Review: Hunter by Robert Bidinotto, read by Conor Hall
One of the many things I love about ”my job” with theAudiobookBlog.com is the great opportunity that I have to meet new amazing people. Last week, as I was preparing for the Weekend, I received a message from Robert Bidinotto asking me if I would like to review the two books he had released in audio format. I said, yes, without knowing who Mr. Bidinotto was.
I decided to start with Hunter: A Thriller, being the 1st book in a series with the same name. After one hour, I paused the audiobook and visited Bidinotto.com, which, as you can imagine, is the author’s website and blog. I did this thing because I wanted to see who Mr. Bidinotto is and what other books he has written. Well, it seems that Robert Bidinotto is a renowned investigative reporter who has received lots of awards for his journalistic activity over the years and that he only published non fiction before making his debut into fiction with this best-selling thriller. I suggest that you visit his blog as well, there are a lot of amazing interviews with some great thriller authors, like Vince Flynn, Lee Child and others.
Needless to say that now, after I experienced Hunter: A Thriller and I saw what Robert did as a journalist and still does as a thriller writer, I’m honored that he approached me asking for a honest review. So. let’s get started with the actual review for Hunter: A Thriller. :).
The story opens with a joint CIA and FBI operation that targets the capture of a rogue CIA agent trying to flee the United States.after one of the main characters, Annie Woods, discovered his nafarious activities. After an event that I will not spoil for you, Annie finds herself working directly with a highly placed individual with the Central Intelligence Agency, looking for an elusive sniper.
Meanwhile, Annie will cross paths with the other central character of this book, freelancer journalist Dylan Lee Hunter as they both come to support a dear friend in her moment of need and weakness. Dylan and Annie start to meet and fall in love in no time, but, little did they know that their relationship will get very complicated as each of them will fight with their fears and with dangerous secrets.
Dylan’s investigative reporting targets the US judicial system, pointing harsh accusing fingers at the criminals that are released from prison without serving their time and to those that don’t even get arrested as the charges are dropped by multiple prosecuting atterneys as a consequence to the flawed legal system in the U.S. He writes with passion, describing their crimes in gory details and asks that someone will do something to get these scumbags of the streets for the sake of the victims and to prevent them from harming others.
Somebody takes note of Hunter’s articles and gets to work, bodies start piling up all over Washington with each inflammatory expose that Dylan writes and the Police forms a taskforce to find The Vigilante Killers, although they are really grateful that someone is taking out the good for nothing criminals and sexual predators. Here I’ll stop talking about the story and I’ll let you discover the rest on your own, adding just that it’s a great one, filled with tense moments, interesting facts, ideas and the right amount of romance. Oh, yeah, and the ending is very satisfying as well.
After finishing Hunter: A Thriller I found myself thinking about the following four lifelike characters: Dylan Lee Hunter, a man with a troubled past, Annie Woods and her secrets, Detective Cronin, one of the good guys who felt to me like an old friendly ”Sherlock” from some great mystery story, and the cat, Luna, was just one of those masterful touches that made the book even better. I hope to reconnect with all of them in the next book, which I’ll start to listen to, hopefully, sometime next week.
Another thing I liked very much in Hunter is the ever evolving love story that takes place between Dylan and Annie. I think that Robert nailed the perfect balance and knew where to start and where to stop. Besides being a great thriller, Hunter brings together aspects from romance, mystery, police procedurals and espionage. Well done sir!
Robert Bidinotto writes thrillers like a pro! The vibe that Hunter left me with was thought provoking and I was very pleasantly surprised by this fresh take on the vigilante idea. I haven’t read something this good on this topic since Without Remorse by Tom Clancy, which, by the way, is one of my all time favorites.
Conor Hall gives an almost perfect performance with the audiobook, bringing all the characters to life, even Luna the cat. His narration becomes mesmerizing at times and the different voices and subtle accents keeps everyone differentiated in the listeners mind. I think he is the right actor to record this new amazing series of thrillers and I’m looking forward to listen to him again.
So, as a conclusion, Hunter: A Thriller is a great book with a very compelling story, filled with characters that feel alive and real. Robert Bidinotto delivers one of the most interesting and thought provoking thrillers released in recent history. His experience as an investigative journalist makes large parts of Hunter feel like a non fiction work, but the acts of vengeance perpetrated by the Vigilante Killers are to good to be a true fact :).
Robert is a great writer and I say it again, I’m honored to have been asked to write a review for such a special book and with this occasion I want to thank him for the opportunity. Really glad to discover his works and from now on I’ll keep an eye out for any new release.
Get Kindle Get Audiobook Get Paperback
Hunter: A Thriller
Written by: Robert Bidinotto
Narrated by: Conor Hall
Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
Series: Dylan Hunter, Book 1
Unabridged Audiobook
Release Date:09-13-12
Publisher: Robert J. Bidinotto
About Robert Bidinotto
About Robert BidinottoHi, and thanks for stopping by. By way of introduction: I’m a full-time, bestselling thriller novelist and creator of Dylan Hunter: the thriller world’s “new face of justice.”
All my life — since I was a little kid during the Fifties and Sixties, watching “The Lone Ranger” and Zorro on TV and reading Batman comics — I have been passionate about the principle of justice. When I began to write nonfiction in my teens, that was the underlying principle in everything I wrote. It remained the theme of my work throughout my later career as an award-winning essayist, investigative journalist, reviewer, blogger, editor, and nonfiction author of books on crime.
Publisher’s Summary
A Wall Street Journal Top 10 national best seller
Number one Kindle best seller in “Mysteries & Thrillers”
Who is hunter?
Who is Prey?
Who will survive?
Award-winning true-crime author Robert Bidinotto makes his stunning fiction debut with a best-selling thriller that has earned more than 200 “5-star” rave reviews from readers.
Two people, passionately in love.
But each hides a deadly secret.
He is a crusading vigilante, on a violent quest for justice.
She is tracking this unknown assassin, sworn to stop him.
Neither realizes the truth about the other.
And neither knows that a terrifying predator is hunting them both….
From its first moments, Hunter takes you on a nonstop thrill ride: from the top floor of the CIA, to the marbled corridors of Capitol Hill…from the posh hotels of downtown Washington, to the city’s mean, violent streets. It introduces a colorful new hero for our time – and a dazzling heroine every bit his equal.
A spy mystery…a crime thriller…a passionate romance: Hunter is a genre-bending novel unlike any you’ve read. Deviously plotted, filled with vivid characters, and propelled at a breakneck pace, it’s a tale as memorable for its provocative ideas as for a rousing climax that has readers cheering.
If you enjoy the thrillers of Lee Child, Stephen Hunter, Brad Thor, and Vince Flynn, you’ll love Hunter.
©2011 Robert Bidinotto (P)2012 Robert Bidinotto
Victor Dima
Latest posts by Victor Dima (see all)
- Review: Toxic Minds, written and performed by Anthony Lee - July 7, 2025
- Review: Shadow of the Dragon, written by Amy Daniels, narrated by Phillip Nathaniel Freeman and a full cast - July 4, 2025
- Review: My Friends by Fredrik Backman, performed by Marin Ireland – Editor’s Choice Award for Excellence in Entertainment - July 3, 2025
