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Low Flying: A gripping tale of drug smuggling set in New Zealand, Russia and Afghanistan
In a world ensnared by misplaced passion and strife, where jealousy flares into kidnappings and drug rackets, student flyer Matt Bullock finds himself pitted against a Russian underworld kingpin.A nagging suspicion about his flight instructor's clandestine involvement in pharmaceutical smuggling is worrisome, but the mystery deepens as Matt's girlfriend abruptly vanishes. Pushed to the brink, Matt resolves to plunge into the maelstrom, aided by two allies bonded by shared concern. Their trail leads them to Vladimir Zhukov, a ruthless Russian crime boss and his cohorts, who has no hesitation in using kidnapping or murder to achieve his goals.Staring into the jaws of danger, Matt harnesses his newly-honed flying abilities to unearth and liberate the abducted girls, dismantle Zhukov's criminal empire and bring the guilty to account. The stakes are sky-high and in this lethal game of power, there's room only for one victor. Immerse yourself in this pulse-pounding tale of courage, resilience, and relentless pursuit of justice. With plot twists as treacherous as the enemies Matt faces, this story will truly keep you on the edge of your seat.
- GenresCrime
370 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 7, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 22, 2023
Low Flying is a well-plotted and highly entertaining audiobook written and narrated by freelance New Zealand author, John Reynolds.
This is a crime novel that follows the adventurous journeys of a naive flying student, Matt, his charming but crooked instructor Jason Collins and Matt’s girlfriend, Fleur. Sadly, all three of them slowly but surely become potential targets for Zhukov, a ruthless Russian crime boss with a thriving nefarious business in Auckland, New Zealand.
Things get even more complicated when the Russian realizes that someone is bringing drugs into the city, which makes him lose money and credibility. What comes is a fast-paced, exciting, and gripping tale of drug smuggling, kidnapping, love, friendship, loyalty, betrayal, and even murder – taking the listener to exotic locations such as New Zealand, Russia, and Afghanistan.
As I mentioned above, Low Flying is narrated by the actual author and I am happy to say that Mr. Reynolds did a very good job with the audio production. He reads swiftly, he assigns credible accents to all of the main characters and he manages to successfully keep the listener interested and entertained throughout the over nine hours duration of this recording.
It is clear right from the beginning that he really enjoyed the challenge of performing his own novel and for me, as a listener, it added an additional dimension to the level of immersion and story, as he naturally delivers the dialogue and narration.
I am always interested in discovering how an author perceives the characters that they created and this time was no different. I guess that the fact that Mr. Reynolds regularly narrates audiobooks for Blind Low Vision NZ also helped him better prepare for this performance.
I recommend Low Flying to readers, or listeners in our case, who are interested in flying, a good crime story, or both.
This is a crime novel that follows the adventurous journeys of a naive flying student, Matt, his charming but crooked instructor Jason Collins and Matt’s girlfriend, Fleur. Sadly, all three of them slowly but surely become potential targets for Zhukov, a ruthless Russian crime boss with a thriving nefarious business in Auckland, New Zealand.
Things get even more complicated when the Russian realizes that someone is bringing drugs into the city, which makes him lose money and credibility. What comes is a fast-paced, exciting, and gripping tale of drug smuggling, kidnapping, love, friendship, loyalty, betrayal, and even murder – taking the listener to exotic locations such as New Zealand, Russia, and Afghanistan.
As I mentioned above, Low Flying is narrated by the actual author and I am happy to say that Mr. Reynolds did a very good job with the audio production. He reads swiftly, he assigns credible accents to all of the main characters and he manages to successfully keep the listener interested and entertained throughout the over nine hours duration of this recording.
It is clear right from the beginning that he really enjoyed the challenge of performing his own novel and for me, as a listener, it added an additional dimension to the level of immersion and story, as he naturally delivers the dialogue and narration.
I am always interested in discovering how an author perceives the characters that they created and this time was no different. I guess that the fact that Mr. Reynolds regularly narrates audiobooks for Blind Low Vision NZ also helped him better prepare for this performance.
I recommend Low Flying to readers, or listeners in our case, who are interested in flying, a good crime story, or both.
April 18, 2024
This was my second reading of this novel and I enjoyed it even more than the first as I appreciated its subtleties. It has all the features of a first class thriller: terse narrative, swift action and dangerous situations that call for rapid thinking. There is a cast of desperate characters, a ruthless Russian thug, a drug dealer who is an ageing Lothario and a businessman who sails close to the wind. Yet the author has given us an insight into the backgrounds of these men that elicits a certain sympathy for them, especially in the case of the Russian who is a victim of the Soviet system of military training which is designed to produce hardened killers. The author’s knowledge of flying small aircraft adds an extra fillip of interest to an already exciting story. I found his female characters rather stereotyped but nevertheless credible. The plot is cleverly worked out and holds tightly together. I simply had to keep on reading to the end.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews