UC - The Venetian Judgment [Audiobook] [Audio CD]

David Stone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2009

Unabridged CDs • 9 CDs, 11 hours

Deception in the CIA, historical intrigue, and blood in the streets—Micah Dalton returns in the stunning new novel by the New York Times–bestselling author.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At the start of bestseller Stone's formulaic third thriller to feature CIA cleaner Micah Dalton (after The Orpheus Deception), Dalton takes revenge late one night outside Venice's Piazza San Marco on one of the Serbian thugs responsible for the death of his lover, Cora Vasari. Dalton's actions result in his becoming involved in the search for a high-level traitor in the CIA's ranks, who's believed to be behind the brutal murder of elderly Mildred Durant, an unofficial adviser to an NSA decryption team known as the Glass Cutters, in her London home. Durant worked on the Venona Project, the interception of Soviet cable traffic, during the cold war. It appears Stalin had a source close to Roosevelt who was never exposed. While no one will mistake Stone for John le Carré, series fans are sure to root for the unstoppable Dalton, compared at one point to the newly risen Christ, only blond and not quite so loving, with a bullet scar on one cheek and no intention at all of turning the other. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

David Stone is the cover name for a man born into a military family with a long history of honorable service. Stone served in the military, has worked as an intelligence officer and as an investigator for a state-level law enforcement agency, and has lived and worked in North America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Audio CD
• Publisher: Penguin Audio; Unabridged edition (May 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143144588
• ISBN-13: 978-0143144588
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,996,121 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Stone is the cover name for a man born into a military family with a long history of honorable service. Stone has served in the military, has worked as an intelligence officer and as an investigator for a state-level law enforcement agency, and has lived and worked in North America, Central America, and Southeast Asia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can a spy thriller be lyrical? This one is., August 10, 2009

By 

Thriller Fan (Las Vegas, NV United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Venetian Judgment (Micah Dalton) (Kindle Edition)

This will probably seem like an unlikely compliment for a spy thriller in which many people are ruthlessly, brutally murdered, but The Venetian Judgment is quite beautifully written. There's no doubt that David Stone knows his stuff, as the terminology used throughout the book makes that clear, but what struck me as particularly intriguing is his writing style, which is far more lyrical and, dare I say poetic, than your typical espionage author's. Granted, some of Stone's sentences are the longest I've ever read, but at least they're full of vivid similes and metaphors that take the reader on a meandering path that's no hardship to travel. Many times, I forgot that I was reading prose written by a former intelligence officer (no insult meant to those in that profession!). It just seems to be a book written by someone who loves words more than guns and violence.

Plot-wise, I enjoyed the parallel storylines. I tend to prefer books in which the main character receives the most screentime, but I was happy to make an exception in this case because the second storyline is exciting in its own way. I also especially enjoyed the opening. After recently reading and reviewing another famous spy author who's fallen into the trap of formula, it was refreshing to read the opening of The Venetian Judgment, which plunges you straight into the action and the main character's suicidal thought processes (along with some fond descriptions of Venice).

Micah Dalton remains one of my favorite characters and his interactions with Mandy are a lot of fun. Micah sounds a little too British sometimes for my taste but I suppose Mandy's wearing off on him. As a pair they're fun but sharp, never getting corny or schmoopy. I tend to be very critical of female secondary characters but Stone does a good job of making Mandy a worthy partner for Micah.

In short, I recommend The Venetian Judgment as an atypical spy thriller. Too often in this genre all the emphasis is placed on the action without a care for how the story is imparted. That certainly isn't the case here. Here's hoping there are many more novels to come from David Stone.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars interesting, but slow and disjointed, October 7, 2009

By 

bookaddict - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Venetian Judgment (Micah Dalton) (Kindle Edition)

I like David Stones previous books, so i was looking forward to reading this one. He is a great author but I just could not get into the book. It seemed too disjointed, and a little slow. I will still read his next book just because I think this was a speed bump in an other wise great authors career.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fast paced action, August 15, 2010

By 

Manfred Rohrauer (Wien) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Venetian Judgment (Hardcover)

The Venetian Judment is the 3rd book in a series of adventures of Micah Dalton, an unvoluntarily-gone-rogue CIA operative. The first book got off to a slow start but developed well, the second was slightly better than the first one but this one is REALLY good. It's fast written, the characters are very well carved out by now and the places of events sizzle with action. I have to admit I am a hard-core crime and spy novel reader but Venetian Judgment has been the first book for a long time that really made it difficult for me to put it down. Now looking forward to the 4th part, Skorpion Directive. Thanks to Mr. Stone for entertaining me so well, please keep up your good work.