Books

Jan. 22nd, 2008 07:53 pm
dsrtao: dsr as a LEGO minifig (Default)
[personal profile] dsrtao
_The Cleaner_, Brett Battles

Contemporary action-thriller; the twist is that it doesn't follow the lone assassin or the hunter of same. The protagonist is, theoretically, an auxiliary contractor -- the sort of person who makes sure that the police are paid off, customs has their palms greased, there's a doctor who makes house-calls off the books and for cash, and so forth. Oh, and while he's self-reliant and goes to exotic countries to do dangerous things, he has an apprentice to teach, and was once an apprentice himself.

That premise could have become a much more interesting book than this one.

Instead we get the aforementioned protagonist having a job turn bad, leading in short order to a Bourne-style chase across Thailand and Germany in which he behaves exactly like a lone assassin.

My biggest complaint, however: on four separate occasions, a professional is tailed in a car, and on all four occasions the pro knows what is happening and either loses the tail or explains why he didn't want to do so. The fifth time a professional is tailed -- this time by the Good Guy -- he is oblivious, despite apparently taking the standard precautions of the young and Bondish. A little consistency would be nice.
Page generated Jun. 16th, 2025 08:49 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios