3.5 out of 5

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Audio for the free advance audiobook.

Grant Anderson lives a peaceful life in a small town. He has a job he loves building boats, and a girlfriend named Sarah. Except he isn’t really Grant Anderson, and he’s a man on the run. The story alternates between present day and the past, starting five years ago when he met Tatiana, an oligarch’s daughter. As he grows closer to Tatiana and her family, he learns explosive secrets that could put him in danger.

This is spy thriller and suspense territory, not something I’d usually choose. But this title has been on my TBR list since I first heard about it. The plot drew me in. I don’t know that I’d choose to read more books in a similar vein in the future, but I did enjoy this one. It was fast paced, action packed, constant twists and turns. There were moments of suspense that felt like they involved me personally for how invested I was in the characters.

The narrator was Mark Bramhall. He added an even keeled aspect to the story and did a great job making the most of suspenseful moments. The action was so fast paced, it was hard to press pause and walk away because I wanted to know what happened next.

However, I did not like how Bramhall played Tatiana’s parts. His voice for her character was cringe worthy. It gave me the ick. I didn’t have any issues with other characters, including other women in the novel, just with Tatiana’s voice. A second narrator, a woman, would have been ideal. Another disappointment for me was that some of the twists were pretty predictable, and some of the situations were really far fetched, almost to where belief needed to be suspended. The big ending was not a shocker and that was a disappointment too. Overall, worth a listen. Fans of spy thrillers will appreciate aspects that I likely missed and get more out of this novel, potentially enjoying it more.