{"id":2230,"date":"2017-04-27T15:06:29","date_gmt":"2017-04-27T22:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=2230"},"modified":"2017-04-27T15:06:29","modified_gmt":"2017-04-27T22:06:29","slug":"steve-hamilton-exit-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/steve-hamilton-exit-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Hamilton: Exit Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Steve Hamilton\u2019s\u00a0Exit Strategy<\/em>, the second book in his Nick Mason series, begins with the kind of slam-bang bravura action sequence that we\u2019ve come to expect before the credits in a James Bond or Bourne movie. Nick must infiltrate a heavily guarded eighty-two-story building, elude or incapacitate at least a dozen Federal Marshals, eliminate a prospective witness and then escape before the big explosion. Adding to the degree of difficulty is Nick\u2019s reluctance to kill innocent people.<\/p>\n

Exit Strategy<\/em>\u00a0is built around several expertly dramatized set pieces like this, where Nick must rub out targets who are heavily guarded by professionals on high alert.\u00a0 Action sequences may seem basic, but their actual execution takes a very adroit hand to delineate who is doing what to whom. You have only to read a bad thriller or watch a bad action movie (no names please) to see that pacing, sure description and accuracy are crucial, and the lack of them excruciating.<\/p>\n

But what\u00a0Exit Strategy<\/em>\u00a0has that many otherwise fine thrillers lack is the human element. Human beings aren\u2019t actually killing machines, and there\u2019s always a cost to violence, the effect of which is charted in superior crime fiction. As Nick reflects:<\/p>\n

You kill one person, it changes you. You kill five\u2026 it\u2019s not about changing anymore. It\u2019s who you are.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Becoming \u201cThe Angel of Death\u201d makes you necessarily less of a man, with the result threatening the human connections that surround us all. This interior drama is expertly painted as well, with the character and motivations of even the most despicable characters clear and credible.<\/p>\n

Obviously, Hamilton walks a fine line in this series. Nick may be a reluctant hitman in the same way that Steve\u2019s other series character, the beloved Alex McKnight, is a reluctant private eye, but he\u2019s a hitman all the same. \u00a0He isn\u2019t doing these things for money or pathology or even truth, justice and the American way, but because he\u2019s been forced into it by kingpin crime boss Darius Cole. Cole fixed it so that Nick was released early from prison, mobile but not free, and keeps him in line by threatening his family, particularly beloved daughter Adrian.<\/p>\n

Ultimately it\u2019s his paternal desire to see her grow up (usually from a distance) that\u2019s his motivation to pursue an unholy trade. As the book continues he\u2019s also motivated to seek revenge on taskmaster Cole and somehow forge the titular \u201cexit strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Noir is deep in this one, as the corrupt authority figures seem to outnumber the honest ones, and the police, feds and even the Army seem essentially powerless in the face of evil. And just when it seems like Nick might find his way out of his maze, there\u2019s another turning that may leave him as trapped as before. In the hands of a lesser writer it all might get too grim, but from the gifted Steve Hamilton\u00a0Exit Strategy <\/em>is crime fiction of the highest quality.\u00a0(Jamie)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steve Hamilton\u2019s\u00a0Exit Strategy, the second book in his Nick Mason series, begins with the kind of slam-bang bravura action sequence that we\u2019ve come to expect before the credits in a James Bond or Bourne movie. Nick must infiltrate a heavily guarded eighty-two-story building, elude or incapacitate at least a dozen Federal Marshals, eliminate a prospective … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-2230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-suspensethriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2230"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2232,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230\/revisions\/2232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}