Island of Thieves

A Novel

By: Glen Erik Hamilton

Narrated by: Stephen Mendel

Length: 15 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

When a new security gig turns into a setup, expert thief Van Shaw finds himself the prey in a cross-country pursuit - in this electrifying sixth novel in Glen Erik Hamilton’s pulse-pounding and emotionally resonant thriller series.

Van Shaw is hired to evaluate the safeguards for the art collection of eccentric business magnate Sebastien Rohner. Then Rohner reveals to Van the real reason he’s been recruited: to prevent another professional burglar from stealing the art. Rohner wants to set a thief to catch a thief.

While questioning the bizarre nature of the job, Van accepts the lucrative offer and arrives at the island estate during an international summit that Rohner is hosting. Shortly after beginning his surveillance of Rohner’s highly secure gallery wing, Van stumbles across the murdered body of one of the honored guests along the rocky shore. Wary of Rohner’s true intentions, Van knows the homicide detectives on the case - and perhaps Rohner as well - think he’s the prime suspect and will turn his life upside down in their search for proof.

Van begins to hunt for the killer himself, but scrutiny only digs his hole deeper, as one of Rohner’s own executives is then killed and the Seattle police find concrete evidence placing Van at the scene. With no other options, he goes on the run, alone and unaided. He’s hunted by the cops, the enraged Rohner, and by a pair of psychopathic hitmen who chase Van from one coast to the next. To clear his name, Van Shaw will have to uncover the hidden motive of corporate espionage at a global level, even with a band of killers on his tail, determined to add Van to their growing list of victims.

©2021 Glen Erik Hamilton (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Good book

Good book with a great protagonist and an engaging story told with a crisp language. A couple of shortcomings make it a four star from me. That is the plot was a bit convoluted, the narration monotone and i didn't like especially that the author switched the narration from the first person pov, as it was in the previous books, to the third person POV. Not a fan of skipping from one POV to another either.

Excellent

A complex protagonist set in a complex situation. A very enjoyable story that is very well read.

Great story, but.....

I have enjoyed this author from his first book in this series. I also preferred RC Bray as the narrator. While a story line can be great, it's the delivery of the story that makes an audible book worth listeening.
This is the sceocd boo. in this series, narrated by Stephen Mendel. I simply have a hard time staying interested in listening to this book, because his narration is very flat. I like to listen to someone who is engaged in the story and keeps it alive. This narraror reads the story and does not breathe life into it. His narration of this book is considerably better than his performance in "A Dangerous Breed". He did fairly well in presenting different voices for the characters, but the general narration of the story was choppy.
I would assume that there is a director or producer that verifies the reading of the story. Aapparently whoever this is, does not listen to audible books very much as a means of entertainment.
I guess I am disgruntled when a book series comes out and the orignal narrator becomes the "voice" of the book and the characters after 3 or 4 books. Then a different narrator takes over that is not as good as the first one. I know this is not unusual with Audible books. I tend to follow the narrators that I like and even though I may be into a series from an author, if the narration is uninteresting, I will not buy the book.
Sorry, but Audible books is a major soruce of entertainment for me, and I appreciate good story lines and great narrators.

Would’ve been 5* with R C Bray

Loved the story, probably my favorite in the series so far. Story kept taking multiple twists and turns to keep you guessing. Lots of interesting characters, some good and bad at the same time. Only thing that kept this installment from being 5* was the narration. The author needs to bring back R C Bray.

ITS ALWAYS THE NARRATION!

I enjoyed the story. A bit long, but ok. The narrator, however, ruined it. He sounded like he was reading off a teleprompter. I think I would have enjoyed it more with a better quality narration.