Downfall

Sam Capra #3

by Jeff Abbott

Abbott, Jeff

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Crime

464 pages, Hardcover

Published July 16, 2013

About the author

Jeff Abbott (born 1963) is a U.S. suspense novelist. He has a degree in History and English from Rice University. He lives in Austin, Texas. His early novels were traditional detective fiction but in recent years he has turned to writing thriller fiction. A theme of his work is the idea of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary danger and fighting to return to their normal lives. His novels are published in several countries and have also been bestsellers in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, and France.

Series:
* Whit Mosley
* Jordan Poteet

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

My major issue is the end could be stronger and better. 7 of 10 stars

[Jim C · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book in a series but can be read as a stand alone. In this one a desperate woman comes into Sam's bar pleading for help. Sam helps and soon finds himself in more of a situation than he bargained for. This is your basic spy genre novel with everyone attempting to outdo each other.

This book basically met my expectations. It is a fun ride with a whole lot of action scenes and twists that I expect to see in a spy genre novel. I am not expecting it to be a five star read. I am expecting it to entertain me and it does that. All of the tropes are here in this novel. There is the basic trope where we have the protagonist who is looking at a mirror of himself with the antagonist. They are very similar but one does it for altruistic reasons while one does it for personal gain. We see this with secondary characters as well. Some characters sell their soul for money while they reason that they are doing it for their children. Like I said. There is nothing really new here. Just the author's use of these tropes. As for the story and the twists. It kept me interested although I did think the twists were a bit too many. By the end I was like "whatever" and just let me see how it all comes to an end.

I would liken this to an action movie that might come on television. You might recognize the actors but you do not know their names. You watch the movie and it was a way to kill a couple of hours in between important things you had to do. You were entertained by the movie but you realize it was nothing special. That is how I feel about this book. I liked it and it is time to move onto the next book.

[Patrice Hoffman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Downfall is the latest in the Sam Capra series by Jeff Abbott. It begins a few months later from the end of The Last Minute with Sam Capra still balancing his life as a spy/bar owner. He's fighting Mila at every turn to be a normal person that comes home to his young son every night and isn't constantly being in life or death situations. He's fallen into a sort-of routine until a young woman whispers "help" across the bar to him. That one instance changes the course of his quiet existance to a person who's in a target for a very powerful man.

Diana begins this novel with finding that her mother may in fact be hiding something from her when she finds three cell phones in her purse. Diana's mother, Janice, claims to be going on a retreat where phones are banished so Diana is automatically suspicious. After some amateur sluething, Diana finds info that Janice would rather her not know. This information puts Diana at risk. In an effort to save her self, Diana goes to Sam Capra's bar to find Felix, her mother's friend, but instead causes Capra to unleash the big guns and do his whole...um... spy thing.

I actually enjoy the Capra character. I have read all the previous Abbott novels written in this series Such as Adrenaline and The Last Minute so I knew what to expect from this thriller. What I expected was action. Lots and lots of action. Abbott does a good job at maintaining the pace throughout this novel. There's barely time to for Capra to breath it seems. The characters from The Round Table, the secret organization that Capra is with, maintain their storylines from previous novels. I appreciate that Abbott gives snippets of information about regarding their past so that it is easy to read these as standalones. Also it gives people a refresher coarse on what they may have forgotten from previous novels.

One other element to this novel I enjoyed was that many of the assassins from the opposing group The Network were just as human and well developed as Sam Capra. They all share a commonality that bordered on getting old because of how often it was mentioned, but still manages to make them worthy of sympathy. All except their leader seem less heartless. Although they have put themselves in their current predicament, I still felt bad for these people.

Overall, Downfall is an interesting thriller that supplies more than enough thrills. Capra is still doing his parkour thing and his son is still his main motivation... from afar. I look forward to book 4 in the Sam Capra series. I will definitely be reading other Abbott novels. It's safe to assume I'm a fan at this point. And if I learned nothing at all from this novel except one this it is to never make deals with the devil. If the deal is too good to be true, it probably isn't true.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this third book in the Sam Capra series confusing and implausible. The first two were great and I'm hoping the fourth will also be fast paced and intelligently written.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I have never had the pleasure of reading Jeff Abbott before, but I will tell you this, he now has another die hard fan! I will definitely be reading the rest of his Sam Capra series as well as any other books he puts out! This book was non-stop, in-your-face, brutal, die hard action! There is so much story and so much happening that you are completely engrossed in the book. I could easily see this becoming a movie with say, Jensen Ackles playing Sam Capra and Tim Roth as the antagonist, John Belias. This is one of those books that you can’t guess what’s going to happen because the characters are ruthless and conniving. I was shocked almost every thing that happened in the story. I was taken aback at how mean some of these characters could be. I mean, I could understand why they would be that way, but some of the extremes that these people go to – it’s amazing. I can’t really go into any detail in what I mean because it will spoil the book. Let’s just say that this book will keep you guessing and if you think you know what it going to happen, you are wrong.

[Gisela Hausmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I borrowed this audio book from the library because I want to study the writing techniques of thriller writers.
It's not a great book for this purpose. I gave up after chapter 8. Up to that point the book fails to hint at what the bad guy's (Belias's) ultimate plan is. Belias is manipulating ordinary people and one former CIA-agent to kill for him. So far so good, but - why?

I need something to look for, I don't want to collect puzzle pieces that will or won't come together at the end; especially when so many characters are involved. There is the CEO of a PR-firm, who has been diagnosed with invasive breast cancer and her daughter, the divorced couple who still have feelings for each other, and, former CIA-agent Sam Capra who is now a bar owner. All of them have children, Sam Capra's son is a baby, the CEO's daughter a 23-yr old young woman, Diana. I did not get far enough to find out how old the other kids are. All of these relatively ordinary people are "Belias' puppets" and do what he wants them to do to get out of whatever he has on them. Notice the "whats"? At the end of chapter 8 there is not even a hint where this plot this is going.
All "victims" want to protect their children.
Bad mastermind Belias prides himself to be a master psychologist who manipulates people.

Actually, at the point when I tuned out the listener still does not even know if Sam Capra who gets tricked into working for Mila is also one of Belias' puppets but at least I hope that there isn't a second puppet master in this book.

Until chapter 8 the reader/listener also can't even guess why Belias is able to blackmail all of them or what his ultimate goal is. That might be ok, if the rest of the presented plot weren't so ridiculous.
Why would a "brilliant mastermind" like Belias pick a woman stricken with an aggressive cancer to be his hit woman? She might decide that her life may be too short to play somebody else's game.
Why would he ask the divorced couple to kidnap a person that's important for his organization, if they have never kidnapped anybody before (the woman is a master thief but not a kidnapper)? The two might fail in their efforts (and indeed they do). Indeed, in the book, they had asked themselves the same and hired a Russian mobster to help with the task, only Sam Capra kills the Russian.
Surely, if Belias is such a mighty bad guy he could find better suited kidnappers.

This plot either has too many characters, or it introduces the overarching crime-concept too late. About the only thing that makes sense are the actions of the CEO's daughter Diana Keene.

Listening to the audio book makes it very clear what's wrong with this plot. Narrator Kevin T. Collins does a masterful job reading the book, especially the Russian mobsters' lines. I traveled Russia three times, I can vouch for that narrator Kevin Collins gets the Russian accent right. Still, even though Collins does a marvelous job reading the book I did not like his reading of Diana's thoughts. There are just too many different people in his book.

3 stars till chapter 8. Maybe I didn't like the book because I did not read the two preceding books from Abbott's Sam Capra series.

Gisela Hausmann, author & blogger

[Jeffrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

What would you do for wealth or power? Would you steal? Would you kill? Would you join a group of like minded people intent on amassing power, fame and fortune through the manipulation of events or the outright death of your business, political or familial rivals.

Jeff Abbott's new Sam Capra thriller is essentially about the lure of such a Faustian bargain. The people who have made the deal with the devil are, in many ways, just trying to get ahead, but they do not care who they hurt in the process. And they will do anything to get ahead.

Diane Keene stumbles into Sam Capra's life because she has learned of her mother's Faustian bargain, and when Capra gets involved trying to save her, he comes to the attention of the evil Belias, the head of Keene's mother's network.

Belias wants him dead, then wants him to join his network, then feels threatened and wants him dead again. The action is continuous as Belias and Capra hunt for each other and Capra's friends and Belias's people all get involved.

There is back stabbing a plenty, murder, fights, and more killings.

Downfall has it all.

[Dulce · Rating 3 out of 5]

As noites quentes dão-me insónia. E com este livro era impossível largar a leitura. Não entra no top dos favoritos, mas gostei bastante deste herói e deste escritor. Como é uma série, vou ter de arranjar os outros para saber o que aconteceu antes.
Muito melhor que os livros Pânico e Medo, que tinham sido experiências menos boas com este autor.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outstanding third book in the series. I hope to see Sam Capra in action for many more years.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ex-CIA agent Sam Capra owns 30 bars throughout the United States and around the world but his favorite occupation is being father to his 10 month old son. One evening his is bartending and a young woman darts in asking for help as 2 men pursue her. Of course, he is going to help her and that causes him to get in the big middle of a situation where he digs himself even deeper. He and his handler Mira from the Round Table are pitted against a secret organization that seems to have unlimited power. The leader is fascinated by Sam's skills and wants to recruit him to join.

This thriller contains a long and complex story. I was able to follow along well but wish I had read the first two books in the series because I didn't fully understand the Round Table organization, why Sam had to leave the CIA or why his wife is in a coma. However, I picked this book up at a garage sale because it sounded like a story I wanted to read and it was. There's non-stop action and many people are killed. If you like books with great fight scenes, Jeff Abbott knows how to write them.

[Eric Wadsworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another really suspenseful Sam Capra novel. The book starts off with excitement right from the beginning as a young girl being chased by some regular neighborhood looking adults right into Sam's bar. Of course he cannot sit back and watch this unfold, so he intervenes, but little did he know what he was going to get sucked into. Sam and Felix (that Bar manager) begin to dig deeper to understand who the girl was, why she was being chased, and ultimately, who is this man named Belias? Turns out there is another secret network run by Belias and as soon as he learns of Sam's abilities, he instantly tries to recruit him into his network. Not realizing Sam is already part of a bigger network himself, Belias and Sam go head to head while a background force is at large and pushing different objectives. Sam's greats ally (Mila) is hurt in the adventures and Sam comes face to face with Jimmy from the Round Table.

Very great read, very suspenseful, and of course, a lot of action. Recommend all the Sam Capra books

[Arnold Kanarek · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third Sam Capra book, and although I still enjoy the character and his dialogue, the plot in this one is not as good as the earlier books. There are plenty of action scenes, but they are pretty predictable. The themes of the book are Sam wanting a "normal" life of peace and quiet for him and his son, while he still gets to do his wild jumping tricks and "accidentally" killing half the world in self-defense. Don't read this as your first Sam Capra book. Go back and read the first in the series, and if you enjoy it then read the rest. But be forewarned there is a lot of repetition in the series.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm surprised this doesn't have a higher rating. I found it very exciting with clever plot twists and effective scene transitions. Abbott is crowding the top of my favourite authors list

[Marta · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

DOWNFALL is the third book in the Sam Capra series and begins with ex-CIA agent, Sam, living in relative peace, working for The Round Table and enjoying his cover life as owner of a chain of bars across the States. He wants a normal life, and this is as close to it as he’s had in a long while. But his peace is shattered when a young woman fleeing two male attackers rushes into the bar and begs for his help. Sam leaps to her aid, and in the process kills one of the men. As well as bringing him unwanted attention from the police and the media, this brings Sam to the attention of Balias - a master criminal who can make a person’s dreams come true, for a price.

As readers of the series will have come to expect, the story charges along at a breakneck pace. Using first person narration for main character, Sam Capra, as he sets out to discover who this mysterious network is and why they are after the young woman, and third person narration for the other main point-of-view characters, Abbott weaves the stories of Diana – a young woman who has discovered a terrible secret about her mother, Janice – a mother who will protect her daughter at any cost, Holly – a woman enchained by the choice of her ex-husband, and Belias – a man who thirsts for power and control at the highest level – between Sam’s. The stakes are high for all of the principle characters; the question is who will succeed and who will fail.

This constant raising of the tension made the story compulsive reading. DOWNFALL is an action thriller and so as you'd expect there are a lot of action sequences and fight scenes. Abbott is a master at the fight scene – they're dynamic and tense with a real cinematic quality, making the reader feel like they’re in the scene ducking the punches along with the characters. What I especially like about his books, and this one doesn’t disappoint, is the locations these scenes often take place in - for example a child’s bedroom in a suburban house (the child is at school) - creating a great juxtaposition and additional conflict between Sam's desire for domestic normality and the nature of his job.

Tight plotting, high stakes and high action make this page-turner of story a must for fans of action thrillers.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a rather clumsy thriller, full of clichés (ex-special agent hero, secret societies, menacing Russians, big explosions, unrealistic fights, all-powerful bad guy) replete with plot holes (no explanation of how the secret societies are formed, overly neat solution), and truly awful dialogue that needs a good edit. Written partly in first person and partly in third person, the changes in points of view are rather jarring, distracting the reader from the narrative and providing far too much insight to deliver the right amount of suspense. While the story is forming and protagonist Sam Capra is trying to figure it all out, it stays interesting, but by the second half of the book, it all becomes so ridiculous that suspension of disbelief goes right out the window. From the mixed metaphor on the front cover, I didn’t expect anything world-beating and it certainly isn’t anything you could remotely call literature. I wasn’t looking for that. I wanted something mindless to read while relaxing in the evening. But the author fails to create empathy with his characters, and they are mostly cardboard with basic instincts, not “complex” as an extract from the Washington Post review of the book claims. It didn’t “keep me on the edge of my seat”, as the cover blurb promises – it was actually very easy to go to sleep after the latest chapter. This is probably why, despite the fact that I’ve read a fair bit in the thriller genre, I’d never heard of Jeff Abbott, even after his 14 previous novels. To be fair, I haven’t read the earlier books in this series, so I may have missed something important to the story. And perhaps this isn’t his best book. But if this is representative of his work, I won’t be reading any more.

[Scott Butki · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third book in Jeff Abbott's high adrenaline series about Sam Capra is definitely one of his best.
This time around - since it's the third book - Abbot can skip spending lots of time explaining Capra's origin story - how he was kicked out of the CIA, ran into one hell of a marriage problem, etc. and focus on what he does best:
tight plotting, fast paced action that makes you feel like you're working hard and running as fast and as far as Sam and others not to mention all the fighting. I like to pretend i'm losing weight and getting in shape living vicarously through Sam.
This is a book that should come with a warning sticker: Don't read in bed before trying to go to sleep because odds are you'll find the adrenaline contagious and will never fall asleep.
Keep up the great work,Jeff.

Last Tuesday I heard Jeff, of Austin, read from and talk about his new book over at BookPeople.
The Austin Statesman has selected this book as one it's encouraging people to read during july. Details here
http://www.bookpeople.com/statesman-s...
I interviewed him for the two earlier books in this series here http://blogcritics.org/interview-jeff...
and here
http://sbutki.newsvine.com/_news/2012...
This time i'm going to just add a review of the book to the two earlier interviews


Oh final link - colleague Scott Montgomery of BookPeople interviews Jeff here

http://mysterypeople.wordpress.com/20...

[Kory · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is fairly easy to read and the plot is okay. I found it was getting better and better and then the ending petered out and it didn’t feel climactic at all, which isn’t what I want from a book that’s over 500 pages. There are a few characters, some of which work better than others, but some which I found more interesting than the main character. It’s billed as a Sam Capra thriller but honestly, the story could have worked without him.

The style of the author was…functional is probably the best way I can describe it. It felt quite standard and it was just barely enough to keep me going when the plot sagged. It’s a book that I read and I didn’t feel like giving up on it while reading, but now that I’ve finished it, I realize that it didn’t leave any lingering impression on me. I don’t feel much attachment to Sam Capra and this book doesn’t make me want to go out and read the other books starring him. So, overall, I’d suggest giving this one a miss.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love love love Jeff Abbott. The main bugbear I had with the book was that there were whole days that I had too much on and that prevented me from doing any reading. His characters have depth and his novels are action packed. Like a lot of series with recurring characters, you really need to start with book one, but this novel is such that you gleam enough from the story to work out what has happened before.

Sam Capra owns bars all around the world, when a young girl in distress stumbles into the bar he is currently working, and says help me, little does Sam know the consequences of his actions. Fighting friends and foe alike, Sam is soon fighting for his life and not sure whom to trust.

Jeff Abbotts standalone books are excellent too, everyone well worth reading.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book free from Net Galley in exchange for a review.

This is my first book by Jeff Abbott and it won't be my last. My heart pounded and my pulse raced throughout this thriller. It was very well written story with plenty of twists. The list of suspects for several murders was very long and kept the characters confused leading to the "thrill'.

I would highly recommend this book.

[Jennifer Golden · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 3rd book featuring Sam Capra and it is action packed and reads like movie script. The characters are easy to love and hate depending on which character you are talking about. There are a lot of good authors and books out there but Abbott knows how to get your attention and hold it the entire length of the book. If you are a spy, thriller and/or adrenaline junkie you must read not only this but everything by Jeff Abbott.

[Kathi Defranc]

Great thriller!

This is a very interesting book,keeps your attention all the way to the end,as Sam,a former CIA agent still tries to keep the world safe for his young son. Sam is involved with a group that does this,but becomes entwined in another group that has less lofty expectations,wanting better for themselves in any way that could be obtained. Good characters and storyline,a thoroughly entertaining read

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sam is an appealing protagonist- this is the first book I have read of Mr. Abbot's Capra series. I will be looking for others.
This installment is a wild ride as Sam takes on the shadowy puppet master of the fates of successful and powerful (because he has made them so) men and women.
Twists, turns alliances and betrayals make this read a roller coaster ride. Definitely a thriller.

[Matt McRoberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great thriller novel that kept me interested from beginning to end. I liked how Jeff Abbott was able to continue on with the story of Sam Capra in this novel. After the ending of the previous book I almost thought the story was over. Glad I was wrong. DOWNFALL is the best Sam Capra novel yet.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story and can't wait to read more about Sam Capra in the future.

[Melissa (Semi Hiatus Until After the Holidays) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of action, but I haven't read the other books in this series so I definitely feel like I'm missing out. If you like spy thrillers, this series might be exactly what you're looking for. Tons of intrigue and adventure.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

[Robert James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another solid thriller. I think there was too much going on in this one though. It's like the author had all of these ideas and he wanted to cram as much as he could in this one book. However, I still enjoyed it and look forward to the next Sam Capra adventure.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is like an action movie in book form. Amazing, and very difficult to do right. It is the third in the Sam Capra series. I recommend reading the first two before this one - they are better read in order instead of alone.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better … The Faustian nature of the evil scheme still makes the story too full of itself, but nonetheless, it is clever. The plot is still too Gordian for me. So, 4 stars, but rounded up from 3.5. I think I shall try the next …

[Ray Palen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read my review next week on Bookreporter.com.

[Jennifer Clarke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it... Good fast moving action that the descriptions make easy to imagine... Just waiting on the next one. But Sam, go get Mila !