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    The Kill List
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    The Kill List
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    The Kill List
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Kill List

    Written by Frederick Forsyth

    Narrated by George Guidall

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    An extraordinary cutting-edge suspense novel from the "king of the pack" (The Washington Times), #1 New York Times bestselling author Frederick Forsyth.

    In northern Virginia, a secret agency named TOSA (Technical Operations Support Activity) has one mission: to track, find, and kill those so dangerous to the United States that they are on a short, very close-held document known as the Kill List.

    Now a new name has been added: a terrorist of frightening effectiveness called the Preacher, who radicalizes young Muslims living abroad to carry out assassinations. Unfortunately for him, one of his targets is a retired Marine general, whose son is TOSA's top tracker of men.

    The Preacher has made it personal-and now the hunt is on….


    From the Paperback edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateAug 20, 2013
    ISBN9780698135833
    Unavailable
    The Kill List
    Author

    Frederick Forsyth

    Frederick Forsyth (b. 1938) is an English author of thrillers. Born in Kent, he joined the Royal Air Force in 1956, becoming one of the youngest pilots to ever fly in Her Majesty’s service. After two years in the RAF, he began working as a journalist. He later turned his journalism skills to writing fiction, and his first novel, The Day of the Jackal (1970), was a great success. Forsyth continued to use real figures and criminal organizations as inspiration, writing popular books like The Odessa File (1972) and The Dogs of War (1974). His most recent novel is The Cobra (2010).  

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    Reviews for The Kill List

    3.5/5

    166 ratings28 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The Kill List is about an American agent code-named the Tracker who is attempting to hunt down a terrorist know as the Preacher who is posting sermons on the internet encouraging Muslims to kills Americans and Brits. No one know's the Preacher's whereabouts, his name, or even what he looks like. The story is fairly interesting, even though it feels like a similar story has been told many times in other novels. This is the first book I have read by Frederick Forsyth. His style is different from most other writers. The first 30 pages or so read like genealogies of the main characters. There is not a ton of dialogue in the book and many times I felt like I was reading about something that had already happened rather than experiencing it as it was happening. In all, it was entertaining and with the read.
    • 5/5
      Mr. Forsyth has proven once again that he belongs at the top among thriller writers. The Kill list has great character development, a great plot, is very well written,and is a very fast read. This book should be at the top of the 'take to the beach' to read list!!
    • 4/5
      Great story and will be added to my collection. I have read other books by Mr. Forsyth and this was a great read. Once I started the book I had to finish it.Solid story line and great charaters.
    • 5/5
      Frederick Forsyth's vision of justice is unassailable, his research is formidable and his imagination is immense. He has always been one of my favorites.
    • 2/5
      Is it not within reason to expect a bestselling author to pay money for an infosec consultant to advise him on the technology he is writing about so that it's at least somewhat accurate and plausible? The technobabble in the book is on the level of a bad Hollywood film. I couldn't get past it. The utter stupidity of it makes me think the non-tech bits might be equally farcical.
    • 4/5
      Loved it. I kept wanting to run errands so I could listen to another chapter. Will be recommending to my Dad.
    • 4/5
      Writing thrillers is a popular occupation. Most of the authors create a protagonist or 2 and build a series around them - and as long as the quality does not go down badly, that guarantees that people will be back and read the books. And then there is Forsyth. He creates his characters, writes a book with them and moves on. "The Kill List" is not different. Somewhere in the deep secret passages of the different intelligence agencies, there is a special list - authorized by the president. It contains the people that are so dangerous for USA that they need to be eliminated. And in order to deal with that, there is a top-secret organization. Forsyth's style, especially in the first pages, sounds more like an obituary article in a Sunday paper (the more boring kind of article) than a novel; throw the meticulous details in everything and anything and the first 50 pages or so are a hard read. But they introduce the main players - the good and the bad, fast forwarding through their past and their motives. In this world there is no middle ground - you are either good or not. Throw in Mossad, Somali pirates, British commandos from one type or another, fundamental Islam, Swedish billionaire, a kid with Asperger's (and this really start getting old) and a personal loss and the stage start filling up. Unlike most thrillers, there is no fatal woman for our hero to fall in love with. The book is very detailed and technical - if you do not bother about the details of why a parachute is set in a specific way, it is not for you. Forsyth's idea of foreshadowing is to tell you what will happen (as in "And he was about to get good news from someone" - not exact words) and then to proceed to go through the narrative so you can see it happening. Most of the characters never really fill up - they remain outlines and type characters throughout. And someone really need to help Forsyth with the computer terms - I was cringing every time when technical terms were coming into the conversation and the way the kid described his dream system made me laugh out loud. It's a tale of a world where fundamentalist Islam is eating up more and more of the Muslim population. It is almost a cliche in our post 9/11 world but it still works. It's not Forsyth's best work and I would not recommend it as an introduction to his work - but it is like meeting an old friend again.
    • 3/5
      Forsyth is an excellent story teller and this book is well crafted but it lacks in some key areas. While very well written with excellent character development and attention to detail there is very little excitement or suspense. Unexpected plot twists or suspense are not there. In many ways this is a simplistic book - bad guy doing bad things, primary character goes after him, the plan is decided upon, and the bad guy goes down. All in all rather plodding and lacking in imagination. Many authors in this genre do a much better job keeping the reader "hooked" with the unexpected and unforeseen.
    • 3/5
      This is going to be a short review, with not much worth talking about.The Kill List is my second Frederick Forsyth read this year, third overall. Forsyth's work continue the common theme of a single individual with exceptional combat/strategic abilities, which is not bad, when executed well, like in the case of the cult-classic The Day of the Jackal. The execution suffered, despite a strong plot in the otherwise disappointing The Cobra, my first Forsyth read this year.In this book, the character was strong, the execution, pretty sketchy. A weak plot and the lack of details didn't help either. These days, one expects to be educated, while being entertained, while reading Thrillers of this type. This book entertained a bit, but failed miserably in the other task. Add to that, the non-development of any character, including the lead character, a resume probably would have got one better acquainted with the character than the book. It was good to have a happy ending, but it seemed almost forced, with good things coming along for everyone, in an ideal world, free of any unfairness.A below average read, I think I am done with Frederick Forsyth for now.
    • 3/5
      A good but not quite gripping fictional account of an attempted assassination of a radical Islamic cleric by British & American Special Forces. Involving spies, multiple locations & modern technology this is gripping techno thriller writing done well but there is a lack of psychological realism, and motivation & this lessens the impact of the story by lessening realism. At times, it feels as though the author is simply regurgitating his research and this plagues the story telling and made this particular reader roll his eyes. Holiday reading but no more.
    • 4/5
      Excellent story, lots of good details were given and it was filled out fairly well for a thriller. I'm going to have to try a few more of his books. The Tracker is part of a secret government agency whose purpose is to assassinate people deemed to dangerous to the US to live. His latest target is a man only known as the Preacher. He preaches extreme jihad-ism and has started getting devout converts who are willing to die, killing high profile targets. He also happens to be one of the most careful men out there, having learned from the death of many co-conspirators not to trust any more than you have to.It's the Trackers job to find him and put paid to his bill of death.
    • 4/5
      A good thriller! Would make a great movie.
    • 5/5
      This is an excellent book. I had not read Forsyth for several years. he is now right up there with Daniel Silva in my opinion. How contemporary, how real, hoe in the here and now. While reading, i felt like I was right up there in the drone or sitting in Mcdill AFB watching. He spares the unnecessary verbiage and gets right to the point. Even in the denoument, he spares us a long drawn out chase and does the job. He does not use the Seal Team, no, he calls on a little known English Swat group who are professional and quite efficient. Our hero is not present at every step, but efficiently behind the scenes and ready to deliver. I've seldom read a thriller this imaginative and well done. Huzzahs to Mr. Forsyth--very well done.. I,ve ordered three of his last four books and will read more, I,m sure. The use of the teen age wonder was a stroke of genius!
    • 4/5
      A well constructed thriller that puts an international terrorist known as "The Preacher" for his jihadist, anti-Western internet sermons, squarely in the cross-hairs of "Kit" Carson, who hunts him down at all costs. Tedious at times due to the main character(s) getting shoved to the background from all the story technical detail, the plot nevertheless culminates in a satisfying, yet somewhat rushed ending. I am really struck by the overall genre similarities between this one and Forsyth's masterpiece "Day Of The Jackal". However, where DOTJ is considered a classic thriller, this one falls just short due to the one-dimensional characters. Still a good read, especially for the beach.
    • 5/5
      The Kill List by Frederick Forsyth was a very good read. The perfect summer vacation novel. The story is about a member of a secret US agency known as the Tracker. His job is to track down terrorists added to the White House's Kill List. The terrorists that are wanted dead not alive.The terrorist he is searching for is an on-line preacher known only as The Preacher who has instigated a number of attacks by followers in the Great Satan (US) and the lesser Satan (Great Britain). The story follows the search for this man and steps to get his man. It is well written and very fast-paced. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
    • 4/5
      This reads like a training guide on hunting down terrorists. It is a very detailed story of the hunt for the Preacher, a terrorist who broadcasts over the internet to recruit new followers. He instructs them on how to target people in the U.S. and Britain. These new converts are ideally people already in country, who can be convinced to attack their targets from within. One man, Col. "Kit" Carson is leading the fight against the Preacher, not only because he is the head of an anti-terrorist task force, but also because his own father has been a target of an attack. A good read, but sometimes the technical aspect over powers the human story. Book provided for review by Putnam.
    • 2/5
      I was not very impressed with "The Kill List." This is my first Frederick Forsyth book, but to me, it was slow, rather poorly assembled, and lacked a very satisfying ending.The story follows a Marine, code named "The Tracker," as he's tasked with bringing a Muslim terrorist to justice. This terrorist, named "The Preacher," posts videos online encouraging his followers to take out small fish--people who are important in their communities. This apparently is easier than trying to put a big plan, ala 9/11, together. A subplot to the story has a Norwegian merchant ship getting captured by Somali pirates. The two plots eventually merge together to make it somewhat interesting. Of course, you must also throw in a geek boy who never leaves his Virginia home--but, with all sorts of government computing power provided by The Tracker--can break into any system, any where, any time. C'mon.Two other things bug me about the book: For several of the main characters, we get their entire bios up front. I don't think all that info was very important, number one, and two, if it was, it should have been spread out some, rather than front-loading the novel with all this character stuff. Second, while we learn early on The Tracker's name, Forsyth continues to call him The Tracker. Or sometimes he calls him just Tracker. Yes, it's an anal retentive complaint, but there it is.The final act is really the best part of the book, but there's certainly no surprises and it's really rather pedestrian, especially if you've read Flynn (RIP), DeMille, or especially Matthew Reilly.Wouldn't recommend.
    • 4/5
      I can see the reason who like this genre like Mr. Forsyth. He explains clearly about weapons, government agencies and military terms which doesn't get a novice like myself to books about terrorism and undercover work totally lost. The plot involved the locating and killing of a hidden terrorist calling himself the Preacher who is inciting violent Jihadist acts in western countries. There is a secondary plot about a hijacked vessel off the coast of Africa and the two plots become intertwined. I felt when reading it the book was an updated version of the old Zane Grey Westerns in which and good and bad guys are clearly defined and the outcome is never in doubt.
    • 5/5
      The Preacher is a jihadist who makes impassioned appeals for violent action over the web. There have been seven assassinations, three in the U.S. and four in the U.K. In all of the assassins rooms the Preacher's speeches have been found on computer hard drives. The Preacher has come to the attention of an organization called TOSA, or Technical Office of Support Activities. He has been added to a "kill list". USMC Col. Kit Carson, known as The Tracker, has been assigned to hunt him down. Carson has added incentive to find the Preacher, his father, a USMC general was one of the victims. The Preacher is hard to track, Carson must discover his real name, location, and his super encrypted computer. He enlists the help of an 18-year-old agoraphobic computer whiz. The Preacher is operating out of Somalia. This is an action filled book and I found it very engaging.
    • 5/5
      A well written and wonderfully current novel that addresses terrorism, its inner workings, and the dark side of humanity. The work appears well researched with an understanding of the inner workings of both the terrorist and those that fight against them. If you are interested in current events you will want to read “The Kill List”.
    • 4/5
      Hochaktuelles Buch, souverän geschrieben, so wie man es von Forsyth gewohnt ist. Auch wenn man sich für militärische Dinge nicht erwärmen kann, so sind die beschriebenen Optionen teilweise schon einschüchternd und beängstigend.Gerne mehr aus diesem Themenbereich !
    • 4/5
      The Kill List a Frederick Forsyth thriller has brought a harsh reality into our reading lives. If you’re one who is concerned about the war on terror or think it’s over look at this book. The author in this book explains in detail about the secret government organization whose job is to find and eliminate terrorists on “the kill list,” and how easy it is to infiltrate a computer system anywhere in the world. The Kill List shows how governments use all means available to win the war on terrorism and hunt down the Jihadist. Frederick Forsyth is able to give details of the processes, organizations, and equipment needed to find the terrorist with the help off peoples in and out of the military or government.
    • 5/5
      Brilliance from The MasterFredrick Forsythe is back with a brilliant thriller that is thoroughly up to date well researched and could be happening right now. Forsythe is master of the thriller genre and with the Kill List he shows his readers why he will long remain one of if not the best thriller writer in the English Language. This is a book is worth every penny and you will want to reread it. As always this book is a well researched well written book with nothing left to chance.The tracker is a former Lieutenant-Colonel in the United States Marine Corps who now works for a very shadow agency TOSA under the command of J-SOC with a direct line to the President is charged with finding and dispatching Al-Qaeda and all other associated terrorists. There is one particular terrorist that is inspiring many acts of terror in America and Britain often referred to as The Preacher. Events in the book see that this books a very personal battle for Tracker and he will chase him to the ends of the earth if necessary.Also during the course of the story a seemingly unrelated act of piracy on a Swedish happens which helps to steer things in the Tracker’s favour. The Tracker is able to not only use the USA’s many various military and covert agencies but gets assistance from Mossad and various British military operatives and intelligence gathering agencies. We also see how he is able to use drones to gather intelligence and give eyes to those on the ground.This is a brilliant book well worth reading and bang up to date with what our defence agencies are doing to protect the west.
    • 4/5
      Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book with the expectation I would provide an honest review.Frederick Forsyth is back!I have been a fan of Frederick Forsyth for years. I first read him in the late 1980s and have read all his novels. While I enjoyed The Afghan, I felt that perhaps Mr. Forsyth had started to fade in The Cobra. It felt too formulaic and without the slower detail that allowed suspense to build. The climax, while interesting, took a quick political detour that spilled all the wind out of its own sails. I was cautiously hopeful when I saw his new release.The Kill List takes a look behind the scenes of modern anti-terrorism warfare. Forsyth has never been about the technology--his detail has always been in the people and the processes they use at or beyond the fringes of the public eye. Think about the description of obtaining a fake passport in The Day of the Jackal or about engineering the takeover of a company and a country in The Dogs of War.In The Kill List, Forsyth introduces us (a little too quickly) to The Tracker a Marine officer who works in a little-known corner of the military that runs the unmanned drones and targets them on enemies of the US. One man has emerged as an elusive, but dangerous target--a man simply known as The Preacher, who sends video messages of hate on the internet calling on his followers to kill Americans and other Westerners essentially at random. When the US President finally has enough of the effects of the Preacher’s war, he orders the Tracker to silence him. The hunt is on.This is not The Day of the Jackal, but it is an interesting and intriguing process to follow as the Tracker works to identify, locate and pursue the Preacher. The hunt includes the coordination of multiple governments and organizations within those governments. Of course, things move faster in fiction than they do in real life, but still the interplay of the agencies and their personalities and goals are fascinating to follow.I think the book could have benefitted from being longer to allow more time to develop the characters and their motivations. The characters are not stereotypes, but they could be more complex. Forsyth does good research, and I always learn something about the world in his books. The convoluted and complicated politics and culture of Pakistan and Afghanistan are briefly explored--similar to The Afghan--and provide an interesting piece of color to the story.The Kill List is a worthy work from one of the old masters of the thriller genre. If you are a Forsyth fan, you will be pleased to see him back. If you haven’t read him before, this is a good and timely place to start.
    • 5/5
      I've been reading and enjoying Frederick Forsyth's writing since The Day of the Jackal over forty years ago. He has written several superb thrillers as well as few mediocre efforts. The Kill List is an outstanding effort, particularly in light of so many contemporary writers filling out their books with unnecessary description as if they are being paid by the word. One reads Forsyth for his excellent plotting, sparse language, intelligence of all characters, and how all of the pieces will come together. He gets to the point and doesn’t deviate for 332 pages.The Kill List is about the worldwide hunt for a radical Arab terrorist, the Preacher, who uses the Internet for sermons intended to stir up young Muslims in the United States and Britain to assassinate well known individuals and to commit suicide. Tasked with hunting down and terminating the Preacher is Kit Carson of Technical Operations Support Activity, a black ops group that operates under presidential sanction. Known also as the Tracker, Carson calls on specialists from the U.K., Israel, and his own special weapon--a teenager with amazing computer skills that helps Carson narrow down where the Preacher is hiding. While short on character development, the plot, and the technology available today to keep America safe, kept me reading well into the night.
    • 2/5
      Not even close to vintage Forsyth. Anyone expecting another The Day of the Jackal or The Odessa File is, I fear, going to be disappointed.I found the book lacking on most fronts. The characters are flat. The protagonist is little more than a resume of kick-ass skills and accomplishments. We never really meet the bad guy. In fact, the most interesting characters in the book — a computer hacker with Asperger's and an undercover Mossad agent — occupy only a few pages.There isn't an iota of tension in the book. It proceeds, quite literally, in a straight line from bad guy reveals himself, bad guy pisses off good guy personally, good guy hunts down bad guy, end of bad guy without any detour or red herring to hint that the result is not a forgone conclusion. I kept waiting in vain for something to go wrong but, no, we're just swatting flies here.The writing is stilted and stiff. We get shown very little. We get told about a lot of cool acronyms and military equipment. The thought that occurs to me just now is that there's a faint whiff of propaganda, a message that says, "Terrorists beware. Your doom is inevitable."I had to read it because it was an Early Reviewer book. You needn't bother.
    • 4/5
      I thoroughly enjoyed The Kill List, by Frederick Forsyth. If you like detail about the latest in intelligence and technology then this is your book. I realize some people are turned off by detail after detail, but that’s what Frederick Forsyth is all about. He is going to pound you with the fine points of killing and the ways of intelligence. I guess I appreciate the descriptions more than most since I am a veteran. This book may be hard for the average person to digest, especially woman, but that’s what you get when you pick up a Forsyth novel. Every author has his or her writing style. With Forsyth you get minute detail. You look over the shoulder of the good guy and the bad guy. You know their choice of weapons. You feel them kill or be killed.
    • 5/5
      The Kill List puts you in the driver's seat to track down an unusually allusive and wary terrorist. Well paced setup takes you through detailed profile of how one internet Jihadist orator known as The Preacher came into being. This section is well researched and reads like nonfiction narrative detailing the origins of Islamic fundamentalism. Discussion of terrorist movements in Afghanistan, Yemen and eventually Somalia lead us to inevitable conclusion. Discussions of current technological available to the intelligence and military agencies means seem accurate if a tad uninspired. A small detour through the mechanics of modern day piracy only distracts slightly from the main plot. Highly recommended for all thriller affectionados, especially those who thought authors of classics of the genre cannot keep up with the times, they will be delighted -- as Forsyth is back.