Night Owl: A Trasker Thriller

4.3 | 15,107 ratings

Price: 2.49

Last update: 05-17-2024

About this item

A shocking act of sabotage draws a retired spy into a deadly conspiracy in an explosive thriller by an Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

After three decades in counterintelligence, Brad Trasker is retired, disillusioned, and dealing with a tragic loss. Spy games are behind him until he attends the launch of a next-generation aircraft. When the project of innovative aerospace CEO Kylie Connor explodes on the tarmac—nearly killing her in the process—Trasker is pulled back into the line of fire.

The mystery of the sabotage quickly deepens. All Kylie’s data has been wiped from the server. One of her engineers has disappeared. A seed investor has died in a suspicious car accident. And a cold-blooded murder raises the stakes even higher.

To discover who’s pulling the strings behind a dangerous conspiracy, Trasker needs to find a motive. Corporate espionage, revenge, or something he can’t yet see? Targeted by assassins, he finds himself overmatched when he realizes he can’t trust anyone—including Kylie. Too long out of a game he no longer understands, Trasker must adapt or die.

A spy's fight to protect a brilliant mind

Top reviews from the United States

Amy F.

Well done

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2024

Another fun escape reading that was both creative in storyline and fast moving. Typical of this author. Very well done!

Mary

An outstanding story

Reviewed in the United States on January 10, 2024

My first book by this author. This was a fast paced story with so many twists and turns that I really had to pay attention to keep up. Of course it was all unbelievable and over the top but all the best books in this genre are! I will be looking out for more by this author.

The story was very clever and in places even funny. It was well-written and the characters were great. I never figured out who the bad guy was until he was about to get his comeuppance.

Apparently this is the first in a planned series starring Bradley Trasker, a very smart, very knowledgeable retired intelligence officer. look forward to the next tale in the “Trasker” series.

Lynne Lockwood

Could not out down

Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2024

Smart writing and a great protagonist. This book had surprises at every turn, and felt as if the author knew what he wrote
. Can't wait for the next one.

markjshap

“Night Owl”: A Trasker Thriller (A no spoilers review)

Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2023

“Night Owl” was one of the Amazon Prime first reads selections for November 2023. I was excited to see an offering from author Andrew Mayne and did not hesitate to make it my first choice.

Brad Trasker is a retired CIA operative. He is invited to the inaugural launch of a new aircraft by CEO Kylie Connor. For some unknown reason the jet explodes outside the hangar and Kylie is fortunate to escape the blast unscathed, despite her close proximity to it. A conspiracy emerges and Trasker is fully immersed in it, putting himself and others in grave peril. Banking on his years of experience, Trasker puts his rusty espionage skills to the test.

I’ve read Andrew Mayne novels in the past. While the plot was good and the action thrilling at times, this effort fell a little short for me. Mayne did a very good job developing Brad Trasker’s character. The reader certainly got a good feel for his psyche, his analytical thought processes, his no nonsense demeanor. I would certainly welcome more from this character in future sequels. That being said, the problem for me was the sheer number of protagonists creating some confusion in understanding. I found myself going back at times and rereading some passages to try to keep things straight in my head. I struggled with this one in spite of my best attempts to absorb the narrative. At times I felt things getting borderline convoluted as I muddled through.

This is not a bad book by any stretch of the imagination. It was, however, flawed in its development. Three stars does not do this novel justice, but to me this was a 3.5 that didn’t quite make it to four stars. It left me a little flat and bewildered at times. I’m not ready to jump off the Andrew Mayne bandwagon; “Night Owl” just didn’t check all the boxes for this reader/reviewer.

William de Rham

Highly entertaining.

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2023

Readers who enjoy well-drawn, distinctive crime-solvers and espionage types—characters like Bond, Bourne, Bosch and Reacher—will want to take a good look at author Andrew Mayne’s newest offering, “Night Owl.”

It is the first in a planned series starring Bradley Trasker, a very smart, very knowledgeable retired intelligence officer. Divorced and having lost both his career and his son (to an auto accident), he’s at loose ends. But then engineering wunderkind and billionaire Kylie Connor invites him to the launch of the revolutionary hydrogen-powered aircraft she’s just developed. When that experimental plane explodes on the tarmac, and it appears that it might be sabotage, she turns to him for help.

Just who or what caused the explosion? And how? And why? And if it’s a who, will they try to inflict future damage upon Kylie’s company? Or upon her? Those are the questions Trasker must answer and that keep us readers turning the pages.

Mr. Mayne has given us a well-written, plot-driven novel. The very beginning had me a little worried because the writing seemed a little too convoluted—a little too “writerly”—for its own good. But very quickly, the prose and dialogue became simple and straightforward, catching me up in the story and making the pages fly by.

I thoroughly enjoyed Bradley Trasker, a man who knows a lot about how the world works, and global security threats, and the tradecraft of his profession. He’s not afraid to share that knowledge with other characters, and with us, which makes him a great protagonist and narrator. Nevertheless, no matter how savvy he might seem, he often feels outpaced by a quickly changing world. That vulnerability adds depth and humanity to the character.

Mr. Mayne has built his story around current and just-over-the-horizon science and technology, which is always fun. And he’s layered in a good deal of industrial espionage and other types of skullduggeries, which is fun too. Put that together with the novel’s various twists and turns and you have the recipe for a very entertaining tale. I look forward to the next tale in the “Trasker” series.

cfrez

WOW

Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2024

What can you say. One of the best books I ever read.
Great characters, great writing, great story.
I only stopped reading it to eat and go to the bathroom. What more can I say.

JimD

spectacular thriller

Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2024

This was an unexpected thriller. The story, the characters the dialogue will make it hard for you to put down.

The lead character is intriguing with appropriate quirks and interesting outlook.

I’m looking forward to my next Trasker book.

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