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  • The Jackal

  • Black Dagger Brotherhood: Prison Camp, Book 1
  • Written by: J. R. Ward
  • Narrated by: Jim Frangione
  • Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (64 ratings)

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The Jackal

Written by: J. R. Ward
Narrated by: Jim Frangione
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Publisher's Summary

The number one New York Times best-selling author of The Sinner brings another hot adventure of true love and ultimate sacrifice in the Black Dagger Brotherhood world.

The location of the glymera’s notorious prison camp was lost after the raids. When a freak accident provides Nyx clues to where her sister may still be doing time, she becomes determined to find the secret subterranean labyrinth. Embarking on a journey under the earth, she learns a terrible truth - and meets a male who changes everything, forever.

The Jackal has been in the camp for so long he cannot recall anything of the freedom he once knew. Trapped by circumstances out of his control, he helps Nyx because he cannot help himself. After she discovers what happened to her sister, getting her back out becomes a deadly mission for them both.

United by a passion they can’t deny, they work together on an escape plan for Nyx - even though their destiny is to be forever apart. And as the Black Dagger Brotherhood is called upon for help, and Rhage discovers he has a half-brother who’s falsely imprisoned, a devious warden plots the deaths of them all...even the Brothers.

©2020 Love Conquers All, Inc. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

What listeners say about The Jackal

Average Customer Ratings
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

meh .

struggled to get into this one. the rest of the books she writes are amazing.

1 person found this helpful

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Disappointing

I’ve been a fan of the Black Dagger books, but this one I barely managed to finish. The setting is claustrophobic and unappealing. The story line forced. Jim is a great narrator but he can’t rescue this one.

1 person found this helpful

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Required headline here

4 instead of 5 stars because I'm just not a big fan of prison narratives is all.

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A must read for BDB Fans!

I was pleasantly surprised by this latest offering from J. R. Ward. The story unfolded at a great pace, bringing enough of our favorite established characters into the Prison Camp fold. Great new characters and a sinister setting really up the drama, it's a hard one to put down. Can't wait for more!

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  • Allison Payne
  • 2020-08-19

dubious beginning

I'm not done yet but I'm severely turned off by the fact that this protagonist goes into this tank nasty underground prison and within hours of meeting some prisoner has sex with him in the prison which is disgusting and stupid and kind of goes beyond believability. I'm like really? you came to save your sister who is the focus of your life but you're going to have random passing sex with some dude that you've never met before. I'm going to finish and see what happens hopefully it gets better cuz it's already straining the limits of credulity or at least halfway good sense. now that I'm finished it's pretty much a light fluff piece. not much depth of character when you consider all of the other Black Dagger brotherhood Brothers the depth of character in the seriousness of the clocks etc this was just completely undermined by the whole Danielle Steele of it all. well maybe the next book.

38 people found this helpful

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  • Kindle Customer
  • 2020-08-23

I hope the next in the series aren't as creepy

I'm 2/3 done and struggling to finish. Sex with a prisoner within 24 hours basically in exchange for help. Yuck - I find it creepy. The basic premise - she thinks she can get her sister out of this super secure prison is also a bit farfetched (yes, I know I'm listening to an audiobook about *vampires*, so it's relative). I love Jim Frangione's voice, but I'm really having a heard time differentiating between characters. they basically all sound the same to me. Overall, this one is a disappointment. JR Ward is still an auto-buy for me, but I'm really hoping the next ones in this series are better.

16 people found this helpful

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  • Georgina
  • 2020-08-19

Nyx and Jack: Predestine fate

As a huge BDB fan I am so happy we get to stay in this wonderful world. Speaking of which, this is 100% in the BDB world and does overlap with the BDB folks we know but only briefly. The vast majority is in a new place with all new people.

Nyx is brave, stubborn, naïve, loyal and loves with her whole self. The Jackal is all of those but not naive- life has been way too harsh for that. They balance each other in a Ying-yang way as many of the couples in the BDB world do.

Although there is some humor, this one is very dark (it is a prison!) and some truly gross and heartbreaking moments. (Sadly no Lassiter in leopard spandex.) Somehow Ward still gives it all the same amazing writing, enough action to hold interest and keep you listening (sleep, who needs sleep?) and the heartfelt romance we have come to expect.

Jim Frangione is always a marvel and I feel so grateful we have him for the whole BDB series. Can you and Ward be immortal please so we have many more novels to look forward too?

13 people found this helpful

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  • ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧
  • 2020-08-21

✫✫ 5 Stars ✫✫

I'll admit it did take me some time to get into this book. I'm not sure if that was the book or life getting in the way though but once I started following all the storylines I was excited to see how everything was going to come together. I really enjoyed getting a glimpse of Rhage & Darius together in the past. I really hope this isn't the last we see of Darius' past. Jack was a great character, he was honorable and will fit nicely back into the BDB world. I can't wait to see what will happen with the Prison now. I am hopeful that the BDB will make releasing some of these prisoners a priority. I mean yeah some are still pretty rough and probably shouldn't be free but I feel like 100+ years is enough lol.
I'll be impatiently waiting for the next book in this series.

Jim Frangione is BDB for me. I hope that never changes!!!

12 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • Wendy Greene
  • 2020-11-20

Disappointing

While I am a huge fan of the Black Dagger brotherhood universe, this book was quite disappointing. main characters behaviors were often ridiculously naive. for example, when you kill a prison guard one would normally expect him to be missed and the prison to be put on lockdown. the main character lively walks into a prison on her own, in street clothes, with only a few guns or grandfather insisted she take. really? this is not the kind of behavior that I have come to it expect in them the bdb universe. if you put that together with a smarmy ending worthy of the Disney channel then you get... disappointed. sadly I cannot recommend this book. I hope that the authors future endeavors return to their previous quality.

9 people found this helpful

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  • M. Thurman
  • 2020-08-24

Not my usual love affair

I usually love each of these books but this one was not one of my favorites. It may be my least favorite of them all. It was painful trying to stay committed until it picked up steam. I liked the Jackal. Cant even recall if we learned his real name. Calling him the Jackal for the whole story was odd. I liked his character a lot, as well as his band of prison buddies. I can’t say I liked Nyx much or at least i did not until the last quarter of the book. I didnt like much until the last quarter. Usually i get sucked in from the start. This one was just average for me. I will still recommend because it adds a new arm to one of my favorite series. I will hold on with hopes that i like the next ones better.

9 people found this helpful

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  • frances shelton
  • 2020-10-11

another hit for J.R.Ward

I have to say, when I heard that Ward was writing a new side series after she finished the BDB Legacy books, I was not that excited when I heard that it'd be about the prison camp. I imagined grubby inmates, crowded cell blocks, in-fighting, nothing that could surely be romantic, or even add much excitement to the BDB world. How wrong I was! If this is the first of a 4/5 book side series this was a great start! I should have known better than to doubt Ward! While the main series may have gone slightly astray in places more recently and a bit dreary/samey at times, the legacy books always held my attention and were a breath of fresh air, and this book definitely did that for me too.

The Jackal begins in the present time, with Rhage and Bitty enjoying movie night. We get some flashbacks into his life a century ago, and Darius also makes an appearance, which I was very excited about, being strangely attached to a Brother who we barely knew! Similar to flashbacks in previous books, the phrasing/language is kind of 'old/historical', and at times it does take me out of the scene, thinking, 'this was only the early 20th C, surely people didn't talk like this then', but there are still glimmers of 'Rhageisms' and you still feel his character as we know him. I do love getting to know more about the Brothers' history, so I was really thankful for these parts.

Rhage meets 'The Jackal' during these flashback periods, but I won't give anything away about what happens.

The main female character is Nyx, and I LOVED her. She's strong, fierce, determined, yes a little stubborn but aren't most of them? I don't want to give away too much of the plot but circumstances arise where she is looking for her sister, who is in prison, and she finds out the location of the prison and goes to try and free her. Very soon into this search she meets The Jackal, who has been an inmate of the prison for a long time. He agrees to help her. They make a great team, and of course, things happen between them.

Now, I think there must be times when it's hard for a writer of a series such as this to come up with new ideas for characters, surely everything has already been done, but somehow with this couple Ward has managed to make both characters come alive beautifully, they seem quite unique, have good, solid backstories, are likeable, and I connected with them both early on, which meant I was very invested in their story.

The storyline was weaved very well, the flashbacks, then the different POVs of the two main characters, little breadcrumbs of info, making me eager to continue and read on to find out what was going on, and what would happen. For example, it becomes clear that the Jackal has different treatment in the prison, he has a secret, which we only find out later. I thought this was all done very well, there are some interesting twists, and while some of them may have been more predictable than others, they were still very satisfying.

There's even some V and Fritz. I mean, I feel spoiled.

The ending is perfect. My lip quivered. I got the warm and fuzzies.

Thank you, Ms Ward. I still love this world you create, and I can't wait to read more.



6 people found this helpful

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  • Cherie
  • 2020-08-26

I love it!

This is so BDB! I love how the back story comes together and ties with all the other books but does not take away from this story! I'm so in love with the BDB I need one of my own 😉

4 people found this helpful

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  • JamieD
  • 2020-08-26

So MANY Questions!!!

Once again, JR Ward pulled me into the world of the Brothers and wouldn't let me go!!! I started the book with so many questions and true to her style of writing, the WARDEN only answered a few of them, and left me with even more questions by the end of the book. I expect nothing less from the great JR Ward.

This book truly is a "grip the edge of your seat" kind of book! I screamed. I cried. I said WTF about a million times!!!! The synopsis eluded to the Brothers going to the camp....and I waited and waited and waited thinking they were going to have to swoop in and take care of things Brotherhood style. That was so not the case!!!! I fell instantly in love with Jack, although.....he could have had to work a little harder to get Nyx..just sayin.. Can not wait to get my hands on the next Prison Camp book!!! This is one spin off of the Brothers I will read over and over again!!

4 people found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 2021-12-20

loved it

After you're 27 books/novellas in, how much weight does "loved it" even still carry.

Jim and JR Ward are perfection. Again.

I didn't get as hooked as quickly as I did the Legacy series, but the prison camp series are clearly a must read for any BDB fan. And let's face it. We're 27 books in at this point. If we've stayed for this long, we're not leaving.

3 people found this helpful