Battles and Brick - a great combination

STORY (thriller) - Becoming Quinn is Book 4.1 in this series, but it should be Book 1. It explains the story of how Jake, a young cop, is motivated to change careers and become a cleaner -- the guy that gets rid of bodies and makes the scene of "an elimination" appear as if nothing ever happened. I stumbled on Book 5 in this series in a sale (The Destroyed) and absolutely loved it, so I decided to start the series from the beginning.

The story starts quickly and is exciting till the very end. There's plenty of detective work, action and great character development of young Jake, who by the end of the book has become Quinn the cleaner. The book can stand alone, but you won't be able to resist continuing the series to see how he handles his first assignment.

PERFORMANCE - Scott Brick is wonderful in this book. It's not that he does any foreign accents or multi-character differentiation, but just the way he reads...

OVERALL - I would highly recommend this for any adult who enjoys good thrillers. There is killing and "cleaning" but the book isn't overly violent and not at all gory. There is no sex, and I don't remember any cursing. Start with this book before you continue on with the series.

42 people found this helpful

A Great Origins Story

Would you consider the audio edition of Becoming Quinn to be better than the print version?

Absolutely

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jake. Because we see him as he grows up and becomes Quinn

Have you listened to any of Scott Brick’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

All Scott's performances are amazing

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

No

Any additional comments?

Becoming Quinn is considered to be the origin story for the Jonathan Quinn series of thrillers by best-selling and award-winning author Brett Battles and the audiobook is performed by the great Scott Brick. As you may probably remember, I am a big fan of Mr. Battles‘s , but until last week I didn’t listened to this thrilling prequel and now I’m glad that I did…

The story in Becoming Quinn follows rookie cop Jake Oliver as he tries to investigate, unauthorized and on its own, a suspicious fire in which a man died, but not because of his burns. Jake has no right to delve into this matter, but his curiosity gets the better of him and after poking in the wrong places, strange things begin to happen. I will not give away too much of the plot because it is so well written and thought out and I’d prefer for you to discover it yourself.

If you are a Quinn fan and you didn’t read or listened to this book yet, you have to give it a try. This is how Jonathan Quinn was born, here is where we meet for the first time legendary figures from the Quinn series and this feels more like a mystery, combined with police procedural than a classic thriller. I really enjoyed discovering how Brett Battles imagined Quinn‘s character arc and how the 22 years old rookie evolves and becomes Jonathan Quinn.

Just like with any other adventure by Brett Battles, Becoming Quinn is fast, gripping, interesting, filled with action, tense moments and for me it was unputdownable.

Scott Brick, who is ”the voice of Quinn” in my head brings, once more, all the characters to life with passion and attention. There are no strange accents or too many voices for him to work with, but it’s crystal clear that he loves this series and that he enjoys very much performing Quinn‘s adventures for us audiobooks fans…

I said it before, many times, and I’ll say it again, Scott Brick is one of the most respected narrators in the Audiobook Industry and he deserves it without a doubt…

This audiobook was a treat for me because is part of one of my favourites series, it is written by one of my favourites authors an it is delivered by one of my top 3 favourites narrators…

Hope you enjoyed this review and if you find it helpful, please vote Yes below.
You can find more reviews at theAudiobookBlog dot com
Thank you,
Victor

31 people found this helpful

Excellent Story of How A Great Hero is Made

I purchased this 9 months ago and tried to listen to it. But I am impulsive and compulsive and did not give it proper attention. I know this because this time I started it from the beginning and was riveted for the next 8 hours of listening.

It begins with a covert hit of some kind by highly trained professionals. The man in charge of cover up, called a cleaner, notes a few mistakes made during the operation, but is confident all loose ends are covered. But when a 22 year old rookie police officer begins noticing very obscure clues, the cleaner's job becomes infinitely more complicated.

Fortunately for the cleaner, the rookie's inexperience and lack of authority renders his investigation useless by authorities. But the cleaner watches in amazement at the young cop's eye for detail and logic uncovers the truth of what really went down. But now another problem has reared its head. A key member of the hit squad wants the rookie dead.

Thus begins the end of a talented police officer's career before it really began, and the recruitment and training of a professional cleaner in the covert world of espionage.

20 people found this helpful

Action Packed! Loved It!

This I my first read/listen by Brett Battles but certainly not my last... I picked the title based on reviews and 4.95 offer by audible. I am so glad that I took the offer and glad that I read this one first (based on the highly rated reviews of the other Quinn titles).

The story kept me listening and on the edge of my seat throughout. This is the story of how a newly inexperienced rookie cop uses his instincts, combined with his training lands him in the middle of a professional hit and clean-up job gone wrong. He thinks outside the box and finds the clues overlooked by the detectives working the case. Quinn reminded me a little bit of a younger Colombo but much more...more modern, more action, more suspense and much more entertaining. This is the story of how Jake Oliver became Jonathan Quinn, the Cleaner. Highly recommend.

Scott Brick is one of my favorite narrators and he did an excellent job.

13 people found this helpful

Good read and great narration..

I really, really liked this book. Even though Durrie wasn’t our hero he was still my favorite character. I liked Officer Oliver too but he seemed a little too young to me. BUT Oliver was smart. He figured out what happened in the barn and Durrie simply couldn’t believe it.

It was all about Durrie being a “cleaner,” a person who cleaned up the dead bodies when they were assassinated, and he did work for the government. It was amazing all that happened when he cleaned up after a person. He was supposed to kill Oliver but he decided to recruit him instead.

I did read Brett Battles’ Excoms books and I thoroughly enjoyed them but I liked this one much better. Reviewers kept mentioning the Jonathon Quinn books by this same author so when I saw this one listed as a free read and free listen I got it so I could see just who Jonathan Quinn. And between him and Durrie it was a pretty awesome book. I’m sure I’ll be reading more of this series, maybe not all 11 or 12 books but some of them.

No romance or sex or anything like that, but the F-bomb was used only 4 times.

As to the narration: Scott Brick did a great job. Not so much with Berit’s voice but as the only woman in the book she wasn’t in it that much or that long. I would definitely listen to him again.

2 people found this helpful

Strong Back Story to Quinn's Beginning

This was a Fantastic story and an even Better read. Can't wait to go back and read the series from the beginning and watch Quinn evolve...Handle your business Brett!!

2 people found this helpful

ADDICTING

It got me from the beginging, almost stayed up all night for several readings. .

2 people found this helpful

New Jonathan Quinn coming on 5-17-2016

Brett Battles is one of those authors whose works I always pre-order. Book 10 in his Jonathan Quinn series, the title is The Unleashed, releases on May 17. The Kindle version was released on March 11, 2016. I could not wait, so I have already read it, but have also pre-ordered the audiobook version so Scott Brick can read it again for me. The Unleashed is a solid 5 star espionage thriller.

Becoming Quinn is a background book on Jonathan Quinn. It is listed by Audible as Book 0.5 in the series, but was released at the same time as Book 5. It is a fascinating novel. Kindle Unlimited customers can borrow the Kindle and Audible versions at no additional cost. Otherwise the best way to purchase it is Whispersync for Voice buying the Kindle version for $3.99 and the Audible version for $1.99.

Scott Brick, who NEVER disappoints, narrates.

11 people found this helpful

A Well Done and Interesting Story

Any additional comments?

I'm pretty stingy about 5 star reviews ... However, if you like books of this genre as well as Brett Battles and his protagonist Quinn, you'll really like "Becoming Quinn". Please don't be put off by the fact that this is a prequel or rather short for an unabridged book - I think this is one of Battle's finest books.

9 people found this helpful

Trust Your Gut

Wow, from the very start, Jake trusted his intuition in appreciating details around him. What others required months, if not years, Jake seemed to have in "spades", when it came to logical conclusions. So glad he grabbed on to a new career, once given the chance. Hated to have the story end but nice knowing more is out there!

1 person found this helpful