Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Alpha
    Unavailable
    Alpha
    Unavailable
    Alpha
    Audiobook9 hours

    Alpha

    Written by Greg Rucka

    Narrated by Rob Shapiro

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    For the visitors to Wilsonville, the largest theme park in the world, the day began with a smile. By the end, they wonder-will they be able to escape with their lives?

    Retired Delta Force operator, Master Sergeant Jonathan "Jad" Bell, is Wilsonville's lead undercover security officer. The threat begins with the announcement of a hidden dirty bomb, but quickly becomes something far, far worse.

    Trained since the age of seventeen to save innocent victims from impossible hostage situations, Jad scrambles to assess the threat and protect the visitors. He will come face to face with a villain whose training matches his in every way-and presents a threat Jad may not be able to stop.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHachette Audio
    Release dateMay 22, 2012
    ISBN9781611134322
    Unavailable
    Alpha

    Related to Alpha

    Related audiobooks

    Suspense For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Best Of The Best

      Jan 23, 2020

      MIA at the beginning of Jungle Strike, the cool Rosalind D is a mean winch operator, and also packs a punch with the cannon. While her aim may be a little on the loose side, pick up Rosalind from mission four’s POW camp, and you won’t regret it. The

      2 min read

    • Article

      Border

      Jul 17, 2019

      Border
      1 min read

    • Article

      Love According to Dalva

      Mar 23, 2023

      Released 28 APRIL “I ’m not a girl, I’m a woman,” are the stabbing words spoken by Dalva (Zelda Samson), a 12-year-old who wears heavy makeup, scrapes her hair into a bun and dresses in middle-aged women’s clothes. The film opens with officers taking

      1 min read

    • Article

      Explore The Past

      Aug 6, 2019

      In a past life Stormzy was Alexander the Great, who aged just 12 led his army to the very edge of the known world. If he hadn’t died young he would have changed the world because he was so ruthless yet inspirational. So Stormzy is sometimes sad becau

      1 min read

    • Article

      Get Duked!

      Sep 9, 2020

      RELEASED OUT NOW! 2020 | SVOD Director Ninian Doff Cast Samuel Bottomley, Viraj Juneja, Rian Gordon, Lewis Gribben AMAZON PRIME Get Duked! arrives garlanded with gushy reviews, and with an audience award from the SXSW Film Festival under its belt, ha

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Movie Review: The Happening

      Jun 13, 2008

      This film is so bad that I feel compelled to make a spoiler-laden list of its most laughably terrible parts rather than review it.

      8 min read

    • Article

      MAGIC Mike XXL

      May 10, 2018

      MAGIC Mike XXL
      1 min read

    • Article

      Out Now! Home Entertainment

      Jun 4, 2020

      Two teenage elf brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot, would do anything to see their dad again, who died when the brothers were very young. The boys cast a spell to see if they can bring back their dad - just for a day - to spend some quality time with

      1 min read

    • Article

      Movie Night

      Jul 11, 2021

      Movie Night
      1 min read

    Reviews for Alpha

    3.5/5

    55 ratings13 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      This is a fast paced thriller that gets the job done nicely. I read it mostly to study the art of building a story. If you're going to write, you have to pay attention to the craft.

      As a reader I found it difficult to follow this book (like many that I read) in terms of the spatial relationships and the visual appearance of the cartoon characters. Clearly Rucka had a map of his world (the theme park) in his mind and was moving his charcters around it. I never had the slightest sense that I knew where the action was taking place within the theme park. This is perhaps my limitation as a reader. If I were writing, I would not be able to, or try to, write a story in which the map mattered.

      Likewise, Rucka introduces a world of psuedo-Disney-esque characters and costumes. I could not keep them straight in my head. Indeed, the whole commercialized myth of this psuedo-Disney world eluded me. I couldn't visualize the characters or their costumes. Again, this is my limitation as a reader. I imagined the author, with sketches of the cartoon characters taped to his monitor, knowing exactly what they looked like, but I couldn't grok it, no matter how many times he told me. I felt it almost cried out for a graphic novel or comic book to capture the visual diversity that he was working with.

      None of this is intended as a criticism of the book, which although conventional in form, was gripping. I was able to read through and past the stuff I can't imagine. The most interesting moment in the book came toward the end, when Rucka introduced just a small doubt in my mind about whether the hero inevitably would conquer the villain. For a few pages I thought that this might turn out instead to be the story of a successful villainy, and found myself rooting for the bad guy, not so much because of the plot, but because the bad guy was revealed as a human being with yearnings for normalcy. Had it gone in this direction, succesful escape following mass scale terrorism, we would have had a much more provocative story. But the anti-protaganist's success would have defied the convention of the genre, and it quickly became clear that such delights were not to be. Oh well. It was a fun ride anyway.
    • 3/5
      Man, I waited a long time for this book. Both for it to come out and for it to arrive as an Early Reviews copy. I would love to say it was worth the wait. But I can't. It started out promising, but after awhile just became predictable and a little boring. This was no where near as good as Rucka at his best.--mainly the Atticus Kodiak books, Queen & Country.
    • 4/5
      Jad Bell is an undercover Delta Force Master Sergeant who has been placed at WilsonVille, a Disney-like theme park, as head security officer. There is some intelligence information that leads U.S. anti-terrorism leaders to believe that an incident is planned for WilsonVille. The source of this information is never revealed. The whole operation has been funded by an American oligarch who wants to pin the blame on an Iranian terrorist group. The operation has been contracted to a Russian Mafia organization. The operation is being run by a Russian cutout, known as the "Uzbek." They have placed a sleeper in the U.S. who has spent two tours of duty in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army. After his amry duty the sleeper has taken a job at WilsonVille. He has placed weapons and other materiel for the mob forces to use in a takeover of the park. They have staged a false botulism reading that causes the park to be evacuated. During the evacuation hostages are taken. There are many twists in the plot. Bell's daughter and ex-wife are among the hostages. His daughter attends a school for the deaf that has scheduled a trip to WilsonVille. Bell tries to discourage his daughter and wife from attending but has to stop short of telling them not to come because he knows something will happen. A sequel is certain to be written because the Uzbek has vowed revenge on Bell and his family.
    • 3/5
      As always with Greg Rucka this is a well written fast paced thriller. It didn't grab me as quickly at the Atticus Kodiak, or Queen & Country books did, but it still turned out to be a highly satisfactory read, and I'm looking forward to reading more in this new series. The characters were not as well developed as I'd expect from a Rucka book, and the various plot turns seemed to get in the way at times. In some cases it seemed as if things were being layered on top of each other more for artistic than dramatic effect, but when it all starts to come together its a typical Rucka roller-coaster ride.
    • 3/5
      When it's working, Alpha is a tautly written, well-paced thriller with some truly innovative elements. Unfortunately, it only works intermittently, and Rucka spends too much time and energy on elements that work less well than they should . . . or not at all. The bad guys and their motives -- and there are layers of bad guys, and layers of motives -- are, for all the space give to them in the first 100 pages or so of the book, oddly underdeveloped. Rucka's decision to keep the true nature of the plot hidden from the reader, as it is from the heroes, increases the mystery at the cost of decreasing the suspense. With no sense of what (in the larger sense) is at stake, it's harder to care about whether the heroes succeed or not. Worse, when the final reveal unmasks the ultimate villain, and ultimate motive, it seems to come out of nowhere.More frustrating -- but also more forgivable in the first book of a new series -- the heroes are also underdeveloped. Jad Bell is a tough, competent, innovative, compassionate warrior with a dark past and a failed marriage behind him . . . which does nothing to distinguish him from the heroes of dozens of similar thrillers. His three team members are barely characterized beyond their vivid nicknames and an occasional wisecrack. There's room to expand all of that in later books (Atticus Kodiak and his crew grew and deepened over the course of their series) but, in comparison, Bell and company feel thin.What does work, and what sets this story apart from other run-of-the-mill thrillers, is Rucka's attention to the details of how people do things. Here, it's not only the inner workings of counter-terrorism operations, but the inner workings of a major theme park and its security division . . . which function not just as background, but as elements in the unfolding of the plot. Far more than either the heroes or the villains, they make the story fascinating.
    • 4/5
      Rucka does it again. Atticus Kodiak is still my favorite but I'm definitely adding Jad Bell to my must-read list. Complex relationships, terrorism, excitement.This books is hard to put down once it gets going. Definitely check it out for a good read.
    • 4/5
      I've read all the Greg Rucka books. Let's not talk about how many times I read the first 3 Atticus Kodiak. And this book suffers in comparison. It's a perfectly good thriller. Fits into present day well without being too fear mongering. But given the standard of character development I'm used to from him... it just doesn't hold up. It felt too short. I felt like we could have skipped one of the viewpoints we rotated through and gotten to know someone else better. Or just had a longer book. Wonderful handling of the antagonist and his motivations - but again, it's the comparison that makes Jad suffer. Seems like there will be sequel, and maybe we'll get more then. 4 stars - recommended if you like thrillers.
    • 4/5
      Listened to this on a whim and I'm glad I did. It starts a little slow, but quickly settles in with a good pace to keep the reader/listener interested.
    • 3/5
      This was a fast-paced read, well written, and fun read. A thriller set in a theme park, which is a rival to Disneyland, where the protagonist has to save some hostages. It is a great beach book.
    • 3/5
      Synopsis: Jad Bell, Delta Force operative, has been assigned to work security for a theme park. A long-term sleeper, working in the park, is part of a plan to spread terror by releasing an airborne toxin. The plot thickens when Jad's wife and deaf daughter come to the park on a school trip. With his family threatened, Jad must find a way to save them as well as other hostages and stop the terrorists' plans.Review: While Rucka is an excellent writer, this is a completely predictable book. It is the set-up for a new series which, if it isn't any more intriguing, will be only for those readers who enjoy blood and guts.
    • 5/5
      "If he's wrong, we are thoroughly and completely fucked," Wallford says. "And that's all there is to say about that."I checked this book out from the library because I was approved on NetGalley for the second book in the Jad Bell series. I am really glad that I requested the second book from NetGalley because now I have discovered another really awesome book in the first of the series.Jad Bell is a Delta Force operative who finds himself doing undercover work at one of the world's largest theme parks, Wilsonville. Jad works in the security department and when things start to go wrong at the park the danger is more horrible and personal to Jad then he can imagine.I really enjoyed how complex Jad is in this book. He has really struggled with spending time at work versus spending time with his family and that has cost him his marriage. His relationship with his daughter, Athena, has suffered as well. I really loved that Greg Rucka included deaf characters in this book (Athena and her school friends). I haven't read any books (that I can remember) with deaf characters in them. Rucka really shows that you can have deaf characters and they will be as vibrant and interesting as hearing characters. I just really enjoyed the diversity. I also enjoyed that this book switched point-of-view between Jad and the perpetrators of the events at Wilsonville, it allowed readers to see both sides and to see what motivated them.There were a couple of reasons why this book received a 4.5 star rating for me instead of 5 stars. The first chapter was very choppy and really hard for me to get through. It switched between present day Jad and one of the missions that he was on. I found it difficult to read the parts about the previous mission because everyone and everything had code names and it was hard to keep track of everything. You don't really find out the real names of his team members towards the end. I also didn't really like the reveal at the end as to why the events at Wilsonville took place. While it is a plausible reason I just felt like it was a bit of a letdown. Other than that I felt like this was a really solid book and I look forward to reading more about Jad Bell.
    • 5/5
      Exceptionally well done suspense novel. When a small, hired crew of sleepers takes over a southern California theme park with the goal of setting off a dirty bomb, a special forces GI who had been planted in the park faces an uphill battle to take out the terrorists. But personal issues complicate things for the good guys and the bad guys alike.
    • 3/5
      I was really excited about the notion of a Special Ops story in Disneyworld (or the fictional WilsonVille, in this case). And parts of the story were certainly exciting. But overall, this book just didn't live up to expectations. I've read some of Rucka's other books and I know that he is capable of better. My two principal complaints are with the protagonist and with the actual brevity of the core of the story. We get some background into Jad Bell, but not enough, especially as he is clearly designed to be the protagonist of an ongoing series. For example, we keep hearing him say that he was in some sort of special operations unit, but we never really get the detail that we need. For that matter, we never learn why Jonathan Bell goes by "Jad". Similarly, I would have liked to learn a bit more about the background of Bell's team. All we know is that he is, apparently, good at what he does.With regard to the story, there is a lot of background before things really get going. In this sense, it reminded me somewhat of a Tom Clancy novel (in a good way). I'm not sure that all of the background was necessary (the history of Wilson Entertainment and WilsonVille was interesting, but perhaps overly long). But from the time that the action portion of the novel really got going until the climax, was actually a seemingly short part of the overall novel. I guess that I was hoping for more cat and mouse, more special forces mojo, and so forth throughout WilsonVille.A few other items I want to mention. First, Rucka made the interesting decision to tell some of the story in past tense and some in present tense. I asked him about this on Twitter, and his response was that the use of present tense added to the immediacy of the situations. I agree. However, the transition from tense to tense and back again was a bit jarring. So, on the whole, the decision to change tenses didn't work for me.One of the characters is a deaf teenager. She was an exceptionally well-done character and I absolutely believed that her experiences through the story - as well as her reaction to other characters - were both real and accurate depictions of how a deaf teen might react. Rucka should be heartily commended for the attention to detail that he paid to this character.Finally, I do have to note that I did have a lot of fun with WilsonVille and the action scenes in the park. As someone who takes an annual vacation to Disneyworld and has spent more than his fair share of time in the Magic Kingdom, it was hard not to surpress smiles or chuckles as Rucka described his theme park that wasn't quite the Magic Kingdom but was clearly intended to evoke it for those with familiarity. He did a nice job on this (though I'd have liked a bit more description of a few of the rides that were clearly his own unique creations).So, on reflection, I'm likely to read the next Jad Bell novel, but I'm hoping that Rucka puts together a story that is more worthy of his substantial talent as a writer.