The Directive

March 10, 2014
Washington, D.C., political fixer Mike Ford wouldn’t flinch at a .45 to the temple, but as his wedding to the woman of his dreams, fellow lawyer Annie Clark, approaches, he begins to freak out, in Quirk’s fast-paced sequel to The 500. And that’s even before some mysterious heavies threaten to kill Annie unless Mike helps them pull off a risky high-tech heist involving breaching the security of the New York Federal Reserve. In addition, Mike discovers that his partner in crime—ostensibly also strong-armed—will be his long-estranged brother, Jack, an inveterate con man who embodies the toxic past that Mike has struggled so hard to put behind him. Quirk keeps the action credible, from Beltway backstory to the white-knuckle caper at the New York Fed, but all the triple-crosses can’t conceal the fact that most of the characters serve as little more than action figures in a game whose biggest surprise many readers will guess in advance. Agent: Shawn Coyne, Endeavor Agency.

Mike Ford is looking to the future, but his past keeps dragging him back. Listeners can hear that conflict in the versatile voice of narrator Jay Snyder as Ford, an attorney who is set to marry his monied fiancée, gets pulled into a daring heist to save his brother, Jack, a con man. Mike spends most of the production seeking a safe way out of this impossible job, which is stealing a market-influencing document from the Federal Reserve Bank. In addition to Mike's wise-guy cadence, Snyder creates distinctive voices for all the main characters whether they're forces for good, bad, or something in between. His performance captures the energy of this breakneck thriller. D.E.M. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine