RED RIGHT HAND
Chris Holm
Mulholland Books
2016
Michael Hendricks is not a good person. In fact, he is an assassin. When someone wants you dead, he’s the guy you hire to take the other guy out. But keep in mind, he doesn’t really care about you, just the paycheck. However, after an attack on the Golden Gate Bridge, he also becomes the only thing standing between the law and the streets running with innocent blood.
For years, a group known only as the Council had turned organized crime into an enterprise mirroring the most successful businesses in the world. It is no longer about fighting for turf, but finding the best ways to make money. Years earlier, one man came forward to testify against the Council. Known as the Red Right Hand, he could have single handedly taken down the organization. Until he went missing, that is.
Now, a video of a devastating terrorist attack has gone viral, exposing the hidden witness as alive. The race is on to see who can get to the Hand first, the Council or the FBI. The only man capable of finding the Hand and bringing the council to justice is Michael Hendricks. But as the plot on the bridge unravels and Hendricks edges ever closer to the Hand, the only question is whether he can stay alive.
Chris Holm
A follow up to THE KILLING KIND, this book does a marvelous job expanding the character of Michael Hendricks. This isn’t your usual cut and dried thriller with the hunter going after the bad guys. Holm crafts brilliant players to populate his criminal labyrinth that you will love, hate, and love to hate, often all at the same time.
He also doesn’t shirk away from the human implications of the attack on the Golden Gate Bridge. It isn’t just a convenient plot device to begin the story. Instead, Holm forces us to confront the devastation on a personal level in between scenes of breath taking action. The brilliance of Holm’s novel is the elemental humanity that is lost in so many thrillers. When people are killed, others are left to mourn. Where most people keep that off the page, Holm forces us to face it.
However, none of this takes away from the thrill of epic battles, the terror of gun play, and a plot with truly break neck pacing. When you open the first page, wipe your calendar for the day. Because when the bullets start flying, you will be unable to do anything but race along with Michael Hendricks to the epic finale of this masterpiece of a thriller.
-Bryan VanMeter
