Monday, March 20, 2017

The Soak -- Patrick E. McLean

Hobb is sixty and maybe past his prime in the "heavy heist" game.  When the book opens, he is coming out of a coma in a rest home.  He has some barely healed bullet wounds and has been beaten to a pulp and left behind a trash bin.  We don't know what's happened, but we do know he wants out of the rest home.  And then we find out that he's a stone killer.

He escapes the rest home and goes on the run.  Pursuing him are the cops and a rogue FBI agent.  You might think, "Gee, not another rogue FBI agent."  Well, trust me, you've never met a rogue FBI agent like this one.

Part Two of the book is the flashback section in which we find out what happens.  A computer-savvy kid finds Hobbs and proposes the biggest armored car heist in U.S. history.  I'm not going to spoil the fun by going any further into the plot than that, but you know the drill: Things don't always go as planned.

The Soak is as hard-boiled as they come.  Anyone can die at any time.  The pacing never lets up.  The prose is terse and sharp.   There are no good guys, although you'll find yourself rooting for Hobbs.  This is a good one.  Check it out.

2 comments:

Jeff Meyerson said...

Sounds great!

TracyK said...

This does sound very good. I will be looking for it when it comes out in paperback.