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Nothing They Won't Do
Mason Wright is living the dream as a first-year student at the most famous business school in the world, until a tragic accident in Boston derails his life. Expelled from school, with a cloud over his head, he jumps at a chance opportunity to interview for a job in Paris, hoping for a fresh start away from everyone who knows his past.
Alone in a foreign land, Mason is befriended by a German expat named Hans von Eiger, who introduces him to beautiful, aristocratic friends at parties in chateaux across Europe. However, Mason discovers that not everyone in his new friend group is who they appear to be, and now someone wants him dead to keep their secret safe. Framed for a crime he didn't commit, Mason finds himself completely alone again - on the run, trying to out-smart enemies who reach the highest echelons of power. Not knowing who he can trust, he ultimately puts his faith in, and falls in love with, a beautiful, independent, young woman - who he discovers may be hiding a secret of her own.
But has he made the right choice? Whose secret will get him killed and whose might just save his life?
Alone in a foreign land, Mason is befriended by a German expat named Hans von Eiger, who introduces him to beautiful, aristocratic friends at parties in chateaux across Europe. However, Mason discovers that not everyone in his new friend group is who they appear to be, and now someone wants him dead to keep their secret safe. Framed for a crime he didn't commit, Mason finds himself completely alone again - on the run, trying to out-smart enemies who reach the highest echelons of power. Not knowing who he can trust, he ultimately puts his faith in, and falls in love with, a beautiful, independent, young woman - who he discovers may be hiding a secret of her own.
But has he made the right choice? Whose secret will get him killed and whose might just save his life?
330 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 5, 2022
58 people are currently reading
8416 people want to read
About the author
Benjamin Campbell
2 books56 followersMr. Campbell was raised in Virginia and received his BA from the University of Richmond. After graduating from Harvard Business School, he spent the next 6 years living in France and England - opening the European offices of a telco startup in the UK, France, Germany, and Italy. While living in Europe he learned to speak French and Spanish fluently and became a passionate practitioner of the European café culture. Over the past 25 years he has been the founder or CEO of 4 tech startups, in industries ranging from systems infrastructure to online music. Besides writing, he spends much of his free time reading, traveling, watching old movies, and enjoying time with friends and family - often over a bottle of wine on a sidewalk café. Mr. Campbell lives just outside of Boston with his wonderful wife and children.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
June 27, 2022
Couldn't put it down
Would be a great movie!! I'll read it a second time to savor every scene. Very surprised and delighted by several of Mason's adventures. What a thrill ride!!
Would be a great movie!! I'll read it a second time to savor every scene. Very surprised and delighted by several of Mason's adventures. What a thrill ride!!
September 9, 2022
This was a really terrible book. I honestly was ready to DNF it 1/4 of the way through but as it got progressively worse I started having fun pointing out to my partner how awful it was. I realize I am the outlier with this review so I will do my best to articulate why it just didnt work for me.
Spoilers will be forthcoming.
The story presents itself like some kind of action-adventure/ spy thriller, however it was nothing of the sort. The first 100 pages are about Mason's escapades in France establishing himself in his tech career and getting past poverty to living a fabulous life meeting European nobles and drinking wine in cafes. He talks about women with his buddy Hans. He dates women. He lives a great life, which is especially great because he left Harvard Business School (HBS to those plebeians who don't know) under a cloud after he accidentally kills a bad guy assaulting his friend. I do not exaggerate when I say this is literally 1/3 of the book. It's so utterly boring and makes Mason out to be pretty unlikable.
So how does the author address this problem (that Mason comes off as a dousch)? Well somewhere around page 80 he randomly goes into a church and learns about the St. Vincent de Paul Charity and decides, on a whim, to volunteer to visit a lonely old lady and keep her company. I'd like to point put this incident did not contribute at all to story. Nor did it make him more sympathetic or likeable; in fact, Mason pretty much has no personality at all in the story. No one really does. There's a complete lack of substance or characterization for any of the characters in the story. They are all shallow characitures based on descriptions of how they look (which was all the females) or what they do (the male characters).
Enter in the "plot". His connection to best buddy Hans means he can access the baron, Han's uncle, and apparently the baton has been super naughty. He's been helping ISIS traffick women over to Europe using his shipping company. We get a few brief interludes of MI6 and two Syrian turned ISIS radicals explaining this further. We also get occasional brief interludes where the story stops to explains some of the political history of Lebanon and Syria (gee, thanks, I can read the news and Wikipedia too). At first I was thinking the alternative perspectives would be used to enrich the story, especially the way the ISIS was included. Instead, within the span of 2 chapters they go from interesting and somewhat sympathetic boys who grew up poor and marginalized straight to adult rapist assholes. It became clear that these characters only purpose was only to move the plot along in a convenient way. It was a huge missed opportunity.
Which leads me to this whole "spy" business. MI6 approaching Mason came off as completely unbelievable and ridiculous. No way would the agency ever ask an external person to do their job for them without some form of training. He's asked to plant a bug in the baron's office, and conveniently there's a secret passage that leads right to that room! Mason even finds a bunch of financial documents which he is "quickly" able to discern are important evidence of money laundering, thanks to his education from HBS. Of course, smart man doesnt think to start taking photos with his phone until he runs out of time and the baron returns. Uh oh. Thankfully he gets away with it and the Baron is none the wiser. Phew! Absolutely nothing about this was believable, even accepting this is a work of fiction.
Unfortunately the whole debacle is all for naught because eventually the bug gets discovered. But suddenly Mason is at risk because there's a leak in MI6! Uh oh! Why he is in danger is beyond me - he knows absolutely nothing because he isnt even an agent, all he did was plant a bug, which failed, and he doesnt even have valuable government connections to make him a liability. Unfortunately this logic doesnt matter at all, because ISIS is targeting him now.
I'm guessing the "They" in the title refers to ISIS's relentless pursuit of the hapless non-agent Mason, which strikes me as not the best use of their limited resources. They even go so far as to attempt to "burn" him - that's spy talk for isolating him and making him into a target by western police. Now our hero has to escape both ISIS AND the "trigger-happy" French police (we are told multiple times how trigger happy they are). There's even a scene where he steals a boat and sails across the English channel. Did I mention he has never sailed a day in his life?
I was beginning to think this story had a whiff of wish fulfillment about it, so I looked up the author. Apparently he attended HBS, like Mason, opened a start up telco in Europe, like Mason, speaks fluent French, like Masom, and lives a fabulous life drinking wine in cafes, like Mason. It's like the author decided he wanted to write a book about his life and just threw in the spy stuff to juice it up.
By the way, if you want to read good spy fiction I strongly recommend Le Carre, he does a much better job, and certainly has more believable plots, if not more exciting ones.
I wont bore you with more story details. Basically thevterrotits lost, Mason comes out unscathed, except for some minor scratches, and he happily ever after with his girlfriend Kelly, who he's been obsessing about the whole book. She's also pregnant and they are deliriously happy. Oh and she's an agent too. And she knows karate, expert level. We learn this all in two paragraphs after she kicks a terrorist's butt who comes to do horrible thinks to her. Thankfully the baby in her womb is safe (yes, those were the exact words). I want to add I've never heard the word "womb" used this many times outside of the bible. He writes it every single time he refers to her pregnancy (ugh).
The book was absolutely riddled with deus ex machina, but the worst comes at the very end, 15 pages left in the book. Before Han's died (sorry, I did warn about spoilers) he found a bible in the study hidden under a lose floorboard. Mason examines it and discovers two pages glued together. He takes them apart and finds a treasure map. Ok, let's put aside for a moment how utterly unlikely this all is and talk about the glued pages. There is absolutely no way the average person could just pull apart 18th century old paper without damaging it. There are entire fields of study dedicated to restoring ancient documents and it's just insulting yo the reader to assume that Mason could just do this himself on a whim as he's reading the book in bed.
Moving on to the actual "treasure hunt", which by the way was mentioned only TWICE in the entire story previously, and then only in brief passing. Madon grabs a shovel and follows the map to the gravesite where he illegally digs and finds a chest full of hundreds of pounds of gold coins. This, and I cannot stress this enough, is complete bullshit. First of all Germany has very strict laws about digging for ancient artifacts. I thinknl its actually illegal to even own a metal detector. Any digs require a lot of permits and inputs from archeological experts. There is no way he would be able to get away with keeping any of this treasure, which, by the way, he loads up into his SUV and hauls off to secretly stash in a bank. My head cannon has him caught by the authorities and going to jail, with his face splashed across the papers around the world showing what an idiot he was.
Yes, this was a terrible book. Even without the really awful storytelling, poor characterization, and frequent use of deus ex machina, the actual writing style isn't that great either. I dont think even an editor could have saved this, though it does make me wonder if one even looked at it before publishing.
Reccomend for no one. 1 star.
Spoilers will be forthcoming.
The story presents itself like some kind of action-adventure/ spy thriller, however it was nothing of the sort. The first 100 pages are about Mason's escapades in France establishing himself in his tech career and getting past poverty to living a fabulous life meeting European nobles and drinking wine in cafes. He talks about women with his buddy Hans. He dates women. He lives a great life, which is especially great because he left Harvard Business School (HBS to those plebeians who don't know) under a cloud after he accidentally kills a bad guy assaulting his friend. I do not exaggerate when I say this is literally 1/3 of the book. It's so utterly boring and makes Mason out to be pretty unlikable.
So how does the author address this problem (that Mason comes off as a dousch)? Well somewhere around page 80 he randomly goes into a church and learns about the St. Vincent de Paul Charity and decides, on a whim, to volunteer to visit a lonely old lady and keep her company. I'd like to point put this incident did not contribute at all to story. Nor did it make him more sympathetic or likeable; in fact, Mason pretty much has no personality at all in the story. No one really does. There's a complete lack of substance or characterization for any of the characters in the story. They are all shallow characitures based on descriptions of how they look (which was all the females) or what they do (the male characters).
Enter in the "plot". His connection to best buddy Hans means he can access the baron, Han's uncle, and apparently the baton has been super naughty. He's been helping ISIS traffick women over to Europe using his shipping company. We get a few brief interludes of MI6 and two Syrian turned ISIS radicals explaining this further. We also get occasional brief interludes where the story stops to explains some of the political history of Lebanon and Syria (gee, thanks, I can read the news and Wikipedia too). At first I was thinking the alternative perspectives would be used to enrich the story, especially the way the ISIS was included. Instead, within the span of 2 chapters they go from interesting and somewhat sympathetic boys who grew up poor and marginalized straight to adult rapist assholes. It became clear that these characters only purpose was only to move the plot along in a convenient way. It was a huge missed opportunity.
Which leads me to this whole "spy" business. MI6 approaching Mason came off as completely unbelievable and ridiculous. No way would the agency ever ask an external person to do their job for them without some form of training. He's asked to plant a bug in the baron's office, and conveniently there's a secret passage that leads right to that room! Mason even finds a bunch of financial documents which he is "quickly" able to discern are important evidence of money laundering, thanks to his education from HBS. Of course, smart man doesnt think to start taking photos with his phone until he runs out of time and the baron returns. Uh oh. Thankfully he gets away with it and the Baron is none the wiser. Phew! Absolutely nothing about this was believable, even accepting this is a work of fiction.
Unfortunately the whole debacle is all for naught because eventually the bug gets discovered. But suddenly Mason is at risk because there's a leak in MI6! Uh oh! Why he is in danger is beyond me - he knows absolutely nothing because he isnt even an agent, all he did was plant a bug, which failed, and he doesnt even have valuable government connections to make him a liability. Unfortunately this logic doesnt matter at all, because ISIS is targeting him now.
I'm guessing the "They" in the title refers to ISIS's relentless pursuit of the hapless non-agent Mason, which strikes me as not the best use of their limited resources. They even go so far as to attempt to "burn" him - that's spy talk for isolating him and making him into a target by western police. Now our hero has to escape both ISIS AND the "trigger-happy" French police (we are told multiple times how trigger happy they are). There's even a scene where he steals a boat and sails across the English channel. Did I mention he has never sailed a day in his life?
I was beginning to think this story had a whiff of wish fulfillment about it, so I looked up the author. Apparently he attended HBS, like Mason, opened a start up telco in Europe, like Mason, speaks fluent French, like Masom, and lives a fabulous life drinking wine in cafes, like Mason. It's like the author decided he wanted to write a book about his life and just threw in the spy stuff to juice it up.
By the way, if you want to read good spy fiction I strongly recommend Le Carre, he does a much better job, and certainly has more believable plots, if not more exciting ones.
I wont bore you with more story details. Basically thevterrotits lost, Mason comes out unscathed, except for some minor scratches, and he happily ever after with his girlfriend Kelly, who he's been obsessing about the whole book. She's also pregnant and they are deliriously happy. Oh and she's an agent too. And she knows karate, expert level. We learn this all in two paragraphs after she kicks a terrorist's butt who comes to do horrible thinks to her. Thankfully the baby in her womb is safe (yes, those were the exact words). I want to add I've never heard the word "womb" used this many times outside of the bible. He writes it every single time he refers to her pregnancy (ugh).
The book was absolutely riddled with deus ex machina, but the worst comes at the very end, 15 pages left in the book. Before Han's died (sorry, I did warn about spoilers) he found a bible in the study hidden under a lose floorboard. Mason examines it and discovers two pages glued together. He takes them apart and finds a treasure map. Ok, let's put aside for a moment how utterly unlikely this all is and talk about the glued pages. There is absolutely no way the average person could just pull apart 18th century old paper without damaging it. There are entire fields of study dedicated to restoring ancient documents and it's just insulting yo the reader to assume that Mason could just do this himself on a whim as he's reading the book in bed.
Moving on to the actual "treasure hunt", which by the way was mentioned only TWICE in the entire story previously, and then only in brief passing. Madon grabs a shovel and follows the map to the gravesite where he illegally digs and finds a chest full of hundreds of pounds of gold coins. This, and I cannot stress this enough, is complete bullshit. First of all Germany has very strict laws about digging for ancient artifacts. I thinknl its actually illegal to even own a metal detector. Any digs require a lot of permits and inputs from archeological experts. There is no way he would be able to get away with keeping any of this treasure, which, by the way, he loads up into his SUV and hauls off to secretly stash in a bank. My head cannon has him caught by the authorities and going to jail, with his face splashed across the papers around the world showing what an idiot he was.
Yes, this was a terrible book. Even without the really awful storytelling, poor characterization, and frequent use of deus ex machina, the actual writing style isn't that great either. I dont think even an editor could have saved this, though it does make me wonder if one even looked at it before publishing.
Reccomend for no one. 1 star.
February 14, 2024
I tried so hard to really enjoy this one. I love cities and the travels, and I did like the characters,but the dialogue seemed so robotic and the action and plot twists were so abundant and all over the place that it made it hard for me to really get invested. That being said, I will be reading the next one in hopes that it gets better.
November 21, 2022
This was a Goodreads free book. Very engaging thriller and a real page turner. Will read more of this author.
August 13, 2023
3 stars. Good…my attention span on this book went back and forth.
January 16, 2023
So much intrigue and adventure
Mason Wright went to Europe after Harvard Business School expelled him for being involved in a death. There he established himself in business and through his soon to be BFF Hans partied with the rich and posh crowd. Han's uncle, a baron, was trying desperately to keep the family's castle solvent. Approached by Specer, an MI6 agent, Mason became involved in a world of espionage and terrorists, which put him and his friends in mortal danger. Thinking he part in foiling jihadists, Mason settled down with a fiancée and a new home only to be dragged back into that world. Who in his world could he trust? And will he survive the threats against him and subsequently his friends?
I won this book from Goodreads and although I would not have chosen to buy it myself, I am very happy to have read it.
Mason Wright went to Europe after Harvard Business School expelled him for being involved in a death. There he established himself in business and through his soon to be BFF Hans partied with the rich and posh crowd. Han's uncle, a baron, was trying desperately to keep the family's castle solvent. Approached by Specer, an MI6 agent, Mason became involved in a world of espionage and terrorists, which put him and his friends in mortal danger. Thinking he part in foiling jihadists, Mason settled down with a fiancée and a new home only to be dragged back into that world. Who in his world could he trust? And will he survive the threats against him and subsequently his friends?
I won this book from Goodreads and although I would not have chosen to buy it myself, I am very happy to have read it.
July 7, 2022
a book with 2 protagonists
This book was a page turner for me and since I had read nothing from this author before, it was a pleasant surprise.
Mason found the love of his life, treasure, lost a friend and some how the intrigue was captivating. The historical references to world wars and Nazi germany along with references to isis and American president was amazing
This book was a page turner for me and since I had read nothing from this author before, it was a pleasant surprise.
Mason found the love of his life, treasure, lost a friend and some how the intrigue was captivating. The historical references to world wars and Nazi germany along with references to isis and American president was amazing
July 27, 2022
This is a great first book by Ben Campbell! It is an intricate story of an American living in Europe, and the twists and turns lead to a satisfying conclusion. Although I think the writing is a little stiff, the atmosphere he invokes is so well-described, and really draws you into the story. I am looking forward to his next book!
June 19, 2022
One of the best books I have read in several years.
The author did a great job of letting the reader know the characters. It was suspenseful and action packed. The ending was remarkable.
The author did a great job of letting the reader know the characters. It was suspenseful and action packed. The ending was remarkable.
December 27, 2022
One event can completely alter a life and send it down a totally unanticipated path into a perilous adventure. When Mason Wright is kicked out of Harvard, he relocates to France and sets out to prove that he is worthy of a possible return for his sophomore year. He falls in love with France, the culture and the language, gets a promising job and begins to make friends. With entry into aristocratic and influential circles, Mason finds himself in a unique position. Because of this, he is presented with a moral dilemma that could endanger his life and those of people he cares for but possibly prevent a terrorist attack. What will he decide and who can he trust? The novel takes the reader on a fast-paced exhilarating ride with exciting and unexpected twists and turns. I enjoyed getting to know Mason and his lovers and friends in their seemingly ordinary lives prior to the extraordinary circumstances which test their honesty, integrity and loyalty. I read this book during a major move and the holiday season and it kept me reading for hours in spite of multiple obligations. It also provided welcome relief from those same commitments. I was very happy to have won the Goodreads giveaway and I thank the author for a captivating tale that I truly enjoyed and highly recommend.
January 11, 2023
***I received a free edition via Goodreads Giveaways in exchange for a honest review.***
I wanted to like this book more as the premise sounded good but I just did not enjoy this. I think most of it had to do with Mason's, the main character, character as he was just not enjoyable to follow.
The conversations were also stilted- I thought maybe a computer or AI wrote the dialogue as much of it did not seem how people actually talked to each other.
Other characters like Hans, Kelly, Nassim, Abdul, Olivia etc... all could have been fleshed out more or even made the main character and it would have been better.
The book has potential but at this stage, not super enjoyable.
I wanted to like this book more as the premise sounded good but I just did not enjoy this. I think most of it had to do with Mason's, the main character, character as he was just not enjoyable to follow.
The conversations were also stilted- I thought maybe a computer or AI wrote the dialogue as much of it did not seem how people actually talked to each other.
Other characters like Hans, Kelly, Nassim, Abdul, Olivia etc... all could have been fleshed out more or even made the main character and it would have been better.
The book has potential but at this stage, not super enjoyable.
August 11, 2023
Nothing They Won’t Do is a political spy thriller and more. It is, I think, primarily the story of a young man, just starting out in life. He takes the bold step of moving to another country and learning the language well enough to work there.
The spy portion comes in after the novel is well started. The protagonist is no James Bond because he never asked to get involved in the fight against terrorism. The story has several layers which all work together nicely. There are even some surprises at the end. I want to avoid spoilers so I should say no more.
This is an excellent read. Highly recommended.
The spy portion comes in after the novel is well started. The protagonist is no James Bond because he never asked to get involved in the fight against terrorism. The story has several layers which all work together nicely. There are even some surprises at the end. I want to avoid spoilers so I should say no more.
This is an excellent read. Highly recommended.
December 30, 2023
I got this book for free and honestly wouldn’t have finished it if I hadn’t felt obligated to. There are many grammatical errors which make me feel like an editor never touched this book. The plot was very bland and predictable. The characters were nothing exciting. You would expect given the description for this to be an easily good book but I was constantly surprised by the lack of good writing.
September 10, 2022
It was a very good book. Towards about 70% the book did have quite a lag to it, not much action and kind of boring. I won this on a Goodreads Giveaway and I must say that I really liked this book. Lots of action and a well written book. The author did a good job.
February 8, 2023
I am kind of torn on this book. I didn't particularly like the main character and I thought the dialogue was amateurish. The plot, however, was good and there were some neat twists throughout. Rather blah ending.
August 7, 2023
Well written
I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway
This was an intricate tale of espionage, betrayal, terrorism, and love. It is hard to imagine all of these different strands weaving together to form this story but they did and nicely so at that.
I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway
This was an intricate tale of espionage, betrayal, terrorism, and love. It is hard to imagine all of these different strands weaving together to form this story but they did and nicely so at that.
August 16, 2023
Good book. It did take me awhile to get into it. It just kind of drones on about Mason hardships until the end when he finally meets the right girl. Thank You Good Reads for choosing me to receive this book.
September 4, 2023
Wonderful Book
I loved this book! I enjoy reading historical fictions. The storyline kept me wanting to continue reading so that I could find out what happened next! I would recommend reading this book!
I loved this book! I enjoy reading historical fictions. The storyline kept me wanting to continue reading so that I could find out what happened next! I would recommend reading this book!
October 24, 2023
an unlikely spy thriller
I enjoyed the recent history in this book. It takes place in various locales in Europe during 2015 - 2017. It’s full of action, romance and European culture.
I enjoyed the recent history in this book. It takes place in various locales in Europe during 2015 - 2017. It’s full of action, romance and European culture.
March 12, 2024
Slow build that keeps getting better
Starts slow, emphasizing people development rather than action. When the action gets going one twist after another occurs. Clever endings. Recommended.
Starts slow, emphasizing people development rather than action. When the action gets going one twist after another occurs. Clever endings. Recommended.
July 23, 2022
Very well written. Story captivated me. I would definitely recommend this book. I enjoyed it. Quick read too!
August 10, 2022
Slow start but picked up quickly. Twists and turns in this suspenseful novel. Characters were believable and I recommend this book for your TBR list.
September 29, 2022
I tried to read this, but I couldn't get into it. Sorry.
October 13, 2022
Excellent adventure and mystery book. Very moving and exciting. Enjoyable.
June 9, 2023
This was a good reads give away. I enjoyed it for the most part.
July 15, 2023
Enjoyed reading
This book had a few twists that surprises. It has likable characters and good storyline. I think this would make and excellent movie.
This book had a few twists that surprises. It has likable characters and good storyline. I think this would make and excellent movie.
August 7, 2023
Good moving thriller with characters and relationships that kept me intrigued until the end.
April 4, 2025
Slow moving in places - enjoyed the story- thought I had it figured out but just another bit of a twist
October 22, 2025
A Great Read!
This book was a great read! It was full of twists and turns that kept me interested to the end.
I am excited to read more books in this series.
This book was a great read! It was full of twists and turns that kept me interested to the end.
I am excited to read more books in this series.
February 21, 2023
Exciting
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews