The Killer
Written by Tom Hinshelwood aka Tom Wood & Reviewed by Detective Dru
“Victor liked to tell himself he did nothing more than get paid to do what the human race had been perfecting for millennia. He was simply the culmination of that evolution.”
So, Victor is just Wolverine with a longer word count?
Victor the Assassin ~ Book 1
Chapter one introduces us to Victor, some bub killing a Latvian national with three bullets from a silenced gun in a dark alley before retrieving a McGuffin shaped flash drive and stashing it for the broker that hired him. Victor returns to his hotel two hours later and sees two men in the lobby that may be here to hurt him. He knows they’re not police because they couldn’t have solved the murder in two hours. Probably eastern European gangsters etc. We are given insight into Victor’s meticulous process by the way he deduces the two are here to kill him as well as his figuring out who else is part of the strike team in the lobby, outside, and so on. The two men apparently check for Victor in his room but he avoids them, hoping to get up there and retrieve his passport and papers despite being unarmed. While the plot so far could’ve been cooked up by ChatGPT, I do like the subtext that we’re provided in the form of Victor’s competence. It’s very much akin to Richard Stark’s Parker novels, where the actions of the protagonist give the reader so much insight into their intelligence and scrupulous nature.
Victor kills both assailants and takes their weapons – berettas for some reason – and then casually strolls to the elevator and down to the lobby. The Carnival is still not sure how he’ll escape, since there’s at least six of them guarding the exits based on the receipt for six coffees that Victor found in the one guy’s pocket. Chapter 4 was not a favorite chapter by a long shot – pretty cliché. Every spy franchise tends to lean into one element of espionage a bit too much (Hawke relies on swashbuckling and unlimited capital, Gray Man is very bloody and graphic, Orphan X is all about tech). This “franchise” early on seems very obsessed with guns – appropriate, given this is a series about an assassin.
Victor picks off all his would be killers one by one before finding a receipt for some hotel in one of the killer’s pockets, so we’re assuming that’s his next move in order to deduce who put out the contract on him. The McGuffin scented flash drive from the beginning was also mentioned, so let’s all very safely assume that’s what the contract is really about. Sometimes spy novels feel like the reader is trying to catch up with the plot from page one. (think Aaron Sorkin dialogue) And others just outright confuse you. (think of any line from the movie Tenet) But with this particular story it’s as if readers are constantly waiting on the plot to catch up. It certainly makes the story more manageable but it removes the urgency.
Someone named Alvarez is at the morgue looking at one of the bodies Victor killed. The corpse of course didn’t have the McGuffin sounding flash drive, and Alvarez mentions he must now call Langley with the bad news. Next the two CIA guys arrive at the murder scene, Alvarez and Kennard. They are afforded no help by the investigating local French police. On the surface this provides a little rogue like tension. But the more spy novels that are read, the more I’m convinced this is done to create separate silos of plot crucibles, allowing the central characters that work in law enforcement or other centralized agencies to operate independently of the plot progression without disengaging the reader.
Victor logs on to some (south – to be clear) Korean gaming chat in an Internet cafe to converse with his broker that hired him to take out his client. Victor speaks with corporate syntax but alerts his employer that there were people there trying to kill him and that could have only happened if the broker breached confidentiality. The man denies it but uses the word ‘us’ while proclaiming his innocence. Victor thinks broker and client are now somehow connected even though he keeps them separated via his method of doing things. Victor tells the broker he won’t be returning the flash drive that feels like McGuffin to the touch because of the lapse in security and that he may decide to pursue the broker pro bono for this failing. This was just a whole bunch of great writing in this chapter. Plenty of exposition and setting the table but wringing with tension between Victor and the broker the entire time. Really shook things out of the cynical cliché diagnosis. This detective is officially rooting for Victor and what a reassuring feeling to be in the spy novel happy place. Giddyup.
Big expo chapter in the form of a CIA meeting between department heads. Fully expecting it to be a dull screeching halt of a chapter, but instead we were given a creative yet straightforward way to deliver boring intel. Procter, our POV for the CIA in Langley and a real on the nose name, chats with Chambers his lady boss and someone named Ferguson, while Alvarez brings them up to date on the speaker phone. They wanted the flash drive because it contains the location of a sunken Russian ship with fancy missiles on it and even fancier tech that the USA can’t match. Alvarez is amped about catching the professional hitman that offed the person they were planning on buying it from (Ozols the Latvian) Also the eight dead bodies at the hotel in Paris all seemed to be handled by the same person, so Alvarez knows he’s got his white whale.
Alvarez and Kennard are reviewing hotel CCTV footage now that they have cooperation thanks to Chambers placing a call. Not really a point to this chapter character wise – the cameras only confirmed that this killer (Victor) is a pro because of his methods, a notion Alvarez voiced chapters ago. Kennard wants Chinese food instead of moping about the lack of progress and this bothers Alvarez. This is likely some sort of foreshadowing to the divide between Kennard and Alvarez that gets revealed later, both professionally and morally. But really just a waste of pulp. And then a lot more words for an awful lot less in return during Victor’s visit to the dead sniper’s home in Germany in the hopes that he’ll learn who is hunting him. No dice, then a trip to church for confession. Shoehorned in character development is contrived and nothing else.
It's now chapters later and another Langley meeting is afoot. They learn that one of the corpses checked out 45 minutes after he died, so that must be the identity thieving killer they seek with the McGuffin flavored flash drive. Victor goes to his plot-key ready safe house chalet in Switzerland. It’s a tiny fortress and mention is made of it being rigged with c4 in case he ever needs to blow it up. Gonna assume that’s a forebode.
Kennard revealed as a bad guy and a few chapters later Victor rock climbs an ice waterfall to enter his foreboding chalet in Switzerland. (Where did this ridiculous entrance come from? Don’t remember that the first time) Anyway, just as he decides he’s going to retire for good because he’s tired of staying alive instead of living – a bullet makes it through his super reinforced windows and knocks him over. He pulls the bullet out and lays on the floor wondering how best to handle the sniper that just shot at him.
Lo and behold, McClury the sniper traverses the terrain for the foreboding lodge. Picture Karl Urban from the second Bourne movie but chillier. McClury tricks Victor into using up all his ammo, but not before one last shot gets him in the collar.
McClury calls the cops and flees the chalet, hoping to force Victor’s move. Victor initiates the self-destruct on his home – what a holy M. Night of a twist - and goes to the back door, where McClury is nearby with a pointed rifle. Victor uses a mirror at the back door to temporary blind the shooter with sunlight, then does the Shining fake footprint in the snow thing to trick McClury into taking the low ground. Victor kills him and finds the guy’s rental car but no useful intel. Victor realizes his dream of retirement will never happen because bad guys just found him at the most secret place he owns. He can never just live, he can only survive.
After another waste of a chapter – Alvarez doing detective work – our old friend Ferguson from the CIA dresses down Sykes, our latest traitor. They hired McClury to kill Victor (whom they call Tesseract) and are now panicking about people finding out. Sounds like they know Stevenson too through work contacts. Ferguson is hiring some guy named Reed to kill everyone involved in this operation. (Picture Woody Harrelson from No Country For Old Men) The operation was not only to kill Victor, but to also sell his tofu flash drive that tastes just like McGuffin meat to whomever, so they’ve officially crossed the Rubicon though it sounds like Sykes is having moral reservations despite Ferguson going full Corleone baptism.
Some guy named Borland (Reed aka Woody Harrelson) arrives in Paris and we get a POV chapter from the customs agent that wanted to bang him. But because he didn’t hit on the customs agent, this is supposed to convince the reader that he’s an all business killer? I’m all for the POV mechanism, but a customs agent? We could find a better person to use to demonstrate this guy’s rigid discipline – taxi driver, a passenger at the airport who accidently grabbed his luggage by accident, etc. But regardless, because Reed didn’t flirt back with the customs agent that he was trying to deceive into allowing him in to the country with false paperwork, we the reader are apparently left with no choice but to game recognize game.
Kennard, the yang to Alvarez’s moral ying, is meeting with his ‘asset’ in Paris. A British guy shows up for the meet - Reed. He stabs Kennard to death in a double cross. And this is pretty much when the actual real story begins. You look at something like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. You had your opening scene that matriculates throughout the rest of the book. But LeCarre moved on from it while still respecting its foundation. This book on the other hand is a bit more cobbled together. The opening scene happens, and the fallout from it gives us insight into the roster of characters as well as the plot’s likely trajectory. But this book has more or less ended the first story and begun this second story. Don’t care for BOGO stories…
Rebecca summer is introduced. Marseilles France. She was the Chloe to Kennard’s Jack Bauer. She’s panicking because the op went south and now her handler – Kennard – has been mia since she got the alert that Kennard is dead, making her think her unanimous handler was indeed Kennard. She convinces herself that loose strings are being cut and that she’s next. She burns intel in her house and flees to the airport
Another quick pit stop regarding craft.
I hate this sentence:
Alvarez’s ability to remain calm in a crisis was one of his most highly prized traits.
And this is at least the sixth time this phrase came along:
-and he made his way to his office-
I lost track, but the phrase “made his way to” must’ve been used no less than 35 times in this book. Anyway Alvarez’s guy Noakes is going through some photos they found on Stevenson’s corpse? How convenient, but really the point of this chapter is to inform Alvarez that Kennard is dead. He mostly doesn’t care, but is it because he’s a bad detective and can’t see that his death is suspicious or because he doesn’t respect Kennard and that minimizes his spidey sense for the larger context of the crime. Either way it should’ve been more clear as it would’ve shed significant insight into what makes Alvarez tick.
Finally we get a real injection of tension. Victor is in Hungary and he’s doing all his gratuitious shadow losing multiple taxi charades before going to another internet café to see if his broker ever responded to his last message on the Korean game forum thingy. There is a response (Victor still has the McGuffin sounding flash drive after all) and it’s the broker saying, ‘call me I can help you.’ The inner monologue/internal conflict is the clunky part, but the interaction with the broker is not. He convinces himself to call and is surprised to hear an American woman (Rebecca). They bluff each other, she says come back to Paris and I’ll help you find your assailant then ends the call in under 60 seconds. Victor must decide to cut ties and disappear forever or go to Paris. Didn’t we already go through this dilemma with McClury the sniper? Regardless, going to Paris is admitting he’s scared. Not quite the mic drop moment the author was likely going for, but again, what a chapter.
Rebecca and Victor have their meet cute chapter. They argue about who’s in charge and we’re supposed to think that Victor is really contemplating killing her because it’s the truest safe action, but readers obviously know better. So that’s a no go on the tension. But Rebecca is written well. So far it feels like a good combo of competence as well as being overwhelmed (think Vesper in Casino Royale) Victor gives her the flash drive to copy, so now each are going to try to decrypt the McGuffins while making sure the CIA does not know that the two of them ever met.
And in chapter 34, so begins the Hoyt headache. Sykes and Ferguson sit in a CIA meeting with Procter and whoever else discussing the chaotic state of things. They lament Stevenson and his death (whom Ferguson hired) and then deduce that Stevenson was working with Sebastian Hoyt on the Paris motel killing job. Hoyt is clandestinely employed by Ferguson, so Ferguson opts to admit in the meeting that Hoyt was a former asset, much to the chagrin of Sykes. Hoyt. Is. Pointless.
Victor goes to St Petersburg looking for some Alexander comrade that was a former associate. He ruffles feathers at a bar until two giant Russians show up. He disarms both and stabs one to the bar thru the ear, dumps vodka on him then threatens to light him on fire. They bring him to Norimov (Alexander) at his derelict train yard that sounded like it was straight out of Guy Ritchie film school.
And then four more chapters of meandering word jockeying before we begin steering into the overly complicated plot skid. To demonstrate, we will provide you with a wiki summary of our official inflection point in the story: Chapter 40.
In it, Colonel Aniskovach is at a rich dacha to meet with Prudnikov, head of the Sluzhba Vneshney Razyedki. (modern name for KGB). Some Russian Banarov was murdered years ago, but it was made to look like a suicide. (it was carried out by Victor as referenced in the previous non-essential chapter) Aniskovach was the only one at the time who thought it was a murder not suicide. He pressed and investigated relentlessly, to the chagrin of Russian diplomacy. Prudnikov remembers this and now wants to have Aniskovach put a button on this present case since it’s been a bit of a conspiracy amongst Russian delegates. And now that Norimov has come up on the radar again (they have some telephone transcript – the conversation between he and Victor) Prudnikov wants Aniskovach to get to the bottom of it...before admitting that it was him who hired Banarov’s killer in the first place. To quote Han and Luke and I’m guessing Chewbacca at least once: I have a bad feeling about this. This kind of infused over complication is typically when spy novels start spinning too many plates and the stories that blow the third act the hardest usually go exactly like the last few chapters. Ruh-roh.
Our protagonist and anti-hero Victor is in the Meridien forest in west Moscow near some country club where he digs up a cache containing passport, weapons, cash and other useful spy sundries. How convenient that he was able to access these contraband things in such perfect condition despite mentioning a few chapters ago about how long it had been since he’d been to Russia and that he was angry with himself for returning because he had always planned on never going back. But still somehow he has undisturbed customized to-this-plot video game level caches on demand. We are knee deep in the lazy susan portion of the story, rotating the plot and its devices for the next Act. I suspect this is the same feeling a German Shepherd gets every time you pull up to the vet’s office and try to convince her it’s going to be different this time.
Oh good, a Sebastian Hoyt chapter as his day to day is detailed at his office in Milan. He’s a middleman for criminals posing as a consultant. He does drugs and goes home and drinks a martini. Reed appears, he has put sedatives in the martini and then plunges him with potassium chloride. I guess Reed just knew where Hoyt lived and that he lived alone and that he liked a martini after work and what time he would be home…two super duper convenient chapters in a row. But at least Hoyt, the appendicitis to our tale, has been surgically removed by our uber threat Reed. And remember, Reed is not to be messed with and we know this as an audience because he neglected to flirt back with a UK Customs Agent. So watch the F out!
CHAPTER 42!!! Welp, it’s getting worse. Victor meets Norimov to get his McGuffin drive back, now that it’s ostensibly decrypted. But wait, there’s more! The KGB SVR shows up too because they tapped the phones. And Colonel Aniskovach is looking for Victor but he also plans to apprehend Norimov. However, it turns out later that Norimov was working for the state Russians the whole time, even though we the readers are duped and not given this information yet. How contrived and cheap. Anyway, then there’s explosions.
Back to Rebecca. Thankfully and even more conveniently, she just so happens to have a cousin who just so happens to also live to Paris who just so happens to have a fully furnished apartment that he’s not using at the moment that the CIA just so happens to know nothing about. Spoiler alert – they do know about it, but the reader is told the exact opposite during this chapter to keep the story moving along. Just like last chapter! Yippee!
Victor, now being hunted by the SVR, our little brood of Russians in this story, as well as the state run Russians easily escapes to Estonia in a vegetable truck by hiding in the back. Because people never check the cargo areas of large vehicles during nationwide manhunts.
And now in Chapter 48 we start up a new story thread to try to give some depth to the 42 different Russians we’ve had to weave in and out of this tale in order to keep things plausible. The Colonel asks Prudnikov the head of KGB to be deliberately assigned to handling Victor, because the specific glory from capturing him would benefit the both of them because of reasons.
Remember that secret apartment with fully furnished plot armor that Rebecca’s cousin just so happened to have that no one else knew about? CIA knew about it. Gun fight at the Mediocre Corral before the two of them hide in some whore’s hotel. All that’s missing at this point is Roger Rabbit and a pair of handcuffs around each of their wrists with no key.
Alvarez finally reveals to the reader why the appendix Hoyt mattered. His death seems suspicious and is the inciting incident that persuades Alvarez to start considering that this was all an inside job by the CIA and the ensuing investigation is being contaminated by a mole. Don’t understand the jump in logic here, since we already had one death that should’ve been suspicious that got swept under the rug in Kennard. But hey we need a reason for Hoyt, so apparently this was it.
Another couple of chapters where we’re given action scenes for external conflicts then laptop safehouse chapters for internal conflict. Everyone is converging on this shell company Olympus Trading where I’m sure we’ll have our Third Act Letdown Climax.
It’s another 3 or 4 chapters later and Victor and Rebecca are in Cyprus where Olympus Trading is located. They’re scouting and a ‘tourist’ is following them. This whole scene reminds me of the airport scene in Dr. No with all the tails and follows and binoculars and side-eyes. Like how the hell are you people not noticing one another? Anyway, the precious missiles are on some continental shelf near Tanzinia.
Oh look, more disappointment. But this time I really really mean it. I’m looking at you Chapter 62. LeFevre a French cop that had the initial crime scene at the hotel murders somehow contacts Alvarez out of the blue (how did he even get a hold of him), they set up a meet. LeFevre just randomly decides (right before the third act, how convenient) to give Alvarez everything he knows about the case. Reason is because Kennard’s death is now coming off like a deliberate murder and not a mugging gone wrong because the cell phone near the scene had recent incoming calls after the mugging from the Marseille apartment that everyone somehow knows about even though it belongs to the cousin of a woman that nobody can identify. LeFevre knows that this random American woman, Ozol’s killer, and Kennard are all connected but he isn’t sure how. He’s hoping Alvarez can connect the dots. Quite possibly one of the most contrived and half-assed chapters ever written. Lazy Susan for the win! And just to beat the dead horse one more time, this further proves the whole Hoyt thing was pointless. Because even if Hoyt’s death hadn’t spawned Alvarez’s suspicious of betrayal, he still would’ve been pointed in that direction when this French cop showed up out of nowhere and dropped all those pertinent loose threads in his lap.
OK, Chapter 63 was great. Victor breaks into the Olympus Trading company safe and steals files. A really fun and enjoyable informative breakdown of how to crack locks and most safes.
And while 63 was great, Chapter 64 was nothing if not unexpected. Rebecca gets room service while waiting for Victor to get back and some bad guy shows up instead. Victor returns to the hotel and finds Rebecca dead in the bathtub! (Color this detective pleasantly surprised). He deduces that the room is wired because the lamps – secondary lights – aren’t working. He cobbles together a makeshift electrine line and feeds it to the light switch where the c4 is packed. He remotely detonates it, leaving Reed to assume the job was completed and that both Rebecca and Victor are dead. And credit to the author, the hot streak continued into the next chapter.
Internal conflict for Ferguson is spelled out in a soliloquy to Sykes. They’re in a bar in Arlington when Sykes shows with a file, stating that the explosion at the hotel wiped out both Rebecca and Victor. (and he also said ‘he’ has the drive too). Ferguson states that Reed was worth every penny then they see in the file that Tanzania is where the sunk ship. Because of Alvarez’ suspicion, Ferguson tells Sykes they must sell to North Korea or the middle east but not to western countries because 1) of Alvarez and 2) Uncle Sam forgot about Ferguson after all his years of service. Now his skills are obsolete and his ego is bruised because he’s no longer the belle of the CIA ball. Excellent writing; however, the conflict that we’re supposed to be recognizing in Ferguson and Sykes’ diverging morality is pretty weak. Ferguson has been around forever and seen it all but now he’s surprised that the new guy is still an idealist? Lame. And with Ferguson’s network of villainry (like Hoyt!!!), he has an infinite number of easier and more lucrative opportunities to stick it to the old USA if that’s really what’s bothering him. It feels like the author never bothered to give the villains any weight and just tried to install a whole bunch of aftermarket accessories upon revision in order to make the base model seem more luxurious. But, the standoff between these two was so engaging in its ability to remain fraught with tension while still maintaining this cool calm and collected demeanor that both must demonstrate while sitting in the middle of a CIA bar.
The honeymoon of fabulous writing has ended as quickly as it began however. More lazy susan on the plot carousel as we must now redirect all of our various characters toward Tanzania for seemingly organic reasons. And despite having revisited Victor’s should I or shouldn’t I retire internal conflict for the umpteenth time, this chapter we’ve decided to filter that familiar inner monologue with revenge. So this whole time he couldn’t retire despite wanting to because he’ll always have to look over his shoulder. And now, because of Rebecca apparently, a woman he barely knew, he’s throwing his life’s revelation away and is hellbent on revenge. Spy party in Tanzania!
Oh wait, more Alvarez first. This guy is like a literary Roomba just meandering into everybody else’s plots and bumping into all the walls of their crucible before scrap hunting in the next room. He conveys his suspicions about Ferguson specifically to Procter based on intel and then is told to stand down. He agrees, then immediately buys a plane ticket to Tanzania to hunt down Sykes. If you’re playing the spy novel drinking game, time to drink up because one of the spies just went rogue!
And now for Chapter 69 (dude). This was the chapter that said the quiet part out loud. Sykes is in Tanzania with the two Seal divers he was told to hire per Ferguson. They’re on a boat and have located the 8 sunken missiles. All but two are totaled, but two is more than enough to get rich on the black market. It’s mostly inner conflict from Sykes as he’s now grappling with being a traitor despite claiming to Ferguson he was a patriot. But, his parents were very rich and he lives in a disproportionately nice place (per Alvarez’s investigation of him in a previous chapter) so why would black market money motivate him? He’s already loaded thanks to his parents and he's an idealist and a patriot thanks to his previous arguments with Ferguson. Christ, he even says as much in this chapter. The character flat out admits he has a poor motive. More like poor writing.
Three logistics chapter later and Colonel Gennady Aniskovach and Victor are both at the same hotel on the Tanzanian coast and the Colonel just happens to show up mere moments before Victor makes his move on Reed to extract intel.
HOW CONVENIENT!
Victor attacks him in an elevator but deduces that he’s not here because of Victor, but rather he’s here because of the McGuffin flash drive. He also tells Victor that Norimov sold him out – then the elevator door opens and there’s Reed just standing there. What an utterly silly chapter.
Reed shoots the Colonel because Victor uses him as a human shield before the elevator closes and returns to the lobby. And down there – HOW CONVENIENT – are a team of Russian soldiers, likely brought by the Colonel to assist with the missile business. Victor is trying to leave but thankfully Colonel is wearing a Doc Emmett L Brown brand bullet proof vest and wakes up from the human shielding just in time to make the call to his boys in the lobby right as Victor is walking thru. HOW CONVENIENT! Oh, also while Reed is shooting things upstairs, he caught a glimpse of Sykes and shot one of his two body guards. SO SO CONVENIENT!
Victor escapes the lobby and the hotel through the kitchen and then causes a karate kid style car accident before stealing one and driving off. Reed witnesses this and then carjacks a Land Rover. One of the Russian army clones is dead but the others are in full Cobra Kai mode.
Sykes and his bodyguard are trying to escape and avoid the Russians – who they now deduce aren’t here for the missiles since they’re not interested in the truck with the missiles in them. Then Sykes sees “Tesseract” drive by to his dismay. Then Alvarez appears out of nowhere and tackles him before a fight ensues and then he’s mysteriously shot at the end of the chapter.
Blah blah more car chase then Victor’s hijacked jeep might’ve fallen into the ocean.
Then Sykes and Alvarez and the remaining bodyguard fight with fists and flares. Talks of patriotism too.
Victor comes to, apparently in the ocean, a Russian grabs him and they’re ambushed by Reed. Reed shoots Victor. We might as well be reading this book in Oprah’s studio audience because everyone is getting a cliff hanger right now. It’s like a successful Tom Clancy novel that got bought out by a greedy corporation for all future publications. You still recognize the signature collision course of escalating action but boy oh boy can you tell this was mass produced with no touch of authenticity whatsoever.
Now we’re on to our big Sherlock and Moriarty moment. And…what a long and boring knife fight between Victor and Reed. Lots of ‘more pain than he’d ever felt,’ lots of ‘feeling like you’re about to die,’ lots of ‘gotta fight through the pain.’ Reed gets killed and Victor drags himself – beg your pardon, made his way – to a Tanga hospital.
And of course, let’s take a moment to set the stage for book 2 instead of worrying about making book 1 any good. Colonel Gennady Aniskovach is summoned to Prudnikov’s office, as they were in agreement earlier in the book that Colonel would fix the missile and Victor problem. He did not obviously. But he convinced the Russian state that he was a hero for destroying the missiles so that USA couldn’t obtain them. It’s not what really happened but that doesn’t matter to the oligarchs and Prudnikov reluctantly concedes the Colonel’s brilliant PR tactics. But he’s assigned to hunt down the killer at large (Victor) nonetheless. And so the cat & mouse of book 2 has begun.
Finally we’re almost done! Victor wakes up in a private room in a hospital. Some fat American posing as a doctor shows up and is looking to be his new boss for off the record USA contracts. He likes him because he’s not only an assassin but is presumed dead. And in return he can make sure he doesn’t run into diplomatic problems in Western countries (but why would he if they think he’s dead?) Then Victor wants to know the name of the person that started this whole Blackwater type CIA secret murder thing and the doctor just happens to have a prepared envelope that answers that very question.
HOW CONVENIENT!
Turns out the fat doctor was Procter – well disguised to the author’s credit. He walks outside to someone named Mr. Clarke? and feigns a conversation that he just had with Victor to put this Clarke clown at ease about the missiles. Victor’s first assignment for his new boss is Ferguson.
Despite the burgeoning cynicism throughout this review, this was overall a pretty good book. It was probably a favorite stock spy novel that was read this year, though that’s just as much an indictment of the 2024 list as it is an endorsement of this story. This detective is not the slightest bit interested in a sequel and will not be purchasing or reading it. The author did a great job of distilling the plot. It was straight forward enough while still having plenty of twists and turns. Characters were a manageable enough roster all seemed to have their own arcs. But both plot and character tilted toward the melodramatic. And once the plot and the characters had to collide, the melodrama and the contrived circumstances to keep things feasibly moving became a bit much. This book follows the template of most mediocre 007 films; the first two acts are engaging as we see the table get set, meet our players, and observe the initial conflict and its ascension, but the third act becomes a convoluted mess where miracle after miracle must occur for the story to convince itself it has stuck the landing.
