Fade

By: Kyle Mills

Narrated by: Holter Graham

Length: 4 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times bestselling author Kyle Mills rewrites the rules for thrillers with Fade—a novel ripped from today's headlines

Welcome to the new war on terror. A secret wing of Homeland Security is recruiting agents to work undercover in the Middle East, and the director wants his second-in-command, Matt Egan, to bring aboard an old friend, Salam Al Fayed—better known as Fade. He's perfect: An ex-Navy Seal and the son of immigrants, he speaks flawless Arabic. Trouble is, he's "retired"; he was wounded in the line of duty, and the government refused to pay for the risky surgery that could have helped him. Now he's walking around with a bullet lodged near his spine, and he's not too fond of anyone in the government—least of all, his ex-best friend Matt Egan, whom he blames for his present condition. Against Egan's wishes, the director tries to "persuade" Fade to join the team. But Fade is prepared to fight back at any cost. The chase is on—will Matt be able to find his friend-turned-fugitive before Fade can take the ultimate revenge? Fade is a remarkable, take-no-prisoners program from an unparalleled writer at the height of his talents.

©2005 Kyle Mills (P)2005 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

“Lead character Salam Al Fayed--‘Fade'--is a first-ballot certainty for the Thriller Hall of Fame.” —Lee Child, author of The Enemy

Felt like narrator was reading not acting

I enjoyed this story. Very good characters. Narration was not bad but it was definitely a reading. No voice changes or female/male inflection. Oddly enough, somehow it fit this story. I recommend!!

Short and sweet! Loved it.

It takes great talent to fully flesh out and characterize an antihero. Kyle Mills succeeds exceedingly well in doing that with this book. Fully engrossing, and I completely empathized with the character at the end. Exceptional value for an audiobook.

So good

I love the book and narrator but I wanted it to go on a bit more and felt like Fade could have continued onto another book. Wish I had some background on his story like a prequel.

Great Listen

I enjoyed this book. It is the first fiction title I've listened to, in a while, that I actually finished. The characters were distinct and interesting, the story entertaining and well told. In my opinion, many modern fiction novels I've downloaded haven't been able to keep my interest. I felt they were too negative, too full of gratuitous profanity, dark in mood and low in action. Maybe it's me but I tire of stories with dark tones and full of preachy new age philosophies. I just want a decent story and don't want to feel depressed after listening to a book. Well crafted stories, even with violence, can have an up tone and this book delivers. Fade gives you great characters, plenty of action, it keeps moving and keeps you listening. You care about the characters, want to know what happens next and everything is tied up in the end. It's a fun listen, not too deep and the story is told so you can keep up with what's happening: you won't get lost with too many characters. I don't want to spoil the plot. I'll end by saying this book is well written for audio and I found myself wishing it wouldn't end and wishing that this author had more books available on audible.

Defies fridge logic

Although the characters are interesting, the dialog pretty good, and well performed overall the book was a let down. Every point of the plot and character action defies fridge logic... it's sort of fun while you read it, but if think about it for just a minute it makes no sense.

Phenomenal story, Kyle Mills blew me away.

Narrator takes some getting used too, but after a bit he fits the story and the attitude of Fade perfectly. I was introduced to Kyle Mills through his part of taking over Vince Flynn's, Mitch Rapp series. After finishing those I decided to try the book that I kept hearing about. You will not be disappointed. looking forward to a hopefully upcoming sequel.

Terrific Action and Lively Humor

I was a bit skeptical of another disenchanted CIA type but this story is fresh and the dialog is very hip and amusing.

Suspenseful, well written and well narrated

Would you listen to Fade again? Why?

Probably not but possibly.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Matt Egan as the main protagonist

Which character – as performed by Holter Graham – was your favorite?

Matt Egan

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Watch Me!

Any additional comments?

As expected, Holter Graham does an excellent job in narrating an interesting story.

Just okay ...

I bought this book because I had been impressed with Mills' work on the Mitch Rapp series and wanted to read a novel that was all this author, from conception to completion.

The novel has a great setup, SEAL assassin turned hermit with a debilitating 'slow death' injury gets caught up in a (was it CIA?) recruitment plot gone wrong and fights his way out with sharp skills and a blonde bombshell police-chick sidekick by his side. However, all that promise is lost in snappy, out of place dialogue that makes the main character more corny than compelling and the author spending more time inside the head of the story's nemesis than that of our hero for the last 70% of the story. The whole thing then ends abruptly with a Wikileaks styled data dump, a lazy way to climax the story.

Mills can write but this was disappointing.

A Different type of hero.

The story wasn’t what I expected from the first to the last but it was the ending that made the story.