Month: March 2020

Hour of the Assassin

~ noveltherapy

Hour of the Assassin, by Matthew Quirk

When I was younger, the Cold War was at its peak and Robert Ludlum was all the rage. I was in love with spy thrillers. I think I read everything Ludlum wrote in the 1980’s, and then happily moved on to Tom Clancy’s ten pound doorstop novels. Red October, anyone? Over time, however, I’ve moved away from this genre, with only a few exceptions (I Am Pilgrim, as one example, or Daniel Silva’s amazing Gabriel Allon series, as another).

But our troubled times had me longing for escapist novels, so I picked Hour of the Assassin as one of my Book of the Month Club selections for March. In this novel, former Secret Service Agent Nick Averose is framed for a horrific murder, and must navigate through many layers of government corruption and intrigue in order to clear his name.

Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy this novel. I found it choppy and superficial. I wanted to root for the main characters, but I never really felt emotionally engaged in the story. Having said that, I feel like I need to add this caveat: I’m not really familiar with the current state of this genre of novel. So, if you like spy novels/thrillers that are long on action and short on character development, you might really like this one. It just wasn’t for me.

Long Range

~ noveltherapy

Long Range, by C.J. Box

This is the 20th novel in Box’s series featuring Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden. This series is reliably good, but as with other series, there have been a few books recently that veered off of Box’s successful formula and as a result weren’t quite as satisfying. Happily, Long Range is very good, and could easily be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel.

In Long Range, Pickett is caught up in several different mysteries: a bear attack outside of Jackson Hole, the murder by sniper of a local judge’s wife, and threats made against his friend Nate Romanoski. Most of the series’ usual, favorite characters appear in this novel, and the Wyoming locations are well-done and interesting.

This series is one of my favorites, in part because of the Wyoming setting but also because the game warden angle is different and interesting. Joe Pickett is a likable protagonist, who seems like a pretty regular guy. Box does such a good job with this series. He’s a good writer, but he also really knows Wyoming, and it shows. As always, I recommend that you start with book #1 in a series and move forward — BUT this series is very accessible so I think you could start with this book without too much trouble.

Recommended!