Review: A solid 4.5 stars
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 26, 2014
So this book took me some time to process. It is not a candy mystery that you can wolf down in one sitting and say what you like about it right away.I was a little apprehensive going into reading this, because I am not a big fan of the anti-hero and I worried that Katla was going to be some kind of monster with no code of ethics whatsoever. What I found was much more complicated than that.Yes, Katla is an assassin. She kills people. She has even killed 'additionals' - hapless victims who had the misfortune of being in her way. But she has her own set of rules. We don't see her gleefully shooting through crowds of people, causing accidents that hurt hundreds just to take out one. I got the sense that if the job required that kind of indiscriminate killing, she would not take it. So, despite my misgivings, I actually liked Katla as a character and heroine.I liked Deborah, the DEA agent, better. She was smart and no nonsense, and just vulnerable enough to make me believe she is a stranger in a new country, trying to find her feet. I liked the interactions between the law enforcement teams. Just the right amount of competition, camaraderie and power struggles.In fact, I liked the interactions between all the characters. Definitely an unusual cast and each character had a pretty distinct voice when the reader is in their head. The only addendum to that is that there is an overall aura of foreign-ness to the book. Maybe formality? I'm not sure what to call it. Yes, it is set in a foreign (to me) country, but even the Americans in it had this subtle flavor to them. It may also be attributable to being more like the old 'hard-boiled detective' style of writing, in that people don't get mushy or sentimental and while there are plenty of scenes which should be highly emotional, I didn't get to see/feel that emotion myself.I think that is where the story lost that half star for me. I never quite connected with any of the characters on an emotional level.Everything else about the book was very enjoyable. The way the plot had two distinct storylines that intersected - literally coming together in the same room at one point - kept me interested in finding out how it would all resolve. And I didn't foresee the end, (view spoiler) even though looking back I could see all the clues. That is the mark of good suspense, to me.