The Target Audiobook By David Baldacci cover art

The Target

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The Target

By: David Baldacci
Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy, Ron McLarty
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Government operatives Will Robie and Jessica Reel are faced with a lethal mission in The Target, from best-selling author David Baldacci.

An attack from North Korea looks likely as US involvement in an attempted coup is revealed, and a bond of trust has been broken at the very highest level.

Chung-Cha is a young woman who was raised in the infamous Yodok concentration camp. It's a place where honour, emotion and compassion don't exist. Cold, calculating and highly skilled, Chung-Cha has been trained to kill. And the task she has been given is to destroy the enemy at all costs.

A dangerous and deadly operation of cat and mouse plays out between East and West. But who will be the hunter and who will be the hunted when the true target is finally revealed . . . ?

 Crime Thrillers Espionage International Mystery & Crime Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Suspense Mystery Fiction Game

Critic reviews

The page-turner of the season
Baldacci is still peerless
One of the world's biggest-selling thriller writers, Baldacci needs no introduction . . . Brilliant plotting, heart-grabbing action and characters to die for
Baldacci inhabits the skin of his creations - tripping us up with unexpected empathy and subtle identification
All stars
Most relevant
Another thrilling Baldacci story! After finishing it, I felt I had listened to two books, so intelligently interwoven. A great listen, well performed.

Thrilling!

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Vivid detail on the lives of North Korean labour camp prisoners. Its both horrific and interesting.

I enjoyed the multiple story lines.

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absolutely loved this book also, I have found all David Baldacci's books keep me on the edge of my seat, all the twists and turns throughout even at the last minute are excellent

Another Edge of seat

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Well I'll keep it short this time. After the second Will Robie book "The Hit", it was safe to assume that we will see more of Jessica Reel. And to make one thing clear: that's a good thing. The two characters simply work well together and dragging a 15-year old teenager (the character "Julie" introduced in "The Innocent") around as a potential victim wouldn't have worked indefinitely anyway.
However that brings me back to a deficit that plagues many authors who write a large amount of books and/or different series: the main characters become too similar, and the stories tend to show a pattern. That's also true this time to an extent. Will and Jessica in many respects have become similar to Sean (King) and Michelle (Maxwell) and the story basically is something that could have happened to them as well. Without saying too much: If I remember correctly the ones who become a target in this book once were a target in one of the King and Maxwell books as well ;-)
What I especially liked, was the author's focus on the North Korean assassin and her life. That decidedly made the story better and had a nice "two sides of a coin" feel to it.
So if you like Baldacci I believe you will be well entertained this time too. The story is fast paced, shows some nice twists (and one strange twist, as well as some things that could have been a little less obvious) and has an interesting sub plot that gives some background knowledge about Jessica's past. As with King and Maxwell the male character's past remains largely obscure.
Performance is great as always. Orlagh Cassidy and Ron McLarty make the story come alive very nicely and I also like the sound effects thrown in from time to time.

It seems I didn't keep it short after all but I hope this helps you decide.
Have fun

Best Will Robie book. Very Entertaining.

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What made the experience of listening to The Target the most enjoyable?

I liked the narrators. They're always great.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Didn't really like it. As if the author didn't have enough ideas.

Have you listened to any of Orlagh Cassidy and Ron McLarty ’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I always found them very good.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

Any additional comments?

Well, Will Robbie series was the one of three I was the most fond of. But the third book is just too much of a mix of stories...At least one was too many. I love thick stories, believable characters, but Baldacci did that in less words and more persuasive in first two books.
Also, Jessica's character wasn't as firm as in second book (I don't mean firm as in tough, but in believable).
This was the first book I preordered. And I am disappointed.

First two were way better

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