Regardless of the title, that is NOT a part of the American Lucas Davenport ‘prey’ collection, penned by John Sandford. Suppose as an alternative of a recent model of the Starvation Video games. However extra lethal. With adults. Chained collectively in pairs. Being chased by unhealthy guys with sniper rifles. Set within the Spanish hinterlands. Plus snakes. OK, so nothing like Starvation Video games actually…
The protagonist Leon Cazador is lower from the identical fabric because the style’s well-known knights in tarnished armour. He has the ethical certainty of Earl Swagger; the penchant for a misplaced trigger that motivates Travis McGee, and a skillset to match that of John Rain. Which suggests he’s the best man to untangle a callous conspiracy of heartless human traffickers – and switch the tables on their brutal hunt for helpless victims.
It helps that the unhealthy guys inevitably betray one another, that the thrill-seeking, misogynistic, nouveau riche slimebags are as spineless as they’re sadistic. However it could be all too straightforward for Leon to easily stalk them via the scrublands and mete out jungle justice.
So creator Nik Morton complicates the plot with a femme fatale and her paramour, rivalry amongst thieves, back-stabbing and brute power plus – the piece de resistance – a ‘protected haven’ within the hills which seems to be populated with a most uncommon household…
In contrast to most trendy thrillers the place the straw males are arrange merely to be knocked down, creator Morton takes appreciable care in constructing every character’s again story. The preliminary premise of the story appears pretty easy, however you quickly change into enmeshed within the intricate plot which elevates this thriller past the usual running-shouting-shooting match. Ditto the in depth analysis, which particulars the calibre of the firearms, the forging of the knife blade – even unto the powerplant of the whirlybird that stalks our hero from the sky!
Therein lies one of many novel’s weaknesses: the creator’s want to display his data. It seems that boa constrictors do certainly give beginning to dwell younger and that the right time period for ‘anti-venom’ is definitely ‘antivenin’, however examples like these jolted me out of the second and disrupted proceedings. It’s doable to over-explain: rather less dialog, a little bit extra motion, please.
The excellent news is (spoiler alert!) that in case you take pleasure in this primary full-length Leon Cazador story then there are two extra within the collection.
8/10
Reviewed by Rowena Hoseason
Rogue Prey by Nick Morton is accessible at Amazon
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Killing time?
Meet JJ Stoner, an skilled with black blades and blunt devices…
