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A review by jacki_f
Better Off Dead by Tom Wood
3.0
Victor is an assassin at the top of his game. He's clinical, calculating, aloof. This is the fourth book in the series about him and they are very, very good - but this is the weakest in the series to date. I was quite disappointed by it.
The plot has Victor travelling to London to find and protect the step-daughter of a former friend. When he does find her, he discovers that some very powerful people want her dead. They are reporting to a woman who is every bit as cool and cunning as Victor is and who even outwits him on occasion.
I didn't think this was a terrible book but I didn't love it as I have the others in the series. Partly, I felt that Victor being teamed up with another person meant that he didn't get the opportunity to be as cool as he usually is. I was also very annoyed by a couple of sequences that happened for NO reason other than to keep the action going fast and furious. They didn't fit with risks that Victor would take and they didn't even get explained. (MINOR SPOILER: One of these is halfway through when Victor announces that he needs to talk to Norimov - no he doesn't! And if he does, then why doesn't he do so? It's just an excuse for another action sequence). Even the reason for Victor being sent to London in the first place gets disproven. There are just too many plot developments that don't add up, and this annoyed me greatly.
Much as [b:Zero Day|11007587|Zero Day (John Puller, #1)|David Baldacci|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406367499s/11007587.jpg|15926531] read like Baldacci trying to mimic Lee Child, this book reads like someone trying to mimic Tom Wood rather than delivering the quality of the real thing.
The plot has Victor travelling to London to find and protect the step-daughter of a former friend. When he does find her, he discovers that some very powerful people want her dead. They are reporting to a woman who is every bit as cool and cunning as Victor is and who even outwits him on occasion.
I didn't think this was a terrible book but I didn't love it as I have the others in the series. Partly, I felt that Victor being teamed up with another person meant that he didn't get the opportunity to be as cool as he usually is. I was also very annoyed by a couple of sequences that happened for NO reason other than to keep the action going fast and furious. They didn't fit with risks that Victor would take and they didn't even get explained. (MINOR SPOILER: One of these is halfway through when Victor announces that he needs to talk to Norimov - no he doesn't! And if he does, then why doesn't he do so? It's just an excuse for another action sequence). Even the reason for Victor being sent to London in the first place gets disproven. There are just too many plot developments that don't add up, and this annoyed me greatly.
Much as [b:Zero Day|11007587|Zero Day (John Puller, #1)|David Baldacci|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406367499s/11007587.jpg|15926531] read like Baldacci trying to mimic Lee Child, this book reads like someone trying to mimic Tom Wood rather than delivering the quality of the real thing.