Review: Absorbing, Hard To Put Down
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 25, 2012
The beginning of this gripping novel begins with a quote from Nietzsche that foreshadows the hero's journey: "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." What an apt description for Kurt, the protagonist of this novel who struggles to fight evil and yet maintain his decency.Our hero is a modern day Viking, a tough law enforcement member, but he is inwardly devastated by guilt. His wife and one son were victims of gang violence and the fate of his other son shall be left to the reader to discover. He flees the scene of the tragedy and returns to Canada, only to find that the drug violence he wanted to escape is pervasive there, too. The insights offered into the drug lords and their vicious business are certainly depressing but Kurt is a hero any of us can admire and cheer. "At the Gates of Walhalla" is a real page-turner and I was eager to find out what was going to happen next. It's a long book and I was glad! I hope to see more of Kurt in the future. I kept wondering who would play his character in a future Hollywood blockbuster?