Review: "Astoundingly Written Suspense Novel"
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 15, 2013
Author Carolyn Arnold has certainly shared her outstanding talents as an author.  In this very lengthy story, Ray Hunter was a previous hitman for the Mafia.  Now he has a family and a thriving accounting business.  He is now married to Brenda, and they had two children, Yvonne, 14 years old, and Max, their son, age 10.  Christian Russo, son of Italian Mafia Don Pietro Russo shows up in Ray's home while Ray is alone.  He wants Ray to do a job for him, even though Ray has been living an  ordinary, good life for 15 years.  Governor of Michigan, Marian Behler, is a client of Ray's firm for many years.  They had grown close.  But this is the person Christian wants killed, and he's willing to pay big bucks to Ray to do the job.  If not, there would be a huge price Ray would have to face.  Can Hunter really risk his family?  His history of years being an assassin for the Don was not known to anyone except the Don and his son.  Ray must decide by 9:00 a.m. the next morning; and the job must be accomplished within the week. Why would a man with over 10 million dollars tucked away, risk his family to kill a known friend?  Is it that obvious that he enjoyed the kill vs the money he will be paid?  What happens when his wife becomes aware of just what her husband is?  He's an assassin, and enjoys the kill. Author Carolyn Arnold has a superb writing style, at times vigorous, at times not so in this extremely long novel.  I found too many chapters going back to the same thoughts of all the characters which really strung the novel out too long for me.  I found myself skimming through these repetitive segments, wishing that the author had written this novel as two.  Perhaps I'd find the second novel just as enthralling as the first half, one I'd look forward to.  Her plot development is fantastic, and I'm disappointed in myself for wanting to rush to the ending just too quickly.  Hang in there till the end; don't miss a word!