Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2020
Anderson Gunn is a down on his luck Bounty Hunter. He has his own business in Austin Texas and gets his bounties from a friend called Alek. Alek notices that Gunn isn’t doing great, so offers him a job, a simple one, but at the same time, a bit harder, to hunt down and bring in a bail jumper, who is now wanted for Murder, his name is Cameron Kovak.
Gunn, being desperate for money (He has just had a note saying he missed his rent, and bills are due, and things are not good), jumps at the opportunity, as it as a $10K price tag on it (Bail was for $100K, and the person who brings them in gets 10%).
Alek, who is worried about his friend, also sends over his accountant, who happens to be a stunning blonde called Annabelle Summers, and between a lot of flirting, she actually does sort out his money. Whilst doing that, there is a sighting of Kovak, so Gunn leaves her and goes to the scene of the Murder.
Whilst there, he runs into another old friend, a Detective, Sheila Gonzalez, and you find out they are good friends, and there is some amusing banter. You quickly work out that the Author is great at developing his characters through conversations, giving you a lot of background story about his main character, as well as his supporting characters, whilst at the same time, developing the story, all done with clever, rich dialogue, that is fun to read.
We learn that things are weird at this scene, and it is not a ditch, but a crater, and whilst there, Gunn sees two very strange looking detectives, one an odd-looking albino, and the other does not look right? As he is looking at them, they turn to stair at him, and he turns away quickly, and when he turns back, they have literally vanished, making Gunn wonder what is happening?
Without giving too much away (don’t worry, everything above is just general stuff), Gunn does catch up to Kovak, and things go horribly wrong, because he kind of has tentacles, and a 20ft tongue. And just to really freak him out, the other two strange Detectives are there.
And this is where we go from a Mystery-Thriller with a ‘Bruce Willis’ type Bail Bondsman/Bounty Hunter, to a Sci-Fi story.
Gunn is hunting a Fugitive alright, just not from this planet.
Kovak is not Kovak, (and I am not going into any details here as I don’t want to give too much away), but an alien (duh, obviously, I just said that..Sorry…), but so are the other two Detectives. They are intergalactic Bounty Hunters.
The story ramps up from like an 8 to a 16 then (out of 10), as Gunn doesn’t go down the rabbit hole, he is dragged down it. He finds out that there are Aliens Earth, and there are all sorts of things going on that he (and everyone else) has no clue about. The world building here is just exceptional, Herron has gone to incredible depth to create this ‘underworld’ that is hidden from Humanity, and provide it with a plethora of different things. I again, don’t want to give any real details and spoil all the fun.
And that is what it is, you have this really great thriller story, as Gunn chases this dangerous fugitive (and it isn’t just a simple bail jumper, stakes have been raised and there are now lives on the line, including ones close to Gunn), but during the story, we get to meet all this really brilliant Characters. Herron is an outstanding Character Author, creating all these different characters to fill out his story, giving it so much depth, with a lot of really great (and realistic) dialogue, that brings the story up to a whole new level.
His descriptive work, of his world, his characters, and most of all, his intense action scenes is masterful, leaving you sitting there with your mouth open at times as you read, in a silent ‘Wow’, or ‘Awww’ as something incredible happens and he gives you this compelling and extraordinary description.
This is one of those books that you finish, and as you are finishing the last few lines, you are already finding something to buy the next book, or when you went to get a drink earlier (if you stopped reading of course), you bought it when got your coffee or tea (probably coffee, so you could stay awake a bit longer to read more!)
If you want a brilliant read, that covers just about every genre (except kids – children should not read this, but I’m guessing you already knew that!! *GRIN*), there is even romance, then this is the book. I have read some great books this year, but this is one of the best Sci-Fi Action Thrillers I have read this year, and I am already into the sequel “Overdose”.
You won’t be disappointed!
