First off, you need to be warned: this book is actually the second half of the story that began in Critical Space; it picks up literally minutes after the end of that book. If you did what I did and start reading Patriot Acts before its predecessor, you're not going to know what the hell is going on or why you should care. This pissed me off more than a little, since there is no indication anywhere on the cover or inside of the edition I got that this is the case. Nevertheless, I bit the bullet, went back, and read Critical Space. So this review can be considered as applying to both books.
Bodyguard Atticus Kodiak is back. This time, he's hired in a rather unconventional way to protect an extremely unconventional client: the international assassin code-named Drama, who almost killed him in Smoker. Drama's retirement is being disrupted by someone who's out to kill her, and Atticus, the only person who's ever beaten her, is the only one she trusts. But when your life becomes entwined with that of a stone killer, there's really no way to avoid becoming one yourself...
The story moves along at a blazing pace (with one exception, a scene in Critical Space where Drama is trying to get Atticus alone by sending him all over New York City, that just seems to go on forever). The prose is lean and tough, and there are moments that pack a real emotional wallop. I'm not quite sure I buy the rationale for part of the plan near the end of the book,other than to provide one of those wallops, but by that time, I was invested enough in finding out how it ended I let it slide.
Greg Rucka writes thrillers like nobody else, and Critical Space/Patriot Acts is him at the top of his form.
I'm not a thriller reader, and when I began PATRIOT ACTS my first thought was, "Oh, crap, this is one of those." Since I'd promised to write a review I stuck with it, and was more than amply rewarded. Rucka writes thriller even non-thriller fans will like. I'll definitely read him again.
ReplyDeleteSo did you finish Critical Space first? If not, how did it affect your ability to follow the story?
ReplyDeleteHave you read Greg's "Tara Chace" series?
ReplyDelete