Review: An excellent thrill ride
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 3, 2010
Wow! What an excellent thriller!Parallax is my second fiction read by Jon F. Merz after I got a taste of his short story and I'm definitely hooked. This was an awesome thriller with lots of twists and turns that I didn't see coming. I love stories that take me off guard and deal with complex characters that don't seem as if they're who they are, only to turn your expectations of them right on the side.The story deals with Frank Jolino and Ernst "Stahl", two expert assassins living on opposite sides of the globe in different lives until one fateful moment of mental interlinking brings them together. Soon each is allowed to view the other's experience as if they were perched on the other's shoulder. Their lives interconnect from jobs to love lives and betrayal while each have something in the balance. With Stahl, his son's life is at stake on the condition that he kills a scientist connected with the SARS disease. With Frank, he is sent to kill his old girlfriend, the long lost niece of his mafia boss who he still is in love with, on suspicion that she is connected with the feds.This was one novel that was hard to put down. Merz excels at creating engaging characters wrapped in a fast paced read. One moment I was sympathizing with them and the other felt the complete opposite. Overall, my nose was in the pages all the way to the very satisfying end.This is a late entry for the best of my 2009 reads and it goes right at the top. I hope Parallax makes it to the big screen like Merz's Fixer series is coming to television. I'd definitely grab a ticket!