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Drone
We rely on automation. Our cars parallel park themselves. The military uses unmanned aerial vehicles for surveillance. We can’t go anywhere without our phones. Our lives are ripe for hacking.
Not that anyone would.
When a group of high school friends meet at their 45th reunion, they discuss the hypothetical. With all these wireless networks, could someone hack a military drone? Unknown to them, a Russian spy gets wind of their idle chatter and plans to put their idea to the test.
Vasili Grigoriy Konstantinov commandeers a drone flying over Washington D.C. and terrorizes the National Mall with a low flyby. Then, things escalate.
Written by W. M. Kreucher, Drone is a spy thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.
Not that anyone would.
When a group of high school friends meet at their 45th reunion, they discuss the hypothetical. With all these wireless networks, could someone hack a military drone? Unknown to them, a Russian spy gets wind of their idle chatter and plans to put their idea to the test.
Vasili Grigoriy Konstantinov commandeers a drone flying over Washington D.C. and terrorizes the National Mall with a low flyby. Then, things escalate.
Written by W. M. Kreucher, Drone is a spy thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.
166 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 21, 2014
17 people want to read
About the author
W.M.J. Kreucher
16 books9 followersVisit My Author Page
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W. M. J. Kreucher writes cozy mysteries, thrillers, suspense, and coming-of-age romance with heart and depth. A Detroit native from the city’s vibrant west side, he spent over three decades in the automotive industry championing environmental initiatives—focusing on clean fuels and vehicle fuel economy.
Behind the scenes, he provided technical support to lawmakers, ghostwrote for members of Congress, and helped shape key legislation and regulations. Some say crafting policy is its own form of fiction—but now, Kreucher channels his storytelling skills into novels where character, emotion, and intrigue take the wheel.
Drawing from a lifetime of experience, sharp observation, and quiet wit, his stories explore the intricacies of human connection, the pull of the past, and the secrets that lie just beneath the surface.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 28, 2016
Fast paced and well balanced thriller where a wayward Drone is found roaming over Washington causing state wide panic. Though the novel pov is a little different, its more or less the kind of stuff that rolls a movie reel in your mind, keeping you on edge. I had the listen in a single stretch, thanks to a lousy bus journey and this book was a boone then and there. Also my heartfelt thanks to the author for sharing this well made audiobook for review.
Plot went sideways and weak sometime middle and ending felt a bit abrupt. Especially with a start that was quite elegant. Plus, I am not a fan of sudden genius geeks who can hack and craft anything out of nothing, If given the proper motivation. Other than that, this one was a relevant new age political thriller, i dont know, maybe, but definitely a thriller.
This could easly go into movies with the likes of Olympus has Fallen and sorts, Also may even be oscar worthy with tweaked emotions, more middle east reference and Tom Hanks.
Plot went sideways and weak sometime middle and ending felt a bit abrupt. Especially with a start that was quite elegant. Plus, I am not a fan of sudden genius geeks who can hack and craft anything out of nothing, If given the proper motivation. Other than that, this one was a relevant new age political thriller, i dont know, maybe, but definitely a thriller.
This could easly go into movies with the likes of Olympus has Fallen and sorts, Also may even be oscar worthy with tweaked emotions, more middle east reference and Tom Hanks.
September 21, 2016
Drone your typical terrorist thriller
Drone by W. M. J. Kreucher, narrated by Samuel E. Hoke, is a rather short “by the book” terrorist attack plot against the United States capital using a Drone as the method of attack. The book opens by setting up the various characters along with their specific expertise in their given fields and how they will be important for carrying out this attack. We are given some background on why these individuals are interested in attacking the U.S. We have individuals kidnapped for their expertise and forced to carry out their attacker’s wishes or their loved ones will be harmed or killed.
Included with the story are your standard complement of keystone cops, incompetent military, flakey news personnel, and the use of technology to pull it all off. Not a surprise for a book entitled Drone. I did like that the new teams were calling it “Dronegate”, a word that seemed would quickly come out of a situation like this. I also found it funny that the news team was more focused on this event being a political stunt and were interviewing an individual about the impact of the drone’s exhaust and its impact of this around global warning.
For me the book seemed rather flat and lacked much of the detail, action, and suspense one would expect in a book of this genre. It is not in the same class as a Tom Clancy story, if this is what you are expecting I would not recommend this book. The book was shallow in technical detail, but this is easily understood when telling a story in only 137pg. or 3.5hours for the audiobook. Think of the story more as a quick flyover rather than one that is deep in the technology weeds. If you go into this book with the understanding that it is quick and light, the story is rather enjoyable; nothing different or unique from other stories in this category.
What I was hoping for was much a story covering in more depth things like the drone itself, the difficulty of creating and dispersing a chemical agent (air, water, wind, population, etc.). There are some good documentaries covering just how hard this process is to accomplish, and I did not get that same feeling from this book. I will say that I did like some of the provided backstory the author gives to the characters. This makes them better understood and also keeps them from being flat or non-descript.
With regard to the narration of the book. I will give Samuel E. Hoke a four out of five stars. Looking on Audible, this is his first narrated work; congratulations and thank you for your hard work. I feel he did an excellent job for his first work. He was able to easily and smoothly pronounce the many post-Soviet country names and locations. I like that he was able to voice the many different characters, even some with Russian accents, and that he was able to properly voice the female characters without going into a falsetto. I would have like to have had a bit more distinction between characters and inflection in their voices, but this is something that comes with more experience narrating books.
I did like that the narrator included some audio effects to enhance the drama or suspense like when someone was talking over the phone the audio was modified to sound like it would. This shows extra effort to make the narration more than just his voice. I like it, it was not overly done as I have found in other books I have listened too.
There were a few audio technical issues I encountered while listening to the book. From the start I felt that the audio seemed hot throughout most of the book. It was not as crisp or clean as other books I have listened too. Between chapters there were a few slight volume variations, but nothing that would impact your listening. There were a few chapters that had some form of background noise, static, or other audio effect; chapter 21 (2:36), chapter 22 (0:53) and chapter 41 (start of chapter). Something that again is noticeable but not so bad that you cannot hear the narration.
Overall I enjoyed this book and will say that the narration was done well. I did listen to the book at 1.25x speed as the narrator read a bit slower than I like, but this is a personal preference and something easily overcome by technology.
Disclaimer: This audiobook was provided to the reviewer by the author, narrator, or publisher in exchange for a non-bias review.
Drone by W. M. J. Kreucher, narrated by Samuel E. Hoke, is a rather short “by the book” terrorist attack plot against the United States capital using a Drone as the method of attack. The book opens by setting up the various characters along with their specific expertise in their given fields and how they will be important for carrying out this attack. We are given some background on why these individuals are interested in attacking the U.S. We have individuals kidnapped for their expertise and forced to carry out their attacker’s wishes or their loved ones will be harmed or killed.
Included with the story are your standard complement of keystone cops, incompetent military, flakey news personnel, and the use of technology to pull it all off. Not a surprise for a book entitled Drone. I did like that the new teams were calling it “Dronegate”, a word that seemed would quickly come out of a situation like this. I also found it funny that the news team was more focused on this event being a political stunt and were interviewing an individual about the impact of the drone’s exhaust and its impact of this around global warning.
For me the book seemed rather flat and lacked much of the detail, action, and suspense one would expect in a book of this genre. It is not in the same class as a Tom Clancy story, if this is what you are expecting I would not recommend this book. The book was shallow in technical detail, but this is easily understood when telling a story in only 137pg. or 3.5hours for the audiobook. Think of the story more as a quick flyover rather than one that is deep in the technology weeds. If you go into this book with the understanding that it is quick and light, the story is rather enjoyable; nothing different or unique from other stories in this category.
What I was hoping for was much a story covering in more depth things like the drone itself, the difficulty of creating and dispersing a chemical agent (air, water, wind, population, etc.). There are some good documentaries covering just how hard this process is to accomplish, and I did not get that same feeling from this book. I will say that I did like some of the provided backstory the author gives to the characters. This makes them better understood and also keeps them from being flat or non-descript.
With regard to the narration of the book. I will give Samuel E. Hoke a four out of five stars. Looking on Audible, this is his first narrated work; congratulations and thank you for your hard work. I feel he did an excellent job for his first work. He was able to easily and smoothly pronounce the many post-Soviet country names and locations. I like that he was able to voice the many different characters, even some with Russian accents, and that he was able to properly voice the female characters without going into a falsetto. I would have like to have had a bit more distinction between characters and inflection in their voices, but this is something that comes with more experience narrating books.
I did like that the narrator included some audio effects to enhance the drama or suspense like when someone was talking over the phone the audio was modified to sound like it would. This shows extra effort to make the narration more than just his voice. I like it, it was not overly done as I have found in other books I have listened too.
There were a few audio technical issues I encountered while listening to the book. From the start I felt that the audio seemed hot throughout most of the book. It was not as crisp or clean as other books I have listened too. Between chapters there were a few slight volume variations, but nothing that would impact your listening. There were a few chapters that had some form of background noise, static, or other audio effect; chapter 21 (2:36), chapter 22 (0:53) and chapter 41 (start of chapter). Something that again is noticeable but not so bad that you cannot hear the narration.
Overall I enjoyed this book and will say that the narration was done well. I did listen to the book at 1.25x speed as the narrator read a bit slower than I like, but this is a personal preference and something easily overcome by technology.
Disclaimer: This audiobook was provided to the reviewer by the author, narrator, or publisher in exchange for a non-bias review.
January 23, 2018
DRONE Hits and Misses
The techno-thriller Drone by W. M. J. Kreucher doesn’t follow the more typical format of the FBI, military, or Homeland Security tracking a domestic threat. Successful in some ways via the insider drone and scientific knowledge of characters Pat O'Connor and Sam Kennedy, the captive heroes work against their wills to execute the revenge plans of Russian assassin, Vasili Grigory Konstantinov.
After the kidnapping of Pat's lady friend Jamie along with Sam's wife Helen, Vasili’s plans set-off a string of Terminator executions of anyone in his path. The Feds do finally arrive. It’s fun to read the commands of those in power bark orders to combat the threat as the story flies toward the surprising climax.
Despite these accolades, something's amiss. For a Tom Clancy-like thriller, Drone fell flat. The story holds tension within its pages because Kreucher made his main characters everyday people like you and me. I get that for this story, but the danger simmers rather than boils over considering the horrific plan of Vasili.
On a craft level, Drone needs a bit more editing with an emphasis on spelling and inserting a few missing words. Also, I’ve seen two versions of Drone’s cover and neither does the story or genre any justice. They both make the book look self-published. I’d suggest getting a cover re-do. It’s the only graphic books have that can make or break a sale before a person even reads the sample pages.
In the end, Drone didn’t thrill like I thought it would despite the inherent positives. It was more of a by-the-numbers thriller with a tepid feel. I award it two-and-a-half stars though I have to give it three stars for the online rating systems.
The techno-thriller Drone by W. M. J. Kreucher doesn’t follow the more typical format of the FBI, military, or Homeland Security tracking a domestic threat. Successful in some ways via the insider drone and scientific knowledge of characters Pat O'Connor and Sam Kennedy, the captive heroes work against their wills to execute the revenge plans of Russian assassin, Vasili Grigory Konstantinov.
After the kidnapping of Pat's lady friend Jamie along with Sam's wife Helen, Vasili’s plans set-off a string of Terminator executions of anyone in his path. The Feds do finally arrive. It’s fun to read the commands of those in power bark orders to combat the threat as the story flies toward the surprising climax.
Despite these accolades, something's amiss. For a Tom Clancy-like thriller, Drone fell flat. The story holds tension within its pages because Kreucher made his main characters everyday people like you and me. I get that for this story, but the danger simmers rather than boils over considering the horrific plan of Vasili.
On a craft level, Drone needs a bit more editing with an emphasis on spelling and inserting a few missing words. Also, I’ve seen two versions of Drone’s cover and neither does the story or genre any justice. They both make the book look self-published. I’d suggest getting a cover re-do. It’s the only graphic books have that can make or break a sale before a person even reads the sample pages.
In the end, Drone didn’t thrill like I thought it would despite the inherent positives. It was more of a by-the-numbers thriller with a tepid feel. I award it two-and-a-half stars though I have to give it three stars for the online rating systems.
July 31, 2016
This was a really interesting and suspenseful book. With all the talk of drones and their capabilities, this book is especially relevant and scary in that it could actually happen. The book is well-written and gripping - I didn't want to put it down. I listened to the Audible audio version of this book narrated by Samuel E. Hoke, and I was pleased with his narration. I especially appreciated that he didn't give his female character a whiny voice, which happens so often in the books I listen to. He had good differentiation of characters, good pacing, and good cadence. I would definitely listen to more books narrated by him. Overall, this is a really exciting and gripping book, and I would definitely check out other books by this author.
October 3, 2016
Drone is a fast packed thriller that combines good ole fashioned terrorism with some hi-tech gadgetry. The story starts in an unusual place a school reunion for some senior citizens. As you do at such event there is much crap talking. Unfortunately for them someone is listening and likes some of what he hears.
From hear the tale turns into a fast paced thriller that involves, kidnapping, coercion, hijacking and chemical agents. This is a well thought out and clever read that hooks you in from start to end.
From hear the tale turns into a fast paced thriller that involves, kidnapping, coercion, hijacking and chemical agents. This is a well thought out and clever read that hooks you in from start to end.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews