one or at least it will be a long time before I venture down that beat (pun intended).

The story revolves around Newshound reporter Nik Byron who investigates the bombing of a high-tech office complex, home to tech companies that provide and work for some of the United States top secret programs. When the bombing goes awry, mayhem and murder soon follow.

While the plot is intriguing with many twists and turns and a few surprises along the way, there are pockets of predictability, which takes away from the story. Nik's unwavering and doggedly pursuit of the story and the truth is what any good reporter would do. I am no reporter, but for a veteran reporter like Nik, I asked myself, is he truly a veteran for at times he seems clueless. Where is his shrewd thinking, his Spidey sense when danger is lurking around the corner?

The author takes an easy way out when he reveals key characters in a way that you say, really, I know you just didn't rattle off how the dots connected, no suspense, no surprise, just an A, B, C description of how they came together. You get to the end and then question did all of this really have to happen to create what should have been a suspenseful story.

The book is narrated by Andrew Tell, who, while a good reader, fails at character changes, voice inflections and shortchanges on the suspense.

I gave the book 3 stars because NetGalley nor does Goodreads give you the ability to give half stars, otherwise this would be 2.5.

This was interesting not something I typically read but good I’m glad I did I was enjoyable and different and a blast

In the book Hack, author Mark Pawlosky writes about Nik Byron, a reporter who finds himself at the center of a work-place power struggle, Chinese spies, homegrown terrorist, technology that will change the worlds spying efforts, and more.
This was an ok book. Way too many story lines and you could see the ending a mile away. The audio-book narration was very well done. I received a copy of this audio-book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hack: A Nik Byron Investigation
Mark Pawlosky
After I read the summary of this book, I was very excited to listen to it however, it did nothing for me. I never connected to the characters or the plot. The book is poorly written. The plot did not flow smoothly. This is the first book I’ve read by Mark Pawlosky.
The main character of this tale is Nick Byron. An explosion leads down on his luck, reporter, Nick Byron, hot on a story. Nick faces, spies, terrorists, the government and much more.

This one starts with an explosion and the intrepid reporter who stumbles on a story no one else is reporting. His editor is furious he stays with the story but once he is on to a story he is not letting go and this is a big one. This was a government building or at least housed some government people and appeared the explosion was set off to eliminate them. Militia are involved and crimes are committed across several states before it finally wraps back around to D.C. This was fast paced with some hiccups along the way but overall I didn't want to put it down.

An explosion at a high-tech office park draws down-on-his-luck journalist, Nik Byron, into a tense investigation of what the powers that be would love to write off as an unfortunate accident. What follows is an intrigue in which Nik is caught between a billionaire and the government, Chinese spies, homegrown terrorists, and a meddling boss.

If you're looking for a story that kicks off a thriller series with an investigative journalist at its center, you may have just found what you're looking for. In the grand tradition of adventure protagonist such as James Bond, I suspect that Nik Byron will develop little over the series. He'll still be drinking Bud and skirting personal and financial disaster as much on the last page as on the first. There's a charm in an unchanging main character, especially if you're more interested in being swept up by the action.

However, even putting aside the utter failure of the Bechdel test and the hacky, unrealistic portrayal of women in this book (the 'evil' ex, the current love interest who is as beautiful, fit, and successful as Nik is a mid ne'er-do-well and yet still wants enthusiastically to be with him); I find the plot would have done well without the framing devices of news articles written, and then podcast voiced by, Nik. In addition, there's some filler here. For instance, I don’t need to be hand in hand with the MC while he goes to his place to change in between meetings. I don’t want to sit through him recounting the most exciting event of the narrative to his colleagues in the very next scene. It tends to bogs down the action.

DNF at 74%.

I did enjoy the premise of the story and the characters but I found myself really lacking in grip. 74% of the way in and I wasn't really bothered about missing out on the ending and found myself zoning out from it which is not what we want from a book. Partly due to the narrator also.

I liked this book well enough. The performance aspect is very good. The story is good, I would not go so far as to say great. If you’re looking for a timely and good read, it’s worth a listen.

A Midwest reporter stumbles upon a story about an explosion- the path leads him to spies, terrorists, and even a computer expert. This book is filled with twists and turns in the plot while the reader decides or second guesses who are the bad guys. What a read/listen!

Listened to the audiobook version of this book, a good choice of narrator for the story. Hack started out with a bang! And the event follows a reporter Nik Byron is on the hunt to expose the story. Nik Byron has a connection to where the events took place and come in contact quickly with almost all the pieces of the puzzle, it was just a matter of doing due diligence on how they all fit together, lucky for Byron, he has a team and a reputation of connections that work alongside him to put the pieces together and provide it to the public in an unexpected medium for Nik Byrong altogether. A page-turner if you're reading it and a no-pause moment if you're listening to the audiobook. It will keep you on your toes, we are talking about top-secret technology that has certain individuals tying up loose ends here and some unexpected heroes that come out of this quick-paced mystery.

This is a story about a reporter who stumbles onto a big story about an explosion at a top secret DoD contractor. It was a fast moving story that did occasionally have some abruptness. At times the story did jump around a lot. I liked that there was a lot of action and things kept happening. I do think that with another edit this story could have been 5 stars! As it stand, I would recommend it to folks looking for a thriller. The story was such that I continued listening because I wanted to know how it would resolve. The resolution was okay. I will give this book 3.5 stars and round up to 4.

I'd like to thank OrangeSky Audio and NetGalley for this free advanced audiobook in exchange for my honest review.
#HackAudiobook #NetGalley #OrangeSkyAudio

Hack was one of the most boring books I read this year.
The sentence structure was similar to that of a 12 year old discovering adjectives for the first time; painfully descriptive without giving the information that I actually wanted.
The chapter endings were abrupt.
The plot jumped around.
I’m not sure if I’m overwhelmed or underwhelmed but I’m glad it’s over.

On a positive note, I think the story would have been great if it had been delivered properly.

The writing was so poor -- just lots and lots of expounding -- that I gave up without finishing this one.

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A sudden explosion has Newshound Reported Nick Byron on the case. He finds himself up against terrorists, American and Chinese spies, mercenaries and a brilliant computer expert.

A good try for this debut novel. Its action packed and extremely fast paced. I would have liked if it slowed downed a bit as there were a wide set of characters and often found myself a bit lost.

Overall a really good plot, one that I think many will enjoy.

Thank you Netgalley and OrangeSky Audio for this ARC.

I did not finish at the 18% mark. I did not like the narrator. The tone of voice and inflections grated on my nerves and I just could not listen to this audiobook any longer. The story was not bad and I probably would have enjoyed this audiobook if a different narrator had been used.