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Blackquest 40

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Blackquest 40

By: Jeff Bond
Narrated by: Natalie Duke
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About this listen

Big Tech meets Die Hard in this techno-thriller Kirkus Reviews calls "a clever, spirited tale with a brainy, nimble heroine at the helm".

From IndieReader's 5 star (highest rating) review: "Bond weaves an entertaining story filled with deceit, robots, Russians, and tech entrepreneurs that all combine to give the reader a reason to flip pages furiously to find out what might happen next."

Deb Bollinger has no time for corporate training.

Her company’s top engineer at just 27, Deb has blocked off her day for the one project she truly cares about: the launch of Carebnb, an app that finds spare beds for the homeless. When she’s told all employees must drop everything for some busywork exercise called Blackquest 40, it’s an easy no.

Trouble is, her bosses aren’t really asking.

Blackquest 40 is the mother of all corporate trainings. A near-impossible project to be completed in 40 straight hours. No phones. No internet. Sleeping on cots. Nobody in, nobody out. Deb finds the whole setup creepy and authoritarian. When a Carebnb issue necessitates her leaving the office, she heads for the door.

What’s the worst that could happen?

Armed commandos, HVAC-duct chases, a catastrophic master plan that gets darker by the hour - Blackquest 40 is a fresh take on the Die Hard formula, layering smart-drones and a modern heroine onto the classic action tale.

©2019 Jeff Bond (P)2019 Jeff Bond Suspense Technothrillers Thriller & Suspense Thriller Fiction Corporate

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Without wanting to go too deep into spoiler territory I grew up watching Die Hard, and re-runs of James Bond - often. I've seen several comments referencing Die Hard and I can understand why as there is a core parallel in the story. Don't be misled though this isn't a clone. Being used to stories from a past generation I had a little bit of a culture shock with the casual use of 'modern' technology and references in a story such as this - and I loved every minute. This isn't missile launching cars and oil slicks from your arse, this gives the feeling of homebrew hacking from stuff every one of us can buy online. Not quite the unlikely tech of Iron Man, but a real feeling of 'hey, I might just be able to do that too' if you're slightly technologically inclined – this helped me connect with the story and made me want to see how the main character reacted compared with my own thoughts. The best part is this tech isn't presented as a particularly massive feature, and feels almost incidental to the story but it's this natural and comfortable inclusion of something that was so relatable to me that struck me, especially compared to the big feature showings of now-tropey tech in things like James Bond.

Going back to the story, it was very enjoyable. As a total outsider to Silicon Valley I cannot comment on the story's accuracy to its perceived setting, but as a 9-5 joe with a strong interest in tech, I can say it's exactly the sort of environment I envision and it feels natural and the culture seems realistic to me, which is praise in itself.

This might sound oversimplified but I'd say if you're looking for a modern telling of a good guy/bad guy close quarters action heist (for lack of knowledge of a better word), that harkens back to childhood late night movies, you can't go wrong here. Good fun and enjoyable.

Warm fuzzy childhood memories of late night movies

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This was an exciting story with lots of interest me ideas. I felt quite a bit of crossover with other stories..... but they were good stories too
it is read in the first person which can take a little getting used to but all in all it was very enjoyable and could be pursueded to a second in the series, if there is one.
the narrator was excellent, a joy to listen to, she had obviously done her homework.

This audiobook was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom.

Great story well worth a listen

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