Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Black Wolf by Juan Gomez-Jurado Narrator: Scott Brick
Series: Antonia Scott #2
Published by Minotaur Books, St. Martin's Press on March 12, 2024
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 368
Length: 12 hours, 45 minutes
Format: Audiobook, eARC
Source: NetGalley
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Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble, Apple
Antonia is the lynchpin of the Red Queen project, created to work behind the scenes to solve the most devious and dangerous crimes. But she is unwilling to move past the last case, convinced it’s related to a personal tragedy, until a series of deadly events pulls her back in. In southern Spain, in the Costa del Sol, a key mafia figure is found brutally murdered in his villa, his pregnant wife, Lola Moreno, barely escapes an attempt to kill her in a shopping mall and is on the run. A shipping container from St. Petersburg arrives in port in Spain containing the corpses of nine woman, all who suffocated.
Now Antonia, with the help of her helper and protector, Jon Gutierrez, must track down this missing Lola. But they aren’t the only ones on Lola’s trail – a dangerous contract killer, known as the Black Wolf, is also on her trail. And Antonia Scott, still plagued by her personal demons, must outwit, out-maneuver, and, ultimately, face this terrible, mysterious rival.
The Antonia Scott series is set in Europe, in Spain. Antonia and her partner, Jon, are sort of government agency law enforcement but a special program. Jon is gay; he has had some issues with trying too hard to get the bad guys. Rather than jailing him, he works with Antonia. Antonia has a high IQ. She is excellent with deductions and her unit uses special drugs to enhance her abilities.
I like the main characters. We get some of their personal aspects and stories as they work together. Antonia has a son who lives with her father. Her husband was injured and is in the hospital. Antonia is also preoccupied with some loose ends from the last case.
Antonia and Jon are in a smaller town looking for the wife of a Russian mobster. The wife, Lola, is pregnant and diabetic. There is a good chance the mob bosses want to kill her as they have just murdered her husband. In fact, it seems they may have hired the Black Wolf, an assassin to take her out. We follow her journey of trying to hide from killers without money or anyone to trust.
The local cops are not happy to see Antonia and Jon and would get rid of them if they could. It seems odd since Antonia and Jon never take credit and might be a great help. In fact, they do help and learn a lot of things about the mobsters and why Yuri and Lola became targets.
The Black Wolf is another point of view we get. I didn’t understand it was her thoughts until later. Her thoughts are mostly historical about the little girl in the ashes. I first thought they were Lola’s history. Lola came from a poor place and her chance to better herself was to marry well, which she did. She loved her husband.
There is a huge action scene when all the players manage to get together in a remote location during a blizzard. Plenty of twists in this story. Things are not what one thinks. The very ending is a bit of a cliffhanger, going back to the case from the first book, Red Queen.
There is also a TV show, just starting, based on this series called Red Queen on Amazon Prime.
Narration:
Scott Brick is an excellent narrator and I have enjoyed several different works with him. It may be because I just read another series with him plus the action and situations in Black Wolf but I kept expecting Evan Smoak to show up. The voices all felt comfortable to me. I was able to listen at 1.5x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Scott Brick
Actor, writer and award-winning audiobook narrator Scott Brick certainly knows how to tell a story, in a way that keeps publishers, best-selling and award-winning authors, critics and the public at large begging for more. Hailed by Audible in 2012 as their most prolific narrator, Brick has narrated almost 900 audiobooks including titles such as: Jurassic Park, the Jack Reacher series, Alexander Hamilton, the Hunt For Red October, The Passage trilogy, In Cold Blood, the Bourne trilogy, Atlas Shrugged, Helter Skelter, Fahrenheit 451 and the Dune series.
Born on January 30, 1966 in Santa Barbara, California, Brick studied both acting and writing at UCLA, and joined the ranks of working professionals upon leaving school in 1989. Lauded by critics for his stage work, Brick spent ten years with the LA-based traveling Shakespeare troupe, Will & Company, appearing in productions of Cyrano, Hamlet, Macbeth and many others, and went on to appear in films such as Hit Parade, written and directed by comic book writer and co-Ben 10 creator, Joe Casey.
During this time, Brick continued writing. Having written hundreds of articles in a variety of genre publications such as WIZARD MAGAZINE, TOYFARE, COMICS BUYER’S GUIDE and CREATIVE SCREENWRITING, Brick was then hired by Morgan Freeman and Revelations Entertainment in 2000 to write the screen adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama, with David Fincher attached to direct. In 2005, he collaborated with author Orsen Scott Card to adapt a collection of the author’s short stories for the stage in a production titled (and printed in hardcover as) Posing as People.
Having just celebrated his 20th Audioversary, Brick’s venture into audiobooks is now considered legendary. To date he’s won over 60 Earphones Awards for his narrating skills, as well as five Audie Awards, five SOVAS Awards for voiceover, and a Grammy nomination for the multi-cast recording of The Mark of Zorro (2011). After recording 250 titles in his first five years, AUDIOFILE MAGAZINE named Brick “one of the fastest-rising stars in the audiobook galaxy,” and proclaimed him a Golden Voice, but it was the WALL STREET JOURNAL that sealed the moniker with a front-page article in November, 2004. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY then honored Brick as Narrator of the Year in both 2007 and 2011. That honor was followed up with another feature in the WSJ in 2019 and a recent appearance on the CBS Sunday Morning news show. And the ultimate distinction – being inducted into the Audible Narrator’s Hall of Fame in 2018. Having now recorded over 900 audiobooks, Brick has no intention of slowing down. He obviously won’t be happy until he’s recorded every book ever published.
Born to make a killer first impression, Brick’s newly completed debut novel, INSIGHT, is bound to leave people gasping for more from this innovative writer who is finally telling his own story. No news on who will narrate the audiobook.
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Love the sound of this, Anne. Thanks for sharing. Also FYI, I just got an email notification for this post! (Not Follow It)
I like it because it’s a govt ops story but set in Spain by a Spanish author, and now a tv tie in. Thanks for letting me know.
Interesting series, Anne. I’ll have to check it out now that it’s being developed into a series! Antonia & Jon are intriguing. Great review💜
Thank you! I like the thriller part of international ops but the setting is Spain and written by a Spanish guy.
I feel sorry for Lola after hearing all she is going through. This sounds like a good one.
Lola does go through a lot. But this is a story with a bunch of twists and some complex characters.
A new author and series for me to check out!
It’s a really interesting series, very different. Partly as it is written by a Spanish author and translated. Also there is a tv show now. Very original characters and premise.
Spain? What a nice change up in setting!
yes and a Spanish author. So I tend to like things which are a bit different, even odd. This one fits the bill perfectly.
This isn’t really my type of read, but I can see my mom really enjoying the tv show, I’ll have to tell her about it! Thanks for the info!
It’s a real thriller made all the more interesting because of the setting in Spain, government agencies and two odd operatives.