Happy Reading

Toni's bookshelf: read

The Godfather of Kathmandu (Sonchai Jitpleecheep, #4)
Ape House
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
Operation Napoleon
Walking Dead
The Sentimentalists
The Heretic Queen
The Midnight House
Cross Fire
Peony in Love
Absurdistan
Nefertiti
Finding Nouf: A Novel
City of Veils: A Novel
First Daughter
A Place of Hiding
Amagansett
Peter Pan


Toni Osborne's favorite books »
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Saturday, April 5, 2014

"Gray Justice", by Alan McDermott

Book 1, in the Tom Gray series

This is a fast-paced, action packed thriller with lots gun battles, explosions and inevitably lots of death. “Gray Justice” is one of those books hard to break away from while reading.

The story unfolds as Tom Gray, a military veteran and proprietor of a security industry loses his only child at the hands of a car thief who is a repeat offender. Consequently unable to cope with the death, his wife took her own life. Tom’s world now chattered after losing everything he loved so deeply decides to teach the justice system a lesson….The drama tells what happens when his son’s killer goes free and the ways he takes to appease his mind. His crusade attracts instant worldwide media attention….and as readers we are in the middle of a rollercoaster ride….

This story is far more than a tale of revenge and your typical good-guy wins and bad guy loses mystery. While reading I couldn't help but to question the justice system, one that gives community service to repeat offenders or simply let them go. This book is tough with occasional swear words and some of the scenes are quite violent. Told in the third person viewpoint was a brilliant choice by letting the reader be part in the drama and guessing the outcome. Well I wasn't very good at it and missed more often than I would have liked…than again isn't it what a great thriller supposed to do, “Gray Justice” did not miss a beat and did that beautifully. In thrillers it is usually easy to suspect what the ending is going to be, impossible with this one….

The main plot is strong with no excess details and is much focussed on its theme. There is also the mandatory sub-plot where a real terrorist organisation takes an active role in the drama. This is so similar to reading a season of 24, unbelievably action packed…

Cool, calm and calculated may describe the protagonist, a bit of a credibility stretch found here but again what is a thriller without characters out of the ordinary, we love James Bond after all why not Tom Gray….

Mr. McDermott debut thriller is a real page turner superbly written to fuel our interest in the subsequent additions….Well-done.

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