Review: Political Superhero Thriller
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 24, 2014
Perhaps the best movie I've seen this year was "Captain America: Winter Soldier." One of the best things about the narrative of CA2 was the idea that the government (S.H.I.E.L.D.) was directly funding and operating superhero missions around the world. The implications of that, specifically when you combine it with NSA data mining and Edward Snowden, made the movie much more than a superhero flick -- it became a modern allegory for our world with Captain America representing the American ideal.I didn't come into reading Ernie Lindsey's "Super" with CA2 in mind, but it is hard to distance yourself too much from it after finishing and realizing the complex web Lindsey wove to get to the ending of the book. The protagonist, Leo Craft, is a Superhero Assassin, a distinction he makes at one point to say the Support Group is joins is not superheros that are assassins, but rather people who assassinate superheroes. At first, this sounds terrible, until Lindsey carefully reminds the reader that no one is perfectly good or evil -- that shades of grey exist. For some heroes, those shades are lighter, but for others, those shades take on tones of child pornography, abuses of their powers, and betrayal of their countries. For some of those, Craft takes out retribution.It seems Craft is perfect at his job, but gets a little lazy and doesn't realize who he hopped into bed with on his latest assignment. From there, the government twists and turns with numerous agencies and multinational organizations takes center stage with Lindsey expertly leaving the reader wanting more at each chapter break. This is one book that I genuinely had a hard time putting down and when my Kindle ran out of battery life, I had to bide my time until it was ready for me to finish the book off.I thought Lindsey did a great job and left the world open and ripe to numerous other stories or sequels, each of which I would gladly purchase and read. Well done!