Scan barcode
A review by jacki_f
Exit Strategy by Steve Hamilton
3.0
It still baffles me how Steve Hamilton went from writing the excellent Alex McKnight series to this junky Baldacci rip off series. Exit Strategy is better than its predecessor, The Second Life of Nick Mason, but that's not saying much. It is cliched, with formulaic characters, a laughably high body count and little or no tension. The middle section is reasonable but that's as far as it goes.
If you've read the first book in the series, you'll know that Nick Mason was sprung from prison in exchange for a lifetime of servitude as hitman for the very nasty Darius Cole. Mason hates his situation and longs to be free but is afraid that his daughter will be hurt if he tries to get away. Meanwhile Cole, who is in prison, has a retrial coming up and wants anyone who originally testified against him or anyone who could potentially testify against him, silenced.
There are shades of Tom Woods' "Victor" series here, but Mason has less talent than Victor and is considerably less interesting. With characters being eliminated almost as soon as they've been introduced, it's hard to care about anyone in this book. It's fast paced, and if you want something mindless with lots of action it will deliver, but it's frustrating to me knowing that Steve Hamilton can write such terrific characters, with realistic dialogue and authentic settings, that none of those elements are here.
The ending sets it up for another book in the series, but I'm not sure I'll be back.
If you've read the first book in the series, you'll know that Nick Mason was sprung from prison in exchange for a lifetime of servitude as hitman for the very nasty Darius Cole. Mason hates his situation and longs to be free but is afraid that his daughter will be hurt if he tries to get away. Meanwhile Cole, who is in prison, has a retrial coming up and wants anyone who originally testified against him or anyone who could potentially testify against him, silenced.
There are shades of Tom Woods' "Victor" series here, but Mason has less talent than Victor and is considerably less interesting. With characters being eliminated almost as soon as they've been introduced, it's hard to care about anyone in this book. It's fast paced, and if you want something mindless with lots of action it will deliver, but it's frustrating to me knowing that Steve Hamilton can write such terrific characters, with realistic dialogue and authentic settings, that none of those elements are here.
The ending sets it up for another book in the series, but I'm not sure I'll be back.