Book Review: A Wanted Man by Robert Parker
Media Type: Ebook ARC
Title: A Wanted Man
Author: Robert Parker
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Pages: Hardcover; 307
Release Date: May 14, 2017
Source: Author/PUYB
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Genre: Crime Thriller
HDB Rating: 3 Keys to My Heart
Recommended to: Readers who enjoy a good who done it with some violence.
It’s down to fathers and fatherhood.
Ben Bracken, ex-soldier, has just got out of Strangeways.
Not by the front door.
With him, he has his ‘insurance policy’ – a bag of evidence that will guarantee his freedom, provided he can keep it safe – and he has money, carefully looked after by a friend, Jack Brooker.
Rejected by the army, disowned by his father, and any hopes of parenthood long since shattered, Ben has no anchors in his life.
No one to keep him steady.
No one to stop his cause…
The plan: to wreak justice on the man who had put him in prison in the first place.
Terry ‘The Turn-Up’ Masters, a nasty piece of work, whose crime organisation is based in London.
But before Ben can get started on his mission, another matter is brought to his attention: Jack’s father has been murdered and he will not rest until the killers are found.
Suddenly, Ben finds himself drawn in to helping Jack in his quest for revenge.
In the process, he descends into the fold of Manchester’s most notorious crime organisation – the Berg – the very people he wants to bring down…
This action-packed and fast-paced story will keep you turning the pages. Manchester is vividly portrayed as Ben races around the city seeking vengeance.
Truth be told, this book was a bit jumbled at first. We jump right into Ben’s life and there’s very little explanation. I would have preferred a little introduction but we do get a bit of history and context as the book progresses. Needless to say, there is some graphic violence discussed, so be wary of that.
By the middle of the book I was really enjoying it. I did figure out one of the plot twists pretty early on, but that didn’t particularly deter from the story. There was, in my humble opinion, a bit too much discussion of the various settings Ben encounters. While I do enjoy knowing the world the characters are experiencing (especially since I’ve never been there), there was just a lot of unnecessary inclusions that made the story drag a bit at times.
However, I really enjoyed Ben as a character and the ending was an interesting outcome. Ben is a vigilante and lives by his own set of rules, which aren’t clear at the beginning of the story. I found myself waiting to see what his next move might be, and I was consistently surprised. I’m definitely interested to read his next adventure.
