Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsA pleasant and professional action genre novel
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 7, 2020
You know, sometimes I like a book, and I look at the bad reviews (1 or 2 stars), and I'm sort of shocked that people feel that way. Boring? I don't know. If it's boring, so is every other book like it. If you like the genre you accept that the hero is going to have a lot of physical prowess and courage, is going to score with a woman (or women) who is not only beautiful, but much younger than him, and will have some kind of sad history - drinking, brutal father, dead family, etc. And, you can expect that kind of thing here. Although the protagonist, Dan, here, claims he is merely above average and that is good enough to beat most opponents; he seemed pretty confident he could go 1 on 5 against a secure location and come away okay, and he bedded a beautiful woman pretty quick although you might think a normal person (and she is) would shy away from a professional kidnapper/killer.
Basically, I liked Dan. I liked his gal. I liked his boss. And I like to like characters. We've gone from a time when the hero was always good to one where you might be surprised he is an anti-hero, to a time when they are almost all anti-heroes, and, in fact, their best quality is often that they are self-condemning. In so much fiction these days, more tv, I find it hard to like anyone.
Though yes, as one commenter wrote, you know what was going to happen, maybe. I wasn't sure the whole time about those supposedly on his side and you shouldn't either. Or how everything will turn out.
There was not a droning on about the various types of guns used, which has been overdone now, Dan made mistakes and there was even one out and out foul-up where you felt, how stupid was he. That makes the hero more believable. But, that's not the main thing. I like Reacher books for example, and I call all books of this genre Reacher books now when the hero is a super-human. What matters most is - was it well written? I think he's a good writer. I did not understand the really critical reviews. I have read many bad books in this genre, where I am one and done, and others where I read a good book, but one was enough. I expect I will be reading a lot of Wignall books. Glad I tried him.
