Reviewed by Annika
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ITLE: Enemies of the State
SERIES: Executive Office #1
AUTHOR: Tal Bauer
NARRATOR: John Solo
PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio
LENGTH: 14 hours, 15 minutes
RELEASE DATE: May 12, 2020
BLURB:
Newly elected President Jack Spiers’s presidency is rocked from the very beginning, and he’s working furiously to keep the world from falling apart. Between terrorism attacks ripping apart Europe, Russia’s constant posturing and aggression, and the quagmire of the Middle East, Jack is struggling to keep his campaign promise – to work toward a better, safer world.
For Special Agent Ethan Reichenbach, Jack is just another president, the third in 12 years. With Jack’s election, he’s been promoted, and now he’s running the presidential detail, which puts him side by side with Jack daily. He’s expecting another stuffed suit and an arrogant DC politician, but Jack shocks him with his humor and humanity.
There are rules against a Secret Service agent and one of their protectees developing a friendship – big rules. Besides, Jack is straight as a ruler, and a widower, and Ethan has always avoided falling for straight men. Ethan keeps his distance, but Jack draws him in, like gas to a naked flame, and it’s a lure he isn’t strong enough to turn away from.
REVIEW:
Get ready for an adventure of epic proportions. Enemies of the State is a massive book, well maybe not lengthwise, but definitely content-wise. It’s heavy with politics, US politics as well as world politics. It’s far from a light read or listen, then again, I don’t think political thrillers ever are considered light. Tal Bauer has a talent for writing well researched and intricate stories, and this book definitely shows you that. One thing is for certain, this book does not read like a debut novel in any way.
Enemies of the State is in part a love story between Jack Spiers, president of the United States and Ethan Reichenbach a Secret Service agent on his protective detail. It’s interwoven with a complex tale of political intrigue and terror attacks with enemies lurking closer than anyone can imagine. The pressure Jack is under to keep everything stable is tremendous and it’s taking a toll on him. He’s walking on a tight line and the only thing keeping him sane is his new friendship with Ethan. , but it’s also a friendship that’s forbidden and could endanger everything.
I loved watching Jack and Ethan falling in love (again). Theirs is a beautiful, and forbidden, love story. It’s sweet and precious, and I savoured every moment; especially knowing what comes next for them. This book is much more than just a romance, it’s very political and almost like a chessboard filled with people with different agendas. It lays the foundation for everything that happens next, for the myriad of threads and subplots. It’s impossible to predict everyone’s motives, but trying is half the fun.
This book has it all, nail-biting suspense, conspiracies, heartbreak and betrayal and a love and friendships that will literally change the world. It is also scarily real, without much imagination it’s not that hard to imagine the events in this book could be taking place here and now. It is obvious that the author has a tremendous knowledge about how everything works in the world of presidents, politics, secret service, black ops etc. and all the secrets surrounding it.
I’ve read this book twice before – a blessing and a curse. On the one hand I know I’m going to love the story and the characters. On the other, being so familiar with them, I already have an image of them in my mind. I wasn’t a blank canvas for the narrator to paint a picture on. I knew and loved Jack and Ethan and I couldn’t quite meld Solo’s portrait of them with the one I already painted for myself some years back. I can’t put my finger on what, but the feeling was there.
Disregarding my personal feelings, John Solo narrated this book really well and his talent for the craft is obvious, from everything from injecting the feelings of the characters to varying the speed and intensity of his performance to fit the moment. I mean he really captured me from the start. I loved the sort of roll call in the beginning. First, I thought it kind of strange, I was expecting John Solo to simply read the list, but he did not – he performed it with the different voices he had for the different characters. He managed to take what I was thinking of as a list, and turn it into something fun, and if that’s not a talent I’m not sure what is. This review is getting way long, so I’ll just round off with saying Solo’s performance was epic throughout.
Highly recommended!
RATING: 
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