Hard Kill: A Jon Reznick Thriller
Jon Reznick Thriller, Book #2
By J.B. Turner
ISBN# 9781909223493
Author’s Website: http://jbturnerauthor.com/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Alina
Beware of possible spoilers
When three FBI cars stop in front of his house early one morning, and the agent in charge tells him he was sent by Assistant Director Martha Meyerstein, Jon Reznick realizes that he has to postpone his visit to his daughter’s boarding school in New York. Meyerstein wants him to join a team she has put together to investigate the disappearance of an American Diplomat. The information they have suggests Islamist activity and, since the 9/11 commemoration approaches, there is a lot of pressure from all sides that they investigate it. However, Reznick and Meyerstein pursue a different line of investigation.
I don’t usually read thrillers, so I went into this book with a bit of apprehension. I needn’t have worried, because this was an extremely engaging read. Hard Kill is the second in the series and I am really sorry I missed the first, but of course it is now on my ‘want to read’ list. I loved the dynamic relationship between Reznick and Meyerstein, that so reminded me of James Bond and his M.
Jon Reznick is the hero that I usually like to read about: stubborn, relaxed, intelligent, responsible, hates by-the-book work, but at the same time you find him doing surveillance work happily because he …
“understood that needs must and someone had to stand watch”
and …
“he knew that leads had to be earned”.
I also liked the strong character of Martha Meyerstein. She is the Assistant Director of the FBI, which is already saying a lot. The fact that she believes in her subordinates and is ready to take on responsibility for their actions was definitely another plus for me in her favor.
Adam Kendrick, the bad guy, is a very interestingly portrayed character. He is the poster boy for successful living: he is a doctor of renown, an athlete, a great friend, whose mission in life seems to be that of alleviating the suffering of others. But …
“peel back the layers of facade, and no one really knows what a person is like, deep down”
Little by little we find out that his is indeed just a facade, that deep down he is a freak who only pretends to enjoy his work and the company of others:
“He’d quickly realized that it was important to engage and feign empathy”.
I had one problem with this book, namely that the information the groups working on the case share is repeated over and over again. It felt like even within one group they just kept on paraphrasing many times the same thing during the same conversation. I do understand that repetition is part of the process of analysis, but still, it was a bit overdone, in my opinion.
I am very eager to find out how Reznick and Meyerstein come out of the mess that this case has landed them in. I am not a big fan of cliffhangers, so I would have preferred to have it all done with by the end of the book and not have to wait for the next one.
