A second, brilliant, Nick Sullivan outing.

More technothriller, and as a geek, this one was right up my street, but then it already was, because it's a Nick Sullivan thriller. Again, Karla Forbes treats us to a plausible, fast-paced story. A great combination of intelligence and action. As in the first book, the detail behind the virus attack was never boring.
Nick Sullivan is in a slightly calmer job/ position at the start but that soon ends when he meets up with Bryony Elliot. Great to see Analise back too. All the characters are really well rounded, have great (if sad for one) backstories and progress realistically by the end of the book. Hopefully, we will see more of Bryony and Analise. There's also more humorous interaction, including the quotes we love from Nick (I'm hoping and assuming this will be a staple of the next volumes)
Craig Bowles' narration, was great. He has really got into the flow of these stories and the character's voices.
I can see there are so far 6 or 7 more stories, so I'll definitely be carrying on.

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Really good read

Thoroughly enjoyed this second book. Really pacy and entertaining. I’m looking forward to book three

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Great follow on

Loved the first Nick Sullivan book, Fallout. It really captured the imagination. The Third Wave was a captivating listen as well, but because I'm a Luddite, I struggled more with the subject matter. I missed AnnaLise and am thrilled she's back and I hope we'll hear a lot more from her in Book 3, (is there a Book 3? I certainly hope so). I felt ever so sad for Bryony; what a horrible life she'd had. Ms Forbes laid out her heartache in a compassionate and careful way and it never once even edged close to mawkish sentimentality. Craig Bowles once again does an excellent job of narrating and listening to him felt like I was catching up with a friend. This is shaping up into a great series and I'm very hopeful and excited for a third book. Fingers crossed!

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2 people found this helpful

Nick Sullivan is back!

I listened to the first Nick Sullivan book a couple of months ago so I was really looking forward to the second one, and I wasn’t disappointed!

This time Nick is working for a private security company and is given the job of surveillance on Bryony Elliott, a brilliant but very naïve PhD student studying computer viruses and artificial intelligence. It should be an easy job, but once again Nick is thrown into a life and death situation trying to save Bryony and himself.

The story is very fast paced, and the threat of a computer virus which takes over the worlds computers is all too believable. Nick is a very likeable hero and I loved the character of Bryony and how she developed over the course of the book, and after the ending of the book I wonder if we might meet her again in the future?

This is a great fast paced thriller and I am very much looking forward to Book 3 in the series.

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Great read

Really enjoyed this read. Fast paced story with no time to get bogged down with unnecessary detail. WARNING - can cause late nights

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Fab 2nd story

Nick goes bounding into another bundle of mayhem. This follows great from the 1st book & doesn’t let anyone down with the adventures.
A virus let out to damage anything & everything & the before during & after just takes off & is fast paced & exactly what I enjoy listening to. Kept me hooked & looking forward to the next book!
Narrator again did different voices & kept the tale paced so well.
An excellent all rounder

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Fast paced thriller

I loved book one but was blown away by book two. I think I preferred this story as I was thrown and confused at every twist and turn. It’s exciting and the narrator is great so a joy to listen to as well. Roll on book three.

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Great 2nd book

Nick is certainly someone who doesn't like a quiet life! Sent to keep surveillance on Bryony a brilliant PhD student, he soon becomes embroiled in far more than he'd imagined. To keep an eye on Bryony he has to become involved in her life, but she's not the quiet studious type everyone thinks she is. This assignment soon descends into non-stop action and adventure. As with the first book, the pace of the story moves along really well, keeping you wanting to know what happens. A great 2nd book in the series, looking forward to book 3.

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Animal rights & cyber attacks, oh my!

Note: Even though this is Book 2, it works fine as a stand alone novel.

Nick Sullivan is an adrenaline junky. He fell into this life in the previous book but loves the action and danger. In his own head, he is the hero but it’s the rush that motivates him, not any quest for justice. I don’t really like Nick but he is a bit more interesting in this book than he was in Book 1, Fallout.

Meanwhile, Bryony (a computer genius) is an animal rights activist. Nick is assigned to keep an eye on her. There’s also Charles Morgan who wants to use her, well her computer skills, to get the Mafia off his back. Nick and Charles instantly dislike one another, and that will turn into despising one another later on.

I really wanted to like Bryony. On the surface, she looks like a strong character (in many regards) – PhD computer student (focusing on computer viruses) and a very active and daring animal rights activist. But I found her pretty whiny throughout the story. She often stamps her foot in frustration. Her stubbornness is her most endearing trait. In many scenes she acts more like a 15 year old than a PhD student.

Then we have Nick. He isn’t good with women at the best of times. Often he’s condescending and enjoys mansplaining things. And, indeed, he is this way with Bryony. While I understand that Nick is written as a self-centered adrenaline junky, I still found his dismissive nature towards Bryony annoying. I need to like one of the main characters and for this book, I didn’t like either of them. Meanwhile, there are few other women in the book, all with minor roles. Annalise (Nick’s new girlfriend) has a small role as well… and I think she would have something to say about Nick’s relationship with Bryony. Once again, the ladies are sexualized in one way or another, instead of standing on their other traits.

I did like the main plot, which involves this crippling computer virus. Bryony is vital to the plot (yay!) but she needs rescuing, reassuring, bedding, and having the raw truth of the situation explained to her again and again. Much of this would have been OK if she was in her teens, but she’s supposed to be an adult with some life experience under her belt. I did like how her phobia was written into the story, why it’s integral to the plot, and how she grows from the experience. I didn’t like how Nick is the one to mainsplain it to her, more than once.

The pacing is good. Plenty of action and I liked the betrayal. 3.5/5 stars.

The Narration: Craig Bowles once again voices Nick Sullivan and he’s a perfect match for his voice. Bowles had distinct voices for all the characters and his female voice (which he uses for all the ladies) sounds feminine. One thing that niggled was the consistent mispronunciation of Heckler and Koch. This gun company has the correct pronunciation under their FAQ section. The correct English pronunciation, according to the company, is ‘coke’. The pacing was good and there were no tech issues with the recording. 4/5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book. My opinions are 100% my own.

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Fast Paced Action

In this novel, Nick Sullivan has a new job working for security, the first job babysitting a student who has a PhD in AI,and she is also an animal rights activist, and she has 2 new friends? They in turn work for a man called Morgan who owns a computer technology and is in debt to the mob, but he has big ideas and sets out a plan to make himself a billionaire. The time now is of the essence and he tells his thugs the time is right for Bryony Elliott to do her stuff i.e. she writes viruses for computers, and they have orders to make her release her virus. Nick takes her home after being in an animal raid of her making that went wrong and before Nick leaves the thugs decide to turn up and to Bryony's horror, they insist she releases the virus. Nick is very astute he knows as soon as she has done this she is dispensable, so she thinks up a way to try and defer it, and to there horror they end up in a sawmill in Dorset.with Nick being bashed and battered about, so as to make Bryony work. They get into many a tight fit and this time Nick seems to come off very badly, and it does begin to wonder if he will make it thru.
Annaleas has not really been mentioned in this 2nd series but Nick now knows that he loves her but will he get to tell her.? Great series and brilliant narration and could all be listened to as standalone, the only bugbear with this is Nick's constant quotes.

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