Review: Mexican take on Day of the Jackal
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 14, 2013
Mr. Blake is an already established author, and it shows in his writing, which is richly detailed and evocative.  "King of Swords" is set almost entirely in Mexico, with its main characters, locations and subtexts all drawn from that country.  I confess to knowing far less about our near neighbor than many more distant places, and that setting slowed down my immersion in the book; for instance, the power of the Mexican drug cartels which is central to Mr. Blake's story came as an upleasant surprise to me.  Once hooked, however, the pace and power of Mr. Blake's storytelling swept me along.El Rey is the "King of Swords", a freelance assassin employed by the cartels to do their dirty work.  He is endowed with a sympathetic backstory, but he is still a ruthless killer with extraordinary skills.  Cruz is the police captain at the head of the anti-cartel task force, constantly at odds with government corruption and inefficiency, lack of resources, and in this story trying to prevent the assassination of the presidents of Mexico and the United States by El Rey, despite stunning complacency from the concerned agencies of both countries.This sets up a cat and mouse situation that reminded me of Frederick Forsyth'sThe Day of the Jackal, except that since this launches a series the reader already knows that the ending will not result in El Rey's death.  Like "Jackal", this book is full of gritty details that help draw the reader into the world of the story.  Unlike its predecessor, however, "King of Swords" occasionally goes just a bit over the top, in my opinion, with respect to the action.  It is also more graphic in its brutality, but that goes with the times, I guess.  This is a very good book.