M W Craven’s writing is always a cut above, as anyone who has discovered the brilliant crime series featuring Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw knows. This series (of which this book is the second) takes a different genre – the thriller – and proves that Craven can turn his hand to this genre just as well.
This book is the second outing for protagonist Ben Koenig, former head of the US Marshalls’ Special Operations Group. He’s literally ‘Fearless’ (the title of the first novel), having a medical condition that means he is afraid of nothing. After the events of the first novel, Ben has been living under the radar – he’s a highly trained killer and has made a lot of enemies along the way. When people start going missing, Ben gets called in by the CIA to see if he can help – and he quickly learns that his past has some surprising links to the current investigation. But Ben isn’t someone who can ever walk away from a challenge – no matter how dangerous…
I made the mistake of picking this up before bed one night and then struggled to put it down! It’s not my usual genre, but I loved the clever plotting and the crazy, extreme situations that Ben found himself in. I don’t think it’s as realistic as the Poe and Bradshaw books, but it’s a great read nevertheless. You’ve kind of got to believe that the stakes are high (I wasn’t really clear on why, but I didn’t care!) and go with the flow.
As with all Craven’s books, you can expect a high body count, some very gruesome moments and also flashes of humour. If you like Craven’s writing, you’ll like this – and if you haven’t discovered this writer yet then now is the time!
Thanks to NetGalley for my copy of the book for review – opinions are entirely my own.
Header photo by Lianhao Qu on Unsplash
