The beginning of a book might be the most important part. The Recruiter starts off with a bang, as we follow Rick Carter, a recruiter who connects assassins and other in-demand specialists with well-funded criminals who have a need for specific experts. Rick is immediately shoved into action when a new client sends thugs/crooked Interpol agents to collect him and whisk him off on a private jet for a secret meeting.
Rick is resistant to this new aggressive client, because she wants him to hire assassins to eliminate a group of law-enforcers, including FBI agents. We learn that Rick has enough ethical foundation to refuse to help kill police. The new client convinces Rick to play ball in a violent fashion, and we’re off to the races.
From the beginning, our hero is a smartass with a quick tongue. This sort of banter, trying hard to be obnoxious and funny, is difficult to do. Robert Crais does it well, as did Robert B. Parker. I’ve read many writers who tried and just came off as irritating. Fortunately, Podolski does a pretty good job. Even better, he knows when to lighten up on the wisecracks. A few chapters in, we get to see more of Rick’s true nature and discover the heartbreak at the center of his life; the fact that he abandoned his family in a misguided attempt to insulate them from his dangerous life of crime.
A handful of other wonderful characters show up, including assassins named “The Ghost” and “The Persian,” as well as several other assassins who make up Rick’s stable of talent. With a couple in tow, he flies from Europe to Philadelphia when he discovers that his family is in danger.
The negativity behind Rick’s abandonment of his family, and the hole it leaves in his life threaten to sink this story in a pit of despair, but Podolski keeps us following along with hopes that Rick will somehow not only save his family, but make everything all right.
The build-up and the climax are great, full of action and suspense. But the ending is the high point of this book for me. The very ending is one of the best I’ve read in years. It provides everything I want from a denouement, especially in a series book. It gives hope, fun, mystery, and a promise of even bigger things to come in the next book.
Take home: I’m recruiting everyone to read this book. You won’t regret it. 5/5
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