Guardian of Lies, by Steve Martini

This audio book was obtained from Overdrive Audio through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 14 hours and 13 minutes long and was narrated by George Guidall.

This is 10th in a series of novels about Criminal Defense attorney Paul Madriani and his partner, Harry Hinds. The early novels were really good, but they fell off a bit in quality for awhile. So it was an act of hope that I downloaded this one and I am very glad I did.

This begins as a murder case and ends up as international espionage as Paul Madriani's client turns out to have ties to an old Russian nuke that is being recommissioned by Jihadists for a terrorist attack on America. This is only plausible in a world in which we are all connected by networks, but we do live in a world where we are all connected by networks. It's well-told, and the characters are believable and we have been set up for a sequel. I will get it. I give this one 4 stars.

The Defector, by Daniel Silva

This audio book was obtained from Overdrive Audio through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 10 hours and 58 minutes long and was narrated by Phil Gigante.

The most recent of the Gabriel Allon series. Gabriel is an Israeli secret agent and assassin who restores old master paintings as part of his cover. He is in the middle of a piece commissioned by the Vatican when his pleasant life is interrupted by the call to duty because a Russian defector has been kidnapped in America. This defector is believed to be a re-defector, and that he has been acting as a double agent, and is just going back home. Gabriel knows better, because the man is a friend who saved his life in the last book.

Although Daniel Silva's stories are well-written, Gabriel is the weak point. He just isn't a very engaging character. Some of his co-stars are more interesting and human, but Gabriel never becomes more than a really competent covert agent that no one wants to cross. Over all, it was a 3 star book.

The Accidental Billionaires, by Ben Mezrich

This audio book was obtained from Overdrive Audio through the Alachua County Public Library. It was 7 hours and 19 minutes long and was read by Mike Chamberlain.

Think of it as the long-awaited "Facebook Story". Ben Mezrich, the author of the fabulous "Bringing Down the House," has done an exhaustive job of researching Facebook's genesis, and has created a work that is enough of a dramatization to make it almost a novel. To be sure, Mark Zuckerberg, the youthful founder of Facebook, did NOT sign off on this. And I cannot say I am surprised.

The story begins with Zuckerberg, and his friend, Eduardo Saverin, trying to meet girls at Harvard, where they are both undergrads. Mark gets an idea to create a website that archives photos of all the girls at Harvard and pairs random pictures for users of the site to choose which is hotter. While the site is in it's experimental phase, some of his computer science friends pass the site around and it goes viral in a short time and nearly gets him kicked out of school for hacking school databases and stealing the picture files that he used. His notoriety alerts some other students who were working on a social networking site of their own, and they approach him to help with it. He agrees, but then leaves them high and dry to create his own site, which goes on to become Facebook.

This is morality tale about friendship and how money changes everything. You will find yourself taking sides in this book, and perhaps even changing sides by the end of it. The Facebook relationship status "It's Complicated" is a fitting description of what happened between Mark and Eduardo. I think Mark was a lousy friend, and Eduardo was a lousy business partner. It's your call to decide which you think is worse.

The reader sounded so much like my favorite, Scott Brick, that it bumped this fun, interesting story into 4 star territory.

Superfreakonomics, by Levitt and Dubner

This audiobook was obtained (as usual) from Overdrive Audio through the Alachua County Library. It was read by one of the authors, Stephen J. Dubner, and was 7 hours and 28 minutes long.

Economist Steven D. Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner have struck again with another provocative look at incentives in the human marketplace. People either love or hate these books, or maybe just parts of them. Either way, Superfreakonomics is thought provoking and informative, even if you have problems with some of the information.

Perhaps the most controversial part, and a timely controversy it is, is the last chapter. It is about alternative solutions to Global Warming. The ideas presented are intriguing and liable to cause some heated arguments, but I consider that a good thing.

As a bonus, I would like to make this mp3 download available. Click here. It's an interview with Stephen Dubner, conducted by Michael Medved.

This is a fun read, and will fly by as it is quite entertaining. I give it 4 stars.