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Book of the Year 2018?

I had done that thing, you know the thing that really you shouldn’t do as a reviewer. I’d read some tweets about the latest Greg Hurwitz book, people seemed to be overwhelmed with praise for his latest book. Even though I tried to block out the praise and euphoria, I still couldn’t help myself. I went out and bought “Hellbent”, the latest Greg Hurwitz book that all of twitter was raving about.

Now I was in a dilemma, twitter fans talking about the book but I had not even started the second “Evan Smoak” book called “Nowhere Man”.

I knew that one of my rules is to read a book series from start to finish, rather than dipping in and out. So I got back to “Nowhere Man” hoping that it would still be a good read and worthy of the Orphan X book rating. See HERE.

So you finished “Nowhere Man”

I finished the “Nowhere Man” book and was pleasantly surprised that it had a great ending that lead straight into the third book in the “Evan Smoak” series. As I mentioned in the review the book was good, very good but not as good as “Orphan X”. Maybe my mind was already getting prepared for this third book, due to the twitter reviews, the retweets, the anticipation, could the third book in the series live up to the hype.

See the Orphan X review HERE!

Is “Hellbent” a good book?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a short answer to this question, YES, YES, YES. If “Orphan X” was the book to hook all readers of Jack Reacher novels into the series, then the “Nowhere Man” was a kind of middle story carrying on the journey for the fans. This third book blows you out the water, flips you around onto your back and then the ending, slaps you in the face just for good measure.

“Nowhere Man” had you scared for Evan, how was he going to get out the situation he was in, the helper becoming the person who needed the help. The odds were stacked high against Evan, but not nearly as high as in the book “Hellbent”. We get the full picture, all bells and whistles of it, conspiracy, government, family, revenge, you name it, it is in this book.

So what was so good about this book?

By now after the second book “Nowhere Man” we have got used to Evan Smoak, trying to live a normal life in his apartment but also helping out people in distress. Not unlike Jack Reacher, but younger and probably with a lot more skills at his disposal, which he really needs, as people are trying to find him and kill him.

The opening of this book is brilliant, from the start there is a casual apartment chat with Evan’s love interest, straight (I mean straight) into a kidnap situation with his one and only mentor. The story then unfolds into such an amazing plot that we have to give Greg Hurwitz a pat on the back, he really utilises his skill full writing to create a bleak picture of Evan’s future. There are so many nice touches, Evan having to leave his so called “normal life”, bringing in additional characters to help assist him and a baddie that is truly bad.

I think this is the one thing that kept me so hooked into the book, Evan trying to understand “normal life” and human feelings as well as having to avenge a friends’ death and look out for people calling him for help on his emergency phone. He really is torn throughout the plot, on one hand trying to do the right thing, on the other hand wanting to gain a personal revenge. To have three rogue Orphans after him as well as twenty five trained operatives, you know the stakes are really high, how can he possibly survive this?

Final thoughts

With the intensity that Greg Hurwitz writes, you can start to feel a little out of breath whilst reading this book. There is one scene in the book, where Evan has to challenge a terrible gang leader in a ruined Church, just to protect an innocent. The scene layouts with descriptive writing and characterisations are so on point that you sense the loneliness Evan is feeling against the force of this whole army.

The main reason you start to feel out of breath, is you are not fully sure if the main character really wants to live or is going to stay alive. Most books like Jack Reacher, you kind of know that the main hero will live, fights are easily won and there are no wounds to the Hero at all.

Here though, you go through lots of Evans emotions, how should he act, will he gain revenge and what will that hold for his future? When you through into the mix a baddie like the new head of the Orphan Program, Van Sciver, (you can practically feel the hate oozing out of him towards Evan) you are then caught in the whirlwind of Evan’s survival world. Cue lots of fight scenes, last minute ingenuity, grit and determination, family bonds of love and trust plus an ending that leads into book number four I have to rate this as one of, if not the BEST book of 2018 so far……..

UK – BUY “HELLBENT” HERE!

 

 

Let me know what you think in the comments.

 

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Books Like Lee Child Novels!

Earlier I raved on about new author Tom Wood in my previous post HERE! You can see that I was mightly impressed with the brilliant descriptive style of writing and for me, one of the books is so far topping the rating list for Crime Thriller books!

As I normally do, I went back to my book shelf and pulled out another Tom Wood book titled “The Enemy”. As I review the books after reading them, my first port of calls when analyzing, is the main question. Is this book like a Lee Child novel or a Jack Reacher character. Then I look at the author’s writing style to see whether this matches up to the skill level (of the highest order) of Lee Child.

You’ve already read this book?

I have read this book before, a couple of years ago and thought I’d try it again. To be honest I couldn’t quite remember the plot or whether the book was good or not. This last point didn’t really paint the book in the right light as surely I would have remembered this, if it was THAT good. Well for those who are like me and read so many books over a year, you will know that you kind of get mixed up with, which book was good and which book was just average. That is why I always recommend going back over old books to see what they are like in a new refreshing way, sometimes reading a book again in a new setting or environment can give a much better review than reading it the first time.

What’s the book like then?

This is the second book in the Tom Wood series and again centres around Victor the assassin. What I really, really like about this book is the plot which at first can seem slightly overwhelming as there are so many characters involved at first. As you continue to read through though, Tom Wood makes a brilliant story unfold before your eyes. Victor working for the CIA, in a way trapped by his new bosses who present him “Jobs” to do under very impossible time constraints. As with this Victor series, that is like Lee Child novels we get to see Victor pressed from powers above, against top formidable teams and to top it all off, he even has to deal with a mole in the CIA. No spoilers for you but I did want to mention a particular scene which is an example of the great work that Tom Wood achieves.

Infamous scene!

Anyone seen the film by John Woo called “Hard Boiled”? Very few people I would say, but there was this classic action film back in the day by one of the best action movie directors of the early nineties. Buy the film HERE!. The film has lots of action sequences that back then, everyone spoke about. There was a particular scene where a cop is trying to save people in a hospital and the whole sequence is just carnage, shotguns, people getting shot, martial arts, panic and terror. Can you picture it? If not, then click the link here to see this scene.

This scene depicts the last 30 or so pages of the book “The Enemy”, Victor is having a meal with his “girlfriend”.  Again using his memory skill set he recalls something that has just happened to him on that particular night.

Too late, he knows the “Kidon” (Israel’s Mossad) are onto him and there is nothing he can do about it.

What happens next is such a page turner that you can’t stop reading and reading and reading until the book ends. 30 pages of Victor trying to save his “girlfriend”, taking out some other assassins, getting kidnapped, car crashing, epic gun fights in a warehouse to getting a blade of glass pushed in towards his eye. You actually feel quite relieved when the book has finished.

Final thoughts

I did actually laugh to myself when finishing this book as I had forgotten how good it was. The plot was quite demanding due to the various characters throughout who were again very well written. For each character there was a reason for them to be in there, you could also picture what they were like in person due to their dialogue. Again a great skill of the author Tom Wood. I do think this book is not for the faint-hearted, if reminded me of the earlier Lee Child books like Jack Reacher’s, “Killing Floor” and “Tripwire”.

“The Enemy is a book that will stay with you for a while after you have read it, how can Victor survive? You will have to read the next one in the series to find out……….

Let me know what you think after reading this book, whether you agree with me in the comments box.

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Like Jack Reacher – Welcome Harry Bosch

At http://www.bookslikejackreacher.co.uk we review characters that are like Jack Reacher. Not just in appearance but also in personality, mentality or character. I found a great character that although slightly different to Jack Reacher, this character is someone who I would recommend due to the story lines he is involved with and the detective skill set that he possesses.

Harry Bosch is the main man

The character I am referring to is Harry Bosch from the well-known author Michael Connelly. Michael Connelly is a massive name amongst the genre of crime thriller books and someone who you can rely on for a good read in your spare time. The first book I read of Michael Connelly’s was The SCARECROW, and boy what a book it was. The general premise was that main character Jack McEvoy has to track down a serial killer who is known as the “scarecrow” which we start to realise why he is called this name, later in the book.

One of the fascinating things with this book was the in depth research that Michael Connelly had done in providing us details of the FBI, the accessing of digital storage for large companies and also how he details all the facts of a court case. One of the reasons that Michael Connnelly is such as descriptive writer is due him being a police crime reporter earlier in his career. This previous role really helps him create the chaos and confinement that you feel when reading his books. Like a lot of Lee Child books, the background descriptions of landscapes and people, keep you fully attentive whilst reading.

What about Harry Bosch?

I finished the “Scarecrow” book and thought, you know what, I’m going to look out for another book from this author. I chose the book “THE BRASS VERDICT”, partly because from reading the back of the book it looked like something that could be a Hollywood film.

Back of the book content

Things are finally looking up for defense attorney Mickey Haller. After two years of wrong turns, Haller is ready to go back to the courtroom. When Hollywood lawyer Jerry Vincent is murdered, Haller inherits his biggest case yet: the defense of Walter Elliott, a prominent studio executive accused of murdering his wife and her lover. But as Haller prepares for the case that could launch him into the big time, he learns that Vincent’s killer may be coming for him next.

Enter LAPD Detective Harry Bosch. Determined to find Vincent’s killer, he is not opposed to using Haller as bait. But as danger mounts and the stakes rise, these two loners realize their only choice is to work together.


As you can see, just this premise of a lawyer getting a break and then having to rely on an LAPD detective to assist with the case really intrigued me. As the book started off with a lawyer called Mickey Haller (who later became more well-known in the LINCOLN LAWYER film), I started to warm more to Harry Bosch. A worn, older veteran of the LAPD, kind of old school detective with vast experience, lots of hard cases which he has solved on his own.

Not to spoil the plot but you see elements of Jack Reacher in the way that he works the case and starts to pick holes in the investigation. A lot of the action is less fighting, with a lot more gun shots and threats with the odd street fight thrown in for good measure.

Other books like Jack Reacher?

After reading “The Scarecrow”, I went straight to my local Waterstones bookshop and bought this book “THE BLACK BOX”, I absolutely loved it. The book goes back to an old case that hasn’t been solved and then Harry Bosch goes back to try to dig it up again and see if he can get any new evidence. The speed of this book is remarkable, you do actually end up flying through it, wanting to know who committed the crime and how Harry will solve it.

Back of the book content

In a case that spans 20 years, Harry Bosch links the bullet from a recent crime to a file from 1992, the killing of a young female photojournalist during the L.A. riots. Harry originally investigated the murder, but it was then handed off to the Riot Crimes Task Force and never solved. Now Bosch’s ballistics match indicates that her death was not random violence, but something more personal, and connected to a deeper intrigue.

Like an investigator combing through the wreckage after a plane crash, Bosch searches for the “black box,” the one piece of evidence that will pull the case together. Riveting and relentlessly paced, The Black Box leads Harry Bosch into one of his most fraught and perilous cases.

What’s next?

For new readers to the series, its exciting as there are lots of Harry Bosch books out there. Here they are in order for you to buy:

The Black Echo (1992)

The Black Ice (1993)

The Concrete Blonde (1994)

The Last Coyote (1995)

Trunk Music (1997)

Angels Flight (1999)

A Darkness More Than Night (2001)

City Of Bones (2002)

Lost Light (2003)

The Narrows (2004) (sequel to The Poet)

The Closers (2005)

Echo Park (2006)

The Overlook (2007)

Nine Dragons (2009) (also featuring Mickey Haller)

The Drop (2011)

The Black Box (2012)

The Burning Room (2014)

The Crossing (2015)

The Wrong Side Of Goodbye (2016)

Two Kinds Of Truth (2017)

Dark Sacred Night (coming October 2018)

Conclusion

I recommend reading any of the Harry Bosch books as they are so cleverly written, you may think that you know what is about to happen when reading them, then the plot twists right round to another outcome entirely. Don’t forget you can buy the books on kindle as well if you like reading them on your tablet or phone.

Even the location of where Harry Bosch lives is so finely described you can actually imagine the road, the sun and the freeway in the distance. Sitting in your armchair on the veranda, sun slowing setting, beer in hand watching the world play out before you.

If you feel like this is a good series, like Jack Reacher novels, that you could get into then see the link below to purchase from amazon. There is also the Harry Bosch TV series which is HERE TO BUY.

Let me know how you get on in the comments box below.