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  • The Man Who Never Was

  • John Milton, Book 16
  • By: Mark Dawson
  • Narrated by: David Thorpe
  • Length: 11 hrs and 12 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (755 ratings)
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The Man Who Never Was

By: Mark Dawson
Narrated by: David Thorpe
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Summary

Can the man who never was catch the criminals who never get caught?

John Milton is used to operating in the shadows, weaving his way through dangerous places behind a fake identity. Now, to avenge the death of a close friend, he must wear his mask of deception once more.

Beau Baxter was brutally murdered by a drugs cartel, but that doesn’t stop Milton from blaming himself for his friend’s death. With the help of a trusted team of undercover experts and Beau’s son, Milton is determined to track down the killers. And he isn't just after the man who gave the order. He’s heading right for the top.

Milton plans to follow the trail of cocaine from the nightclubs of Amsterdam all the way to its source in Colombia. Disguised as an ambitious buyer, he’s prepared to work his way up the cartel hierarchy one rung at a time. But the ladder can be slippery, and as Milton travels deeper into a world of violence, ruthlessness and greed, he finds himself in a jungle that could prove impossible to escape.

©2020 Mark Dawson (P)2020 Audible, Ltd

What listeners say about The Man Who Never Was

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

I was ready to send it back at first

After the last book (let's be honest it was half a book) I was ready to send this one back as I feared it was headed in the same direction. However Mr Dawson pulled it back from the brink in the last 20 minutes. I may have to listen to both books again back to back as I found it difficult to invest any emotional capital as a result of the previous 'half a book debacle.

Without revealing any spoilers I think there was enough closure to count this as a book in its own right and enough intrigue to hopefully provide Milton with another 'multi book adversary' in the same vein as Avi Bachman, and to a lesser extent his former employers.

Please, please don't turn the Milton series into the never ending tripe that was the Isabella Rose books.

Apologies if the review seemed overly negative, it wasn't intended that way, I was just concerned that the peripatetic, flawed, vengeful Milton we know and love was being written away in favour of a settled and happy one. If that happened there'd be nothing to set him apart from average protagonists the genre is awash with.

With Love SH

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Exceeded My Expectations

I love John Milton novels, but was afraid to start this one. With all his friends coming together, it seemed like this was going to be it for him! I couldn't start it until I knew the next had been published.

Lots of twists and turns, the only person missing was the police officer from Saint Death! Let's hope, going forward, Milton can count on one friendly government, especially as British interests were against both him AND the US.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

enjoyable

As always a good listen. I'm invested in the story of John Milton so will keep getting the books. I won't lie I felt like the story this time was very rushed and some of the accents were bad but that did just endear me to the story telling. I like that the group are back and it should make the next installment more thriller like in listening

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I'm biased,

I'm biased, as a big fan of the other john milton books I kinda knew what I was going to get and in no way was I disappointed. a smart and stylish action packed thriller, loved it from the start to the end

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not a great Milton

I guess this was fine but the pay off wasn’t worth the convoluted build up. I thought we’d be in political intrigue and a huge 3 way showdown that just fizzled out. SPOILER - why bother with all that and then just have single gun shot by not one of the main protagonists?
Questionable military tactics and character choices too. Not like MD to make such lazy mistakes. Think he Zoomed this on in!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fast pace

The usual fast-paced thriller in this series - this time set in Columbia. Very well read.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

One of the better Milton books

Series has been getting weaker but this one is a much improved story and not one AA meeting thankfully. Will try the next one in hope

Narrator as good as ever

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

A bit of a let-down

The John Milton series has been long on my list of must reads for holidays and long journeys, him being my favourite but somewhat flawed vigilante. In this story, Mark Dawson seemed to run out of steam and without having read (probably) all of the previous books in the series, I may not have had a clue who were the goodies, who were the baddies and generally, what was going on. I did just manage to get through to the end of the rather unbelievable and quite uninteresting story. Is this the end of the John Milton that we love? David Thorpe, however, gave a valiant effort as his style of narration is particularly suited to these books.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Milton

Found this book a bit boring maybe it's because it's the same old old story.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another great read!

One of my favourite audio books in the John Milton series. A very enjoyable listen

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