Review: Great interpersonal moments, great suspense
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 10, 2014
SUMMARYA secretive assassin, Katla, is hired to kill a man in the Netherlands, but in the process is interrupted by a blind man. On a whim, she allows him to live, despite the fact that he is a potential witness. She then proceeds to play a dangerous game of cat and mouse with him throughout the city, brushing ever closer toward the one thing that has always eluded her: an actual human relationship. Meanwhile, Deborah Stern, a DEA agent who is recovering from a harrowing ordeal, is offered a job in the Netherlands. An American soldier overseas has overdosed on heroin, leading the higher-ups to suspect a drug ring targeting the military. Deborah is assigned to apprehend the culprits, but she doesn’t know that a mole is feeding important secrets to the members of the drug trade… who, concerned over the DEA’s new plans, decide to hire a certain assassin to take care of their problems…THE GOOD…1) Awesome beginningWe begin with a cold-blooded assassin doing what she does best: kill people. She uses, of all things, a samurai sword. YES. Awesomeness abounds.2) Strong female charactersDid we mention that this book has two female leads? Both Deborah and Katla were interesting, fully fleshed-out characters, and it was a real treat for us to read a story that held its two female leads in such high esteem. We liked them both so much that at times it was hard to decide who to root for more.3) The blind man and the killerThis was a wonderful combination. We really enjoyed the interplay between the assassin and the blind witness. It was fun to watch as they grew closer, to be continually surprised how well they interacted on a personal level, and to discover new aspects of them both as they forged their relationship. At several points, we even came to ask ourselves: who between them is crazier? We normally don’t like romances, but this hit in just the right ways, so we give it two thumbs up.4) Creepiness and suspenseThis story has action, but we were more impressed by its ability to hold us in suspense. The tension in many scenes so palatable that we kept on reading far too late into the night, just to see what happened next. The assassin, Katla, has just the right level of creepiness that anyone can tell she is a psychotic. She seriously stalks a blind man after deciding not to kill him; who does that but a crazy person? At one point, the narrator even informs us that “She didn’t want to kill him yet.” Our response while reading: SAY WHAT? Did the room’s temperature just drop five degrees?THE BAD…1) Character blitzThere’s a point, around 50 pages in, when there’s a half-dozen characters introduced in around two pages. This is the most obvious example, but there are other cases of the same or similar. Every so often, there will just be too many characters on the page; too many names flying by, too many people to remember, too many cooks in the kitchen. For the most part, however, the story does manage to keep its focus narrow on a small subset of characters.2) Not a complete storyThe story is full of interesting moments, but it is only the first in a series (fortunately, two other books of the series have also been published, so interested readers don’t have to wait). Some people might like that this is a longer story, one that lasts for several books, and that it leaves a good set-up for the next book at the end. However, we prefer when a book contains a story of its own. Of course, that’s just personal taste; your mileage may vary.THE BIZARRE…1) Parrots are awesomeOne of the characters has a parrot that imitates the sounds of an angry dog whenever someone enters the home. This is awesome.2) Ninja blind manThere’s a blind man. He’s really good at self defense and calm under pressure, and he also knows a lot of Japanese-related stuff. This is also awesome. (Though, regrettably, he is not an actual ninja.)…AND THE VERDICT:This book is GOOD.It’s an impressive set of writing, plot, and suspense. If you like foreign settings, police procedurals, and insight into the criminal mind, then this is a definite plus. All in all, an entertaining read. The occasional action scene left a real punch, while the suspense kept us on our toes throughout. We give special kudos to this author’s ability to depict people’s relationships. We hope to see this author grow and tackle and even better story next time.