Broken

Leopold Blake Thriller

by Gordon Hopkins, Nick Stephenson (Creator)

Terror Isn't Cheap... Nick Stephenson's best selling Leopold Blake thriller series is back with a brand new installment by Gordon Hopkins. A sniper sets his sights on a crowd of innocents. A bomber targets New York City landmarks. Even billionaire private investigator Leopold Blake isn't safe from terrorists, despite the best efforts of his stoic bodyguard, Jerome. Are these lone-wolf attacks or is there a guiding force behind them? Leopold and NYPD Sergeant Mary Jordan are determined to find out before disaster strikes again. But terror isn't cheap - so where is the money coming from? In San Francisco, insurance companies are being scammed out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Bremler Mutual sends their best investigator, Gil DiMauro, to root out the thieves. But there is one question he can't what happened to all the cash? As the shocking realisation dawns, Leopold and his team must rally their forces and uncover the truth - while heading for a showdown that may just well be their last. Broken is another exciting installment in the Leopold Blake series of thrillers and can be read as a standalone novel.

312 pages, Paperback

Published August 19, 2016

Reviews

[Jane Blanchard · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very disappointed in Broken by Gordon Hopkins and Nick Stephenson. The front cover claims that this a Leopold Blake thriller but his character does not appear until chapter 46 (59%) of the book. The previous forty-five chapters ramble on about seemingly separate terrorist acts that may have been instigated by a woman.

The repartee that I loved between Sargent Mary Jordan and Leopold Blake is missing and I felt the absence. As if the soul of the book were missing.

The storyline is not cohesive and the text is in need of editing.

Had I read this book first, I would not have read the series, and that would have been a shame.

[Tulay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thrilling ride.

If you join this thrilling ride with Leopold you won't be disappointed. Two plots running side by side, one is bombs exploding in New York city, second is insurance fraud. Health insurance fraud happening all the time, because we don't always open and closely read them. Leopold works with the police, FBI, but at the end they're the ones solves the crime. If you read the all the books in this series you'll love them all. Leopold please give your body guard Jerome a Kindle, as big as he is he can carry even 10 inch kindle in his inside pocket of jacket, so he won't be carrying books to read while waiting you. Hoping to find out what's Nasrin is up to in the next book.

[Lyle Nicholson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I cannot say I'm impressed with this book. Too many cliches, and strange deviations of the story where an entire segment is dedicated to the introduction of Gil which slows the story and had me wondering, where are you going?

I felt like the story did a long commercial break while they introduced Gil, then went back to the original story, then by a miracle of just in time coincidence Leopold and friends have to race off to San Francisco to meet up with Gil.

No idea how this was written, or who proofed it, but major typos all the way through, even in Hopkins book intro. I expected better than this from Nick and he should have given this to his Beta Readers before production.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good Leopold Blake thriller

Once again Leopold Blake has gotten himself in another challenging position with terrorists. Gordon Hopkins managed pretty well with Nick Stephenson's world, but I missed Nick's extra attention to eliminate typos.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was frustrated by the impression that two separate people were writing the book and like a writing class exercise, the only thing they had in common was "insurance fraud".

Felt like it was written by two individuals rather than a team.

[steve Day · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another easy read

Although I can't say I didn't enjoy another installment of Leopold Blake's comings and goings, I was rather disappointed at how long it took to get !Leopold really involved, it seemed I was nearly half way through the book. This said I would still recommend.

[Claudette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read

I forgot how interesting his books are. Great read, so many different angles. You never know who and why it happen. I love my returning cast of characters. So will the San Francisco group be returning?

[Cindy Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review

Very good story. Fast paced and interesting.Good charactors.I would recommended this novel too anyone who likes action and a good plot

[Mr Michael R Stevens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Story

A good read, short but enjoyable, the additional short story is a nice bonus it will be interesting to see how the story continues.
Looking forward to it

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was entertaining, but in terrible need of copy editing. It was very frustrating and something I would only expect from a self-published author.

[Mrs. Kenyon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A promising story but needed A LOT of editing. Seemed it was mainly to create a spin-off character for another author.

[Shanitapita · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't want to give this book 2-stars, because I love the series, but I worry that if you read this book first you won't read any of the others--which are great and totally worth the read.

My main problem with the book (outside of the embarrassing amount of typos) stemmed from the fact that I felt like Leopold, Mary and Jerome--the series main characters--were barely a part of the plot and their storylines were left unrepresented.

I won't spoil, but there should have been a lot to say between Fallen and Broken and just wasn't. I also don't understand the title of this one but that's the least of my concerns. I really hope Stephenson hasn't abandoned authoring this series.

I found Broken to be, "just okay." I can't hide my disappointment though.

[C.A. Pack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an entertaining thriller about a woman who radicalizes men into committing acts of terror, and uses companies she "buys" to launder money. There's humor mixed in, so it's a fun read. But this book needs a better proofreader. Nothing takes me out of the action faster than thinking, "Is that a mistake?"

[J.B. Reynolds · Rating 2 out of 5]

This novel features the character of Leopold Blake, created by well known indie author, Nick Stephenson. A cross promotional exercise between Stephenson and Hopkins, I only purchased it for the link to Nick Stephenson's promotional material in the back matter. I've given it two stars because it was absolutely riddled with typos and grammatical errors. I can't understand how anyone could publish it in the state it was when I downloaded it, let alone someone with the kudos of Stephenson. I don't see how any professional editor could have missed all the errors in it, so the only conclusion to make is that a professional editor never saw it. Perhaps the errors have been corrected now, but I would imagine it has done serious damage to the reputations of both the author and Nick Stephenson.

I would have given it one star, but to give Hopkins some credit - the story itself is okay. The action moves along at a rapid pace and never gets boring. There are a few genuinely humorous moments and the main characters are likeable enough, but in the end, it's all a bit lacking in substance, like eating candy floss.

I guess I'll read of the Leopold Blake novels actually written by Nick Stephenson at some stage, if only to see how it compares to this (reader reviews would suggest they are much better), but after having read this, I can't say I'm in a hurry to do so.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Broken' was another great addition to the series 'A Leopold Blake Thriller'. It leaves off with a bit of a cliffhanger, but not to the point of me losing sleep waiting for the next book. The storyline was full of action, thrilling scenarios, suspenseful moments and humor. I forgot how funny this series is. Leopold is a great lead. I like how he's actually a likable billionaire vs an arrogant, self centered type that comes with having so much money. He has a way about him that gets results. Mary is absolutely great. She finally admits she 'may' have an anger issue, which was quite funny to me. The ever faithful bodyguard Jerome is still stoic and never afraid to put himself in danger before others. His responses are usually spot on and full of factual humor. I think Gordon Hopkins was a good addition to this series. Definitely an author I'll read more from. A must add to your tbr list.

[Amy Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting interaction

Blake meets DiMauro. Blake is one of my all time favorite characters. Stephenson has a way of writing and a grand style and Hopkins is comparable. There are some distinct differences but the story flowed well. At first I was unsure of DiMauro's relationship with Blake but it soon registered within the story. The duo authors did well at creating Broken. I couldn't wait for another Leopold Blake novel and this did not disappoint. I see myself gathering stories now from Hopkins, to, as he just found a new fan. Love it and worth the "endless" wait. Hope the next one isn't too far off in the future.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast-paced thriller. Lots of action but not a lot of context or character development. Not a lot of Blake, really. More of an introduction to Gil, a new character. I don't understand this trend of having other authors write about your characters. It feels like cheating to me. I got distracted by the 13 errors I found in the main story and 15 in the short story. Proofreading software alone isn't enough.

[Gary Ross-Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story managed to keep me going interested to the end but looing back I found little depth in it. The author does a good job of pacing and excitement but ultimately I wasn't sure I wanted any more. One major feature was a large number of editing errors which was annoying. All in all, worth a read if you have time to kill but not for me to seek out more in the series.

[Vered · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do my best to avoid posting negative reviews - if I don't like a book, I tend to stop reading after the first couple chapters. For some reason, I kept reading this book, waiting for a plot or a plan or whatever. It never really took off in a meaningful way. The characters were flat, the editing left a lot to be desired. Blah.

[Dan Dobler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good stuff

It's been a while since I read any Blake stuff and this is pretty much how I remembered it. The thing that I was a bit disappointed in was that Blake actually had little if anything to do with the story. It is well written, and fun to read.

[Perry Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally read this genre, but i really enjoyed this book. It was more about introducing the character Dimaura than Leopold Blake, but that was probably the point of the joint effort. Definitely still worth reading.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good read from the series of Leopold Blake , I really enjoyed this one and it had me hooked from the beginning. The characters and main POV were well thought out and the book really flowed.
I will definitely read some more from this series.

[Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another good book in the Leopold Blake series. There seemed to have been some editing problems in this one; however, not enough to distract from the story. I rate this one 4.5 stars.

[Tricia DuBay · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a disappointment. The book had too many mistakes and seemed to be rushed out before it was ready.