The Game
Kindle Edition, published March 15th, 2013
Sphere
Sphere
Thanks to following orders assassin Victor finds
himself suffering from an identity crisis. Just kidding! Sort of ;-) Let's try
this again...
Actions have consequences and you'd do better to just deal with them, to face them head on instead of focusing on what could have been. That's the attitude Victor has to live by to survive his latest mission. With no intel to speak of and only minimal time to plan and assess, Victor has to pull out all the stops to get the job done...or undone, that is.
Actions have consequences and you'd do better to just deal with them, to face them head on instead of focusing on what could have been. That's the attitude Victor has to live by to survive his latest mission. With no intel to speak of and only minimal time to plan and assess, Victor has to pull out all the stops to get the job done...or undone, that is.
I was so very excited to read the newest Wood release,
because he has yet to disappoint me; I had high hopes for #3. I
loved The Game! However, there is a downside to my love. What is she talking
about? I'm - again - pointing out the fact that I rated the author's previous
releases 5 stars. Read them in order! At this point, my fellow thrill-seeking
readaholics, you have two options: Believe me when I say I didn't find anything
that would warrant a less than 5-star-rating or...don't. It's up to you. Enough
with the ramblings and on to the review part of the review. Food for thought
ahead!
At the risk of repeating myself, I must mention that,
with the Victor books, it's all about expectations. I expected a well thought
out plot with part gritty part visual writing, action, surprises along the way and realistic
research-based scene descriptions...all thrown together with a splash of
over-the-top. I got my money's worth and then some.
My fear was that it would at some point be hard to top
the greatness. A lot of series lose exactly that - what makes them great -
after a while. I would have hated for that to happen and was relieved to notice
right away that Wood intentionally or unintentionally (do let me know) put a
spin on things. At first I couldn't quite put my finger on what was different,
but after thinking it over it became clear. Victor the main protagonist - in
the most charming emotionally closed off doing the dirty work for that one
three-letter-agency we shall not name kind of way - has been and continues to
be a bit of a mystery, but in The Game one can see him interact with people on
a whole new level.
I don't need his biography typed out when it's such a
fabulous idea to let the reader observe Victor in a most unusual situation. "Observe" being the operative word here! He
more or less willingly accepts an assignment just to be forced to operate under
direct supervision. It's not the same as being on the run. The restrictions
that come with eyes on you at all times created a tension that even I as the
reader felt to the point of wild gesticulating and muttering to myself.
One of my fave aspects was Victors almost compulsive
need to assess every possible outcome and the various decisions to be made
along the way. I immensely enjoyed reading about what could happen; at the same
time getting more and more excited and curious to find out if Victors
assessment would prove to be correct.
Obviously it's the main character who carries the
plot. Victor didn't lose his killer edge, far from it, but another character was
introduced I feel will play - has to play - an important role in the future.
There will be another Victor book, right? This character managed to disrupt
Victor's balance with such ease that it brought on the giggles. It was
hilarious.
I would describe the first half of the book as the one
that slowly connects the dots, without revealing too much, by building up the suspense step by step (not to
say that there's no action to look forward to), while the second half is the
explosion of the proverbial powder keg, the unravelling of it all.
Victor's moral compass! Oh, you will definitely learn
a lot about his values or lack thereof - I won't tell. In my opinion at least two moments were essential to
understanding whether or not Victor as the ruthless assassin believes in
something...and if so what. No worries by the way...it IS still a thriller, but
it just happens to be that this reviewer is a woman. The fight / action scenes
rocked! Especially so because of what I mentioned about the
beforehand-assessments; worst case and best case scenario. They seriously
rocked, rocked, rocked.
I tried hard to find something I didn't like. If I
were to nitpick the excessive use of "but" in the beginning would be
the one aspect to criticize (Kindle location ~ 115-170).
However, it's not enough of a let-down to even
consider changing the rating. As with The Hunter, Bad Luck in Berlin and The
Enemy, I had an action-filled fun time. "Thank
you for the coffee [read]. It was
delicious." 5 stars to The Game by Tom Wood.
Beware of Spoilers!
A few of my favorite quotes for those of you who are interested:
° “...dragging along a dog with bulging eyeballs and so small even the pigeons showed no fear of it.” ° “Then I can only assume you trust me. - I trust that you understand the consequences of showing yourself to be untrustworthy. “
° “...perfect planning prevents piss poor performance. - I thought you didn't swear. - I was quoting.”
° “...we've pushed our luck once already. - I don't subscribe to the concept.”
