Book Review: The Hitman and the Thief, Richard Dee
Science Fiction/Thriller: The Hitman and the Thief, Richard Dee
Blog Tour September 7, 2020
Dan Jones is, to be blunt, a hitman. A fixer of problems. Often a remover of problems. Gang boss Fliss Bauer relies on him to take care of problem people for her. He does so with ruthless efficiency.
Rival boss Kalindra Dallin is seeking to move in on Fliss’ territory. Or more accurately, her planet. Fliss and Kalindra control different planets, but Kalindra is looking to go beyond her polluted industrial homeworld and find somewhere nicer to control. Fliss absolutely does not want Kalindra to take over her planet. Kalindra has already made her way onto Fliss’ homeworld, preparing to make her move. So Fliss calls Dan Jones.
Dan goes to kill Kalindra, but a number of things go sideways, beginning with a thief in the wrong place at the wrong time. Thinking quickly, the thief helps Dan escape from Kalindra’s forces and Kalindra flees the planet and returns home. Dan’s failure and the thief’s accidental interference enrage Fliss, who gives them one chance to make things right: team up, go to Kalindra’s planet, and kill her there.
The Hitman and the Thief is a thriller cloaked in a sci fi robe. The two travel across the galaxy to fulfill their mission, facing multiple threats and surprises from expected and unexpected sources. The mission has a slim to none chance of succeeding, and even a worse chance of them escaping with their lives. Author Richard Dee has given us a fun romp across a series of worlds and environments that require him to effectively build multiple planetary and shipboard cultures. It is creative and involved. Dee is a very solid world builder and the two move into the differing environments facing new and different challenges in each one.
Dan Jones is an effective protagonist. His character evolves through the book. It is easy to become very sympathetic toward him, which I’ll admit is not always my first inclination toward a hitman. Still, by the end of the book, I felt a degree of fondness for him that was definitely not there at the beginning.
Although this would probably get shelved among the science fiction books in your local store, it really is a thriller set in an interplanetary environment. For those like me who enjoy both of those genres, this book is an enjoyable way to spend a day or two.
Our thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources who gave us our copy of this book in exchange for our participation in this blog tour. For other opinions on The Hitman and the Thief check out the other bloggers on this tour. The opinions here are solely those of Scintilla.
Book Review: The Hitman and the Thief, Richard Dee
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