I feel Lethal Circuit by Lars Guignard reads like a Clive Cussler novel or an Indiana Jones movie and I do love a grand adventure.

Michael flies to China to investigate his father’s so called accidental death. The shit hits the fan as soon as he lands…and thank goodness Kate was there. Was it by coincidence?

Well, there are plenty of twists, turns, and betrayal that kept me reading until the last page was turned. I do love book surprises, and Lethal Circuit has its fair share.

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Michael Chase just wants to find his father. Unfortunately, his father disappeared without a trace in China and a little digging reveals that his death was no accident. In fact, it appears his father was involved with a search for a Nazi airplane which various governments and organizations have coveted since WWII. The discovery that a Chinese satellite controlled by the same technology is falling out of orbit makes his search both urgent and a matter of life and death for more than just his father.

Most books that I rate three stars, it’s because I think they deserve exactly three stars. This book has three stars because it’s the middle rating and I have very mixed feelings about it. There are some parts that make me want to give it one or two stars (the main character accidentally ends up in the shower naked with an attractive woman, for crying out loud). But there are also parts that make me want to give it five stars, mostly the refreshingly different protagonist.

So let me get the two things that othered me about it out of the way and then I’ll tell you what made this such a unique thriller. My biggest problem was that we had two storylines with a male protagonist working with a woman who, based on their relative occupations, should have been more skillful than he was. But, of course, the male protagonist solved all of the problems with the woman acting as a sidekick. At the end of each storyline, there was a twist which made me rethink this character dynamic. However, that didn’t negate the fact that I’d spent most of the book really annoyed about it. The other problem I had was with one of these twists, which was a possibility that had occurred to me but which I ruled out because our narrator seemed to be third person omniscient. It bothered me because it made a big difference to how I experienced the story.

That said, if you like thrillers, but like me are getting a bit tired of the standard formula, you should probably give this book a shot. There are a few things that really made this book stand out to me. First of all, the main character has a background that gives him a reasonable chance of doing well after being thrown into a thriller. He isn’t just an average guy who somehow manages to do strangely well acting like a spy. Second, we know about his background because there are flashbacks to his early years with the father he’s searching for. This made me feel like we got to know our protagonist as a person a lot more than in most thrillers. It also added a bit of emotional impact to his search for his father. The twists were also pretty unpredictable, something I think it’s hard for an author to accomplish.

Finally, the narration was perfect for this type of story, but the women often ended up sounding like men. Some might argue this is an improvement over the breathy voice some male narrators use, but I found it a bit off-putting. Otherwise, the narration perfectly captured the drama of a thriller and did a great job making the story come to life.

This review first published at Doing Dewey. ( )

A fun thriller with our main character Michael backpacking through China, trying to find his missing father and figure out what he was up to when he disappeared. We gradually learn both about Michael's character and about the father-son relationship as he follows clues concerning a hidden piece of Nazi technology that too many people are willing to kill over. Meanwhile, a plutonium bearing Chinese satellite is heading toward Los Angeles as its orbit decays. Can Michael trust those offering to help him? Was his father betrayed? The race is on... Nice peek into a strange and fascinating country, with a nice twist at the end. ( )

Lethal Circuit is not my normal read/ listen, as an adult genre, mystery, suspense, but I opted to take a listen for the wonderful Candace. The plot starts off strong with action immediately. The main character is in search of his father who he believes was murdered. I enjoyed this fast paced plot very much but the reader was a bit off-putting. The track volumes seem to change in the chapters and not just the reader’s tone, but the actual volume. On second he is speaking and the next he seems to be projecting at almost a yell. This made it difficult to concentrate on the plot itself at times, I found myself focusing on how annoying it was.

The author is very good at conveying the various landscapes and cities that are mentioned throughout the book. The storytelling of foreign countries seems to be his specialty (I have also listened to his Middle Grade book set in India). The twists and turns in the plot keep the reader/ listener on their toes and keep the story at great pace. You just want to keep listening.

I cannot say much more without spoilers so I will leave it at that. Overall impressions: I did enjoy the story very much, but the audiobook reader was annoying at times with his tone, and the production was off-putting with volume levels. ( )

*Book source ~ Many thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Michael Chase is told his dad died in China, but months later he’s led to believe that his dad is alive. An experienced backpacker, he travels to Hong Kong under the guise of traveling the world’s backpacking trails in order to discover what has happened to his dad. However, he barely sets foot in Hong Kong before he’s running for his life, trusting people on blind faith and following the clues that put him on the path to finding an historical relic that could change the world. He finds out that, not only is his dad not the person Michael thought he was, but he’s been searching for this relic for decades. Michael’s world has been turned upside down, but he has no time to dwell on this surprising new reality. With agents of several factions on his trail, he has to stay a step ahead, find the relic and stay alive.

A true thriller the story unfolds quickly from the beginning and careens to the finish. Michael arrives in Hong Kong, all hell breaks loose and it’s a race to the end. It was fun riding along as Michael figured out the clues and with each one it brought him closer to finding out what happened to his dad. As with any good thriller (well, in my opinion anyway) the story is told from several viewpoints and I had to figure out who were the bad guys and who were the good. It also helped to ratchet up the tension as well as pull the pieces together. The story was an interesting one even if the relic was a bit farfetched. But then, who knows what secrets governments around the world have buried. While I did enjoy the multiple viewpoints, it was at times a bit confusing. There were times when I didn’t have a clue how anyone fit in this puzzle and instead of being intriguing it was frustrating. On the whole though, this is an excellent thriller.

Also, since I listened to the audiobook, I have to say that the narration was often irritating. While the voice was pleasant to listen to, it was if parts were edited in and sounded completely different from the regular narration. If they had not been done in the middle of passages it might not have been as noticeable. As it is, I would be extremely hesitant to listen to another Fantasy Press audiobook. Though I would be more than happy to read Book 2 in the Michael Chase series, Blown Circuit. ( )