Rating: 4 stars out of 5
You don’t greet your new boss dressed like an underage rent boy. But when Jack Horwood—ace hacker and ex-MI6 operative—opens the door to Gareth Flynn, he’s too busy to worry over details like that. And anyway, his potential new boss is his former Commanding Officer – the same guy Jack has had a crush on since he was seventeen. So he should understand, right?
When he applied for the job in Nancarrow Mining’s corporate security division, Jack had hoped for peaceful days repelling cyber attacks. Maybe a bit of corporate espionage on the side. His plans didn’t include rescuing abused children, hunting pimps, or dealing with his overly protective and hot-as-hell boss, Gareth Flynn.
Walking away is not an option. Jack never takes the easy way out. More than that, meeting Gareth raises old ghosts that Jack needs to put to rest. Rescuing kids. Taking risks. Saving the day. Jack can do all that – but deciding what to do about his attraction to Gareth isn’t the sort of cloak-and-dagger game Jack plays well. Yet Gareth, strong and smart and always on hand when needed, might be Jack’s salvation.
Job Hunt is a complex thriller with multi-dimensional characters, and complicated twists and turns. There are enough questions and mysteries to keep the reader into the story and guessing its outcome. Following both investigations, it’s not complicated, but the Nancarrow Mining’s cyber attacks plotline was not as well thought as the one involving Jack’s undercover work.
I’m glad I listen to this story because all the distinct voices helped with the POV changes. Also, the narrator gave it an authenticity feel. Each character becomes an individual with their own quirks and traits.
Even when a romantic plot is present in this book, the story is all about the cases the MCs are working. Jack is the real man character in Job Hunt. Gareth is there as a protector or sidekick more than someone that we get invested on.
The rest of the ensemble can be considered as supporting characters instead of secondary because they were there in order for Jack to accomplish his goals. The author did an excellent job, though, making them memorable instead of simple fill-ins.
The sense of place and location is very present, even for someone that had never been in Richmond, Wimbledon, or any of the other areas mentioned. Everything from the smells, looks, and weather are taken into consideration. And the food had its own role in the story, too.
In the end, Job Hunt is an enjoyable read, and its only downside is the amount of events unfolding at the same time. Together with some areas of internal dialogue.
Fox Ballard did an excellent job with the narration. He made differentiating between the many POV changes easy. He’s one of the first narrators I had listened to that had managed to voice females characters without making them sound too masculine. All the accents were amazing, even when hard to understand at some points.
I like the way the calls were integrated into the audiobook. They sounded authentic and gave the story a realistic boost. My only complaint would be about the music separating the chapters. It was kind of jungle fever and didn’t go with the book’s content. And, the pauses between chapters, and/or POVs, were too long.
The cover by Maria Fanning didn’t work for me. It makes the books seem paranormal, which it is not. You have to be very close to it to realize it has the data information in the background. The audiobook cover is just a modify version of the original.
Sales Links: Dreamspinner | Amazon | Audible
Audiobook Details:
Narrator: Fox Ballard
Length: 9 hours and 38 minutes
Published: February 11, 2016 (Audio Edition) by Dreamspinner Press
ASIN: B01BMQFFE6
Edition Language: English
Series: The Power of Zero
Book #1: Job Hunt
Book #2: Ghosts
Book #3: House Hunt
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 