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    The Gun Seller
    The Gun Seller
    The Gun Seller
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Gun Seller

    Written by Hugh Laurie

    Narrated by Simon Prebble

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Cold-blooded murder just isn#8217;t Thomas Lang#8217;s cup of tea. Offered a bundle to assassinate an American industrialist, he opts to warn the intended victim instead-a good deed that soon takes a bad turn. Quicker than he can down a shot of his favorite whiskey, Lang is bashing heads with a Buddha statue, matching wits with evil billionaires, and putting his life (among other things) in the hands of a bevy of femme fatales. #160;#160;Up against rogue CIA agents, wannabe terrorists, and an arms dealer looking to make a high-tech killing, Lang#8217;s out to save the leggy lady he has come to love . . . and prevent an international bloodbath to boot.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateOct 16, 2012
    ISBN9781611749731

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    Reviews for The Gun Seller

    4/5

    69 ratings57 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Clever, amusing, plausible and gripping, holds its own - worth readers ng.
    • 5/5
      V. funny thriller that whips you from one part of the world to another. You're never quite sure what's going on, or who the good and bad guys are, but you don't seem to care. The only bad part was when there were no more words left.
    • 3/5
      I'd been meaning to read this for some time now and I'm glad I finally got around to it. A twisted, confusing and funny tale of a man caught in the wrong place at the wrong time who finds himself stumbling into a much larger world.

      The book has a strong start but towards the middle it really starts bogging down under it's own weight. I wasn't sure it would be able to lift itself up before the end but in the final few chapters it manages to get up and all come together.

      A good novel from someone who does better as an actor this book could have benefited greatly from a trim. In the end I though it was still worth the read and if Hugh Laurie gets around to writing another book I'll give it a try.
    • 5/5
      Hilarious and well written. The main character speaks with the voice of characters who Laurie has portrayed before: the head of MI6 from the British series "MI5" and House from "House MD." Some of the characters speak with the same "voice" as others, and the American characters use "British-isms" which no actual American would ever say. Aside from that, it's a very enjoyable read, and may yet turn up in movie form. When Laurie wrote it he was the age of the main character, so I imagined him in his 30s as I read. If you like "House MD" you'll love this book.
    • 4/5
      Hugh Laurie is a great comedian and actor, can sing and apparently play any instrument he takes a fancy to and is a naturally gifted sportsman. And this, his only book, is a wonderfully funny comic spy thriller. Hugh Laurie is a git.
    • 3/5
      Thomas Lang, selbständiger Sicherheitsberater, Bodyguard - was auch immer - wird über mehrere Ecken in ein Drogen-, später dann Waffengeschäft verwickelt und findet sich plötzlich als Terrorist wieder. Grund hierfür ist sein gutes Herz und (natürlich) die Liebe zu einer Frau. Wie er sich aus dieser und vielen anderen gefährlichen Situationen wieder herauswindet, schildert Laurie durchaus witzig und originell. Seine Wortspielereien und Spitzfindigkeiten in Bezug auf Sprache sind überaus unterhaltend (z. B. wieso der Tag an- und die Nacht einbricht und nicht andersherum, oder '...ließ die Sonne zwischen den Krähenfüßen hereinkrabbeln' oder 'Das letzte Mal haben wir uns zu beiden Seiten eines Revolvers getroffen.'), wobei man immer wieder auch den Tonfall des späteren Dr. House entdeckt.
      Die Geschichte selbst ist zeitweise überspitzt (wie es sich für eine Parodie gehört) aber auch recht wirr. Scheinbar belanglose Personen tauchen kurz auf um eine ganze Menge an Seiten später plötzlich wieder eine bedeutsamere Rolle zu spielen. Hier scheint die Fabulierlust des Autors etwas überhand genommen zu haben.
      Sieht man von diesen kleinen Schwächen ab, hat man mit diesem Buch eine vergnügliche Unterhaltung mit viel Sprachwitz und etwas Dr. House-Flair :-)
    • 4/5
      The narration by Simon Prebble is excellent. As one would expect from Hugh Laurie, there is plenty of sarcastic humor. A spoof of the military/spy thriller novel, a bit over the top for my taste, but still fun.
    • 4/5
      There are few things i hate more than having to do things twice, but it was definitely worth re-reading the first 220 pages of this to finish it. Not only is the story wrapped over in itself six or seven times but it is dotted with hilarity in the form of one liners. Good stuff.
    • 3/5
      As a work of humor, this book failed me. However, as an occasionally-funny thriller it succeeded.

      Think Bourne Identity rather than Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and you won't be disappointed. On the positive side the plot made a few sharp and dramatic turns, and the author did a great job of ending chapters on notes that made me want to keep reading.

      I also appreciated the way that the characters had realistic motivations without all being fundamentally terrible or wonderful people.

      The book does show its age (from the rarity of cell phones and internet), but I think it still holds up quite well.
    • 4/5
      Well this was a scream. It's a little strange because the story isn't a comedy, but the narration is hysterical pretty much from page one. It's amazing how funny Hugh can make terrorism. Also, I congratulate either Hugh or his researchers, every bit of information about small arms in this book is accurate, take that Joe Haldeman!
    • 3/5
      Long on humour and a little short on cognitive plot, this is what a Naked Gun movie would be like if the writers were more literate...and British.
    • 2/5
      I was really excited about this book as Hugh Laurie's humor already has a likeness to beautiful prose, but the plot of this book was just awful. I love silly, satirical, nonsensical things, but this was just so far beyond the scope it was practically hopeless. I found I had to force myself to pick it back up, and it just was not an enjoyable read. The sentences themselves were lovely, but the story line was utterly disappointing.If Hugh Laurie were to write another book I would definitely give it a go because his writing style really is very wonderful (very Fight Club-esque). I think this one was just an unfortunate miss.
    • 3/5
      As part of LibraryThing's wonderful Early Reviewers program, I was able to get a copy of Hugh Laurie's The Gun Seller. You probably know Hugh Laurie as "House", from the TV show. He's also a musician (has a blues CD out), and, apparently, a novelist as well. I was initially surprised to find it was an audio book; I thought it was going to be a physical copy of the book. This is actually my first audiobook, I've never done one before, so take my review with a grain of salt. Thomas Lang is a former Scots Guard member. Offered money to assassinate someone, he declines, and proceeds to warn the target. From there, things start to go wrong in a no-good-deed-goes-unpunished sort of way. The early part of the book feel very much like a typical gumshoe novel, there's beautiful women, guns, spies, all the trappings of a good adventure novel.Simon Prebble provides the voice, a great "upper crust" English accent, which is fun. Laurie's plotting is also fun. Thomas Lang is the wisecracking type. About every third sentence has some kind of snark, joke, sarcasm or witticism. I found it amusing for about 3 chapters, but when in the 4th chapter of a book, every other sentence has some bad joke in it, it becomes a bit much. I wasn't quite sure whether this was intended tongue-in-cheek or not, but in the end it became tiresome. This may be due to the audiobook format; in written form it might not have been annoying. Lang tends to talk in parenthetical remarks - I think there was one sentence that had a parenthetical remark inside a parenthetical remark. It was often hard to follow in audio form - again, it may simply be the Laurie's style doesn't translate well to audiobooks. In the end I think this is a book I'd rather read than listen to, but it was entertaining.
    • 4/5
      Thanks to Chris for turning me on to this fun romp. Every now & then I'd just bust out laughing & it kept me up past my bed time to finish it. Random, odd, & meandering as it seems at times, the humor was a constant thread & I found that everything really was spot on. If the story occasionally took the long way around the barn, it was only so we'd sneak up on something unexpected.

      It's at least a 3 star thriller & is written so perfectly in Laurie's voice that I could hear & see him the entire time, which easily gains it another star in my book. I loved the early seasons of House & have seen him in a few other things where he's always shined. This is mostly written in his comedic voice - snarky & not so dark as his House character. IF you like that, it's a 4 star read. If not, don't read this.

      There was quite a bit of grittiness to the main character, Thomas Lang, who narrates the story. Not quite noir detective, but close, & the first person POV is excellently done. That's not always easy to do & if you don't like the character, it ruins the book, hence my warning above.

      For all the low-key, comedic quality of Laurie's observations, it wasn't just funny. While poking some fun at the genre & most everything else, it was also brought out a lot of good points on society & our current state of affairs in general. It had it all AND it's 15 years old, which surprised me. It could have been written last year. Wow!

      The plot certainly twists & turns with the best of the genre - international conspiracy, murder & betrayal all baked into a mystery that Tom finds himself firmly embedded in. Laurie did a great job introducing & maintaining one of my favorite supporting characters, Solomon right from the very start. Like everything else, he seems kind of random & odd at first, but eventually gels into clarity. Actually, that's a good description of the plot. About half way through, I wondered how there could still be so much to read - I thought I was closing in on an obvious, if not great ending - but I wasn't. That was a bit disappointing, I expected the last half to drag, a puffed up section simply to make some publishers word count. It wasn't. Oh, no, it was great!

      I highly recommend this to all my detective-mystery-thriller reading friends.
    • 3/5
      I'm not familiar with the spy genre so I don't think I have the necessary background to fully appreciate this book - but it was enjoyable albeit confusing.
    • 3/5
      I think this is what you'd call a "rollicking good read".
    • 4/5
      Thomas Lang is drawn into a web of intrigue as he tries to wriggle every which way to extract himself. When there is no other option, he commits himself, and now beware, said the fly to the spider. This was the audio version, read by Simon Prebble, who is superb.I'm not sure why one review called this a "spoof of the spy genre." I thought it a good mystery story with shades of noir and lots of laughs. Romance, intrigue, humour and action, a perfect blend! I could say I was offended by the portrayal of Americans, but no. With recent events it is all too believable. Please someone, tell me Mr. Laurie is going to write another book, and preferably one with Thomas Lang in it.
    • 5/5
      First off, I will admit that I only bought this book because I'm completely off the deep end for Mr. Hugh Laurie. That being said...I was hooked from the first sentence, "Imagine that you have to break someone's arm."The book is -from what I understand- supposed to make fun of Bond type books/movies. And it certainly does it's job. But underneath the amusing take on todays spy circle is a brilliant story about our hero, Thomas Lang.Poor Thomas finds himself in a lot more trouble then he bargined for, and paired with fiesty Sarah Woolf. It's action packed, quick paced, and chalked full of laughs. Well done. Though I would probably borrow it before buying it, it isn't everyone's cup of tea.
    • 3/5
      This is a fairly good book. I was quite enthusiastic about it during parts of the book but there were a few too many slow parts. Considering it was written by a famous actor, it's exceedingly good. But judged solely on its own merits, this book is good but not great.
    • 3/5
      I love Hugh Laurie (as Bertie Wooster and Dr. Gregory House) and this novel is full of witty one-liners and humorous internal dialogue. Thomas Lang is a hapless former soldier for the British who turns down an offer of significant money to kill a wealthy American in the gun-selling business. Lang feels obligated to warn the intended victim and instead finds himself attracted to the man's daughter and embroiled in a plot of international intrigue and deceit. The storyline is rather confusing and the humor wanes a bit toward the end as a serious resolution is worked out. Similar to Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell but not as gory nor as compelling.
    • 3/5
      Having started out solidly, if typically for this kind of story, the plot went off the rails and got lost. Lots of players, stilted, stagey scenarios and dangling plot devices. As far as the writing went it was tough to pin down as a serious work because of the highly affected idiomatic style reminiscent of Wodehouse. The trick Laurie didn't seem to understand is that for each highly crafted little gem Wodehouse gave us, he padded and corralled and gave it plenty of room so a reader could fully absorb and savor it. Laurie's, while some of them were good, came too thick and fast. Using a gun analogy it's as if Wodehouse used a revolver and Laurie a mini-gun. Spray and pray. Another thing that bothered me was the tone and how it changed so much. I'm still not sure if this was supposed to be a straight up noirish spy story, a pastiche or a parody. At times it's funny in a slick-one-liner meets slapstick kind of way, and then it's trying to force a political angle really hard and seriously; make sure you know this, Reader, Hugh Laurie is a pacifist and doesn't even remotely approve of anyone buying so much as a BB gun, much less the US government making all kinds of shenanigans in order to fuel its war machine. Yes, it was written many years before 9/11, and so it felt a bit sentimental with regard to terrorists and how they might be manipulated. If it is a spoof or parody as the descriptions say, I think it is too self-aware to pull it off. Like some little kid constantly nagging his mother to watch him pull some stunt - hey mom, are watching? Did you see that? Did you see what I did? Did you see? Are you watching? Ugh, enough already, we get it, you think spy stories are funny and you've spent a lot of time with a thesaurus.Insofar as the narration went, I think Prebble is very good at his job, but maybe Laurie himself should have narrated. He's the only Brit who can do an American accent worth a damn.
    • 5/5
      This book was amazing. I mean, okay, the writing was not award-winning prose, but it's not trying to be! I couldn't begin to count the number of times I laughed out loud or a huge grin spread itself over my face. It was just a riot. And it was a riot on top of a gripping suspense-thriller. I have to give this 5 stars. I maybe shouldn't, because the book itself is technically not that stunning, but I had such a fun time reading this, and I thought it started out fabulously and the end was perfect, so I just have to give it full stars!
    • 4/5
      After watching all 8 seasons of House, MD, I decided to finally pull this from my shelf and dust it off and give it a try. Hugh Laurie is a veteran British comic actor, of course, and has done greater shows than House (although I did like that quite a bit) and that British comedy comes out here in his first published work of fiction. That being said, if you aren't up on your British terminology, you may need a dictionary close at hand. (There is actually a British to American slang dictionary available online.)The story itself revolves around a guy who gets mixed up in an international arms deal - or rather the set up of a weapon test that will likely kill innocent by-standers. He is not particularly interested in killing random people, but luckily there are other agencies who agree with him. At times it becomes a bit confusing as to whom he is really working with and who he is trying to double-cross. There's a bit of romance thrown in and overall a quite nice, intelligent, and funny story. At times it is a bit convoluted, but it's all in good fun and Laurie just has a way with words. If you like smart British humor (Jasper Fforde fans?) then give this one a try.
    • 5/5
      I was plesantly suprised by this book it has a well paced storyline although the end was i felt slightly off
    • 4/5
      An enjoyable read - fast paced, interesting characters. A nice mystery/ detective story. Things I liked, Thomas Lang, is a bit of bumbler, he's a detective, but is basically a nice guy. When asked to assassinate an American, he declines, but decides that he should warn the assassination subject. This starts a series of adventures that leave Thomas Shot, beat up, and generally abused. It takes him from the streets of London, to the slopes of Switzerland, then to Morocco. A nice mystery that doesn't take itself too seriously.
    • 4/5
      I'll give The Gun Seller 4 out of 5 stars mostly for the humor. Written by Hugh Laurie—and if you're familiar with the man's work pre-dating his role as Gregory House you'll fully understand how funny he really is—it's mostly what I expected. Barely a page went by without some line that had me at least chuckling if not outright LOL'ing. In fact, I was going to open to the first few pages and pick a line to share here, but there were simply too many. Fun, fun read.And not a bad story. I'm not an expert in the political espionage thriller genre (far from it) but it seemed plausible to me, certainly exciting, had some good action sequences nicely fleshed out. I could follow it fairly easily. And you could tell when things were really getting serious because the dry humor (humour?) simmered down on the back burner.Good writing? Fair. Judged by that alone I might have given it only 3/5 stars. Nothing grand, but mostly solid. Couple points I stumbled over. The tense shifted a few times toward the end (past to present and back to past again) which sort of threw me off. And at least one section (again, toward the end) felt a lot like telling, not showing. When I hit things like that, they're like speed bumps which slow/stop my reading and interrupt the flow. But I got back on track quickly and moved on.Now, since I got this book in audio format (from the Early Reviewers program) I'll say a few words about the audio book. Good quality. I've listened to a fair few audio books in my day, and some have obvious technical problems (especially when you can tell the transition from one recording session to another by a change in volume or the reader's voice). Hardly any of that here. Almost seamless. The reader, Simon Prebble, did a great job conveying the humor. I suspect that you'd need a British sense of timing to pull off a British humorist's writing, and Prebble certainly did well. He conjured up a number of voices and accents to portray the various characters. He really shone with the European accents. When it came to the few American accents, they all sounded the same (I'm guessing Prebble is British) except the one Minnesotan accent which sounded like a troop of Norwegian actors doing a recreation of the movie Fargo (i.e., I'm from America and have even lived near Minnesota and nobody there talks or sounds like that at all). Minor complaint. The audio quality was mostly stellar.
    • 4/5
      Incredibly funny and over-the-top version of a spy novel, written by none other than the lovely Hugh Laurie. One of the back quotes in my copy compares it to the Naked Gun movies, and this is a fair comparison - with a good critique of the military-industrial complex thrown in.
    • 3/5
      I really enjoyed this; it deserves to be turned into a movie. And that's not a backhanded compliment--it just seems like it ought to be a movie.
    • 3/5
      The only reason I read this book? You guessed it, Hugh Laurie. Anything to which his name is attached is worth a looksee. I'm not typically a fan of spy novels, so I must admit that some of the spoofing was probably lost on me. However, Laurie obviously enjoys the English language and bends and twists it to wit-laced results. As a narrator, Thomas Lang is sarcastic and self-deprecating, but also a genuinely nice guy. He's likable, someone you'd like to go have a drink with just to hear his running commentary on the people and places with which he comes into contact. Some of my favorites included his observation that hiding behind the warehouse walls was not a good idea "since the walls were no more than an inch of Gyproc plaster board, and probably couldn't have stopped a cherry-stone squeezed from the fingers of a tired three-year-old." Also, his philosophical thoughts on the use of the term bird strike: "This, rather unfairly in my view, made it sound as if it was the bird's fault; as if the little feathered chap had deliberately tried to head-butt twenty tons of metal travelling in the opposite direction at just under the speed of sound, out of spite." Amusing and sometimes laugh out loud funny, it's worth the read and will probably most appreciated by people familiar with the spy genre
    • 5/5
      I listened to the audiobook version read by Simon Prebble. I was really impressed by this book. I know some of Hugh Laurie's earlier comedy sketches and roles, and I enjoy his sense of humor. I started this book with some trepidation, fearing it would be one of those cases where a famous person who is not a writer tried his hand at writing, and failed miserably.That was not the case here. This book was brilliant. it was hilarious. The plot twists and turns kept me interested. (This would have been a real 'page-turner' for me, except that I was listening to the audiobook, and therefore found myself making excuses to keep listening instead of doing other things.)As the book was wrapping up, I was getting this feeling of dread, not only that the book would be ending soon, as I was really enjoying it, but also that I saw the pat happy ending on the horizon. I thought: oh, please, don't ruin it with that ending.And Laurie didn't. He changed what you thought was going to happen at the end. Sure, it was a bit of a happy ending (I'm not going to spoil anything here), but at the same time, it didn't end up quite the way one expects for the standard Happy Ending with all the Hollywood Trimmings.I enjoyed this story a lot. The audiobook version is worth a listen. When I first started listening, i was disappointed that Laurie wasn't reading it himself. But Prebble is so good that, after a few minutes, you're glad it's not Laurie reading it. Prebble really is outstanding.