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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
Taut and fast-paced, with an intriguing premise that should keep the series going.
Nick Mason may have been a crook, but the time he's serving now was a setup. After he straightened out for his wife and new daughter, old acquaintances roped him into one last easy job. Which went bad and brought about the death of a cop, and earned Nick 25 years in prison. Five years into his time, Chicago crime lord Darius Cole presents Nick with an offer that gets him out early. He takes it.
But though no longer behind bars, Nick is no less a prisoner, as the condition of his release is an agreement to answer a call from Cole's lieutenants to do whatever Cole asks. Naturally, Cole doesn't ask him to man the Salvation Army Christmas kettle. As Cole's orders lead to more violent and more dangerous crimes, Nick finds himself drawing more attention from the police and less able to try to re-establish a relationship with his ex-wife and daughter -- who may become targets themselves.
The Second Life of Nick Mason is tautly written, quick-paced and never lags. Nick and the other characters are well-drawn and Steve Hamilton's hand with an action sequence is already well-practiced in his Alex McKnight series. It struggles with some pretty improbable turns of events and implausible actions on the part of some of the people in it, but not so much as to slow down the story.
The sequel to Second Life already has a May publishing date, and I have no desire to read it. Nick's life is bleak and by the end of this book he's really no better off than he was before. The friend who passed this one on to me noted that real noir -- which Hamilton shoots for and largely hits -- doesn't really work well for a series character, and I think that's right. Maybe if Nick gets a third life that's not so depressing I can check back in.
Original available here.
But though no longer behind bars, Nick is no less a prisoner, as the condition of his release is an agreement to answer a call from Cole's lieutenants to do whatever Cole asks. Naturally, Cole doesn't ask him to man the Salvation Army Christmas kettle. As Cole's orders lead to more violent and more dangerous crimes, Nick finds himself drawing more attention from the police and less able to try to re-establish a relationship with his ex-wife and daughter -- who may become targets themselves.
The Second Life of Nick Mason is tautly written, quick-paced and never lags. Nick and the other characters are well-drawn and Steve Hamilton's hand with an action sequence is already well-practiced in his Alex McKnight series. It struggles with some pretty improbable turns of events and implausible actions on the part of some of the people in it, but not so much as to slow down the story.
The sequel to Second Life already has a May publishing date, and I have no desire to read it. Nick's life is bleak and by the end of this book he's really no better off than he was before. The friend who passed this one on to me noted that real noir -- which Hamilton shoots for and largely hits -- doesn't really work well for a series character, and I think that's right. Maybe if Nick gets a third life that's not so depressing I can check back in.
Original available here.
My favorite part of this book was how hard [a:Don Winslow|37795|Don Winslow|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/authors/1288036709p2/37795.jpg] worked promoting on twitter a novel that never achieved much more than embellishing anecdotal diversions and psychological footnotes on top of the sort of premise, plots, and characters normally get developed into middling USA Network television shows.
Nick Mason isn’t a good guy. He is a thief who ended up in prison when one of his partners freaked out during a robbery and killed someone. But, he isn’t a bad guy either. He took the rap and never ratted out his best friend or the jerk who got him in the mess he found himself in. He was a good family guy when he got talked in to one last job and more than anything else he would love to have his family back. When he is offered the chance to be free after only 5 years he can’t refuse but he soon finds himself anything but free. His life is now owned by a bad guy who is truly bad. Thus begins the second life of Nick Mason. This was a great read – Nick is one of the most interesting protagonists I have encountered in quite awhile and I can’t wait to read more of how he balances working for a bad guy and trying to stay alive and out of prison, while at the same time trying to atone for his sins of the past.