The Lions of Lucerne

Great Scott Harvath

I'm a huge fan of Brad Thor and the Scott Harvath series. I've listened to just about all of the series before going back to this first one. Having listened to the others, this one doesn't feel as polished as the others, but that makes sense for the first in the series.

The story is typical for the Harvath series, good details and building up of the characters. It doesn't have the strength of following books but it's still a Thor so it's a great listen!

The story line is a bit far fetched with the details of the President's kidnapping; what was done to him and where he was held. I won't share details to spoil the story! But the rest of the story makes up for it.

Had I followed this in order I would still have continued on to the future books in the series and been happily surprised as they only continued to get better and better.

91 people found this helpful

Not a Great Book - Clearly First in Series

Armand Schultz does a nice job with a poorly written book. I have read every book in the Scott Harvath series, but they don't come close to Mitch Rapp series or Tom Clancy's work. I read these when I can't find anything else for this genre. The Harvath series is like a blunt instrument, while the others are precision instruments. That said, I still read them. Among the Harvath series, this is the weakest. In fairness to Thor, the character was still being developed, and I don't think he was totally clear where he was going to take it. If you love this genre like I do, read it after you have exhausted everything else (including the other Harvath books). While I prefer to read stories in order, this one is pretty lame.

62 people found this helpful

Bad guys can't shoot straight

What would have made The Lions of Lucerne better?

Believable assassins

What was most disappointing about Brad Thor’s story?

In every scene involving gunfire, so-called highly trained mercenaries spray our hero and friends with withering automatic weapons fire. . .AND CAN'T HIT A THING! And these are guys who carry out a precision abduction of the President? Do they throw grenades or use any other weapons a trained soldier would have at his disposal? Nope.

Their ineptitude is unbelievable, literally so.

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

No

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Yes, it means I won't waste any of my credits on Brad Thor's books.

Any additional comments?

I'm sorry I bought Path of the Assassin before listening to this.

26 people found this helpful

Trite story about a "super" Seal

I found this book to be farfetched and trite. The characters were shallow and often dumb. Imagine a highly trained Navy Seal mouthing off to every authority figure that comes along and then going renegade to solve the problem of the president's kidnapping. Along the way he gets more breaks and second chances to fix mistakes than a reasonable reader should expect. I read one review that said that the Harvath series improved as the writer became more polished. I may try a library download to check this out but will not purchase another book until I've tried out other books. Hopefully I will find that the author has improved. In conclusion, I would recommend readers to thrillers such as early Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, or Martin Cruz Smith.

41 people found this helpful

Torture

What disappointed you about The Lions of Lucerne?

Pure torture listening to this dialog. My condolences to the narrator. He must have been ill having to speak those lines. Oh My God it was bad! But somehow I made it to the end. And yes the plot is predictable!

Would you be willing to try another book from Brad Thor? Why or why not?

No way!

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The author appears to have done his fact homework. Only a few minor agonies there.

33 people found this helpful

Unbelievably Unbelieveable!

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

This book actually would have been for me if it weren't so ridiculous. I can not believe Brad Thor actually wrote it. The story line is stretched out, it seems just to make the book longer, by some of the most mind numbing, stupid dialog I have ever heard. The characters are not believable, and most of the situations are impossible. I have listened MANY Brad Thor books, and again, I can not believe he wrote this one. It is terrible!

Would you ever listen to anything by Brad Thor again?

I think Brad Thor is an excellent author. I think this book is a huge exception to that rule. I will listen to the next one in the series just because is MUST better than this one.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Armand Schultz?

Armand Schultz is not my favorite narrator, and I don't believe his style is particularly suited to this book, but given what he had to work with, I think he did a very good job. I would listen to more books narrated by him.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Total disappointment.

Any additional comments?

I would never recommend this book or author to anyone except that I know Brad Thor has written much better Harvath books, and to make the most of the series it is probably worth listening to for that reason alone... if you can stand to wade through all of the nonsense.

32 people found this helpful

Shallow. Disappointing.

What would have made The Lions of Lucerne better?

The plot was shallow. Slow

What do you think your next listen will be?

Unknown

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Armand Schultz?

Narrator was okay.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Lions of Lucerne?

Difficult to say. The story line was disappointing.

Any additional comments?

Not one of Thor's best.

12 people found this helpful

Pure fun action

After finishing this novel, I feel like I've just finished an intense season of the TV show, 24. This novel is about the kidnapping of the US president. It is non-stop acton, twists, and turns. Special Agent Scott Harvath is like Jack Bauer - escaping sure death at every turn. He is framed by the bad guys, and knows that the only way to clear his name is to find the president and catch the kidnappers. I suspended reality for this and just enjoyed this thrilling ride. If you're looking for a realistic thriller, this is not it. This book sucked me and, and I could not put it down. One warning - the first hour or so is really slow. I almost gave up, but I am glad I stayed with it. I was looking for good escapist fun, and found it here.

4 people found this helpful

Did not like this book...

What would have made The Lions of Lucerne better?

Better writing...

Has The Lions of Lucerne turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

How could the performance have been better?

More expression in his voice... very dead pan.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Lions of Lucerne?

There so much unnecessary detail that could have been left out.

Any additional comments?

This is the only book I have listened to by this author so my comments are limited to this one book. Poor writing and performance as well.

9 people found this helpful

Who is reading this?

Spoil alert: If you continue, this review will spoil the plot, and if you don't continue the plot will spoil the reading.

Terrorist from Switzerland, of which there are many, kidnap the president by placing timed charges to cause an avalanche at a Utah ski resort. In order for it to work, the president must ski by the concealed perpetrators, but it must be within the two minute time frame as planned earlier. They then escape to the adjacent farm with the silos, no doubt one of the many grain farms up there in ski country. The lone surviving secret service agent, a former seal, decides he is more capable of capturing international terrorists acting alone than the FBI (those seals are highly trained in criminal investigation) and begins his quest by assaulting an FBI agent "just doing his job," contaminating three crime scenes, concealing evidence from investigators, risking causing another avalanche that will decimate the search and rescue teams, and putting down the deputy director of the FBI when he is confronted, all the day following serious injuries.

At this point I had to stop and contemplate how Brad Thor's mother found the time to write a thousand reviews.

I would like to thank Audible for their return policy.

40 people found this helpful