"The Assassin", by Jay Deb

This is Jay Deb second thriller “Contrived” being the first. I received this book some time ago and luckily I had put it aside to read some others I had in backlog. This was a good move. Apparently, the first edition was riddled with errors and needless to say annoyed more than one reader. A later revision was issued to correct what reviewers had noticed and this is the version I read and I hardly noticed any of the slipping mistakes, if any at all.

With this cleared up. “The Assassin” is a real page turner and I am impressed how this author has grown since his first attempt. The style is still a bit chaotic and the dialogue too sophomoric and needs to mature subsequently. Not knowing anything about the CIA’s world I was easily drawn into the fast paced and gripping suspense and there is a lot of it. The characterization is varied and we have a very riveting lead man. The plot is good but is the run of the mill storyline with many gaps for us to fill and few flowery details to trip over.

Overall this novel is entertaining and is a thrill for anyone who enjoys fictionalized stories around of CIA and its operatives those hunting terrorists planning attacks in order to kill as many US citizens as possible.