THE KILLING KIND
Chris Holm
September 15, 2015
Mulholland Books
The world needs more novels from Chris Holm.
For those in the know, Holm has been telling some of the most intelligent urban fantasy stories since forever with his wonderful Collector series from Angry Robot Books. Thoughtful and well thought out tales that perfectly blend fantasy elements with a pulp sensibility. Now, Mulholland Books is putting out the latest work from Holm, THE KILLING KIND, and readers everywhere have reason to cheer.
Leaving the fantasy elements behind, THE KILLING KIND is a straight shot of adrenaline to the heart, wrapped in the dust jacket of a thriller novel. Michael Hendricks is a man long thought dead in the deserts of the Mideast. A Special Forces operative who at one time excelled at his work, and then became heartsick over it, Hendricks used the poor fortune of his unit getting hit by a roadside bomb to let the rest of the world believe him to be dead and gone. Now he seeks some sort of absolution by using his skills as a killer to hunt other killers. An assassin of assassins. Hendricks is no super-hero, though. With his old army buddy Lester Meyers as his ear to the electronic ground, Hendricks finds those who have become the target of assassination. Reaching them first, he offers to get to the killer first for ten times the price on the target’s head. Not a bad way to make a living, right?
It’s business as usual for Hendricks and Meyers until the moment they pop up on the radar of the Council, a sort of United Nations for the various organizations that make up the criminal underworld. The Council want Hendricks gone, and to achieve that goal, they send in Engelmann, the most sadistic bastard to set foot on American soil. Meanwhile, FBI Agent Charlie Thompson spends her time chasing shadows, knowing there is a killer who hunts killers lose in the world.
Whether it’s cringing at the depths of Engelmann’s depravity, or picking up the most subtle of character beats of the vast supporting cast that make up THE KILLING KIND, the reader can’t help but be fully invested in what befalls the players in this thriller. Holm has put fully formed people on the page…and then proceeds to do horrible things to them.
Because that is what exceptional authors do.
So, here’s to the further adventures of Michael Hendricks.
And, here’s to more novels from Chris Holm.
Dan Malmon
