The Hangman
Will Patching
Published 2018
259 pages
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This is the third book in a trilogy about former CIA assassin turned vigilante Doug Hunter, and the London-based tabloid journalist that he falls in love with, Kate O’Sullivan. While each story stands alone, I recommend reading them in order, as while there is enough background about the previous two books, The Hack and The Hunter, the characters’ actions will make more sense if you know what happened before. These are gripping fast paced action thrillers, featuring some truly evil villains and a high body count. I’ll try and avoid spoilers for those who haven’t read the first two.
Following their recent adventures in Thailand, Kate has returned to London, while Hunter is on a secret mission with his new colleague Jemma, aiming to intercept a prisoner handover in the Middle East. Eric King, the thuggish head of a private security company, has plans to trigger a profitable international conflict by providing “evidence” of state-sponsored terrorist atrocities, in collusion with power hungry politicians and ambitious members of the CIA and MI5 – and they are prepared to kill anyone who gets in their way. Can Hunter survive long enough to return to the woman he loves?
Sometimes you discover a new author, love the first one, and then are always ever so slightly disappointed by the follow-ups that don’t deliver quite the same rush… This was an exciting conspiracy-filled page-turner, but knowing from the start who the bad guys are and roughly what they’re up to took the suspense down a notch for me. I found the premise scarily believable – this was published in 2018, and it certainly makes you wonder about some of the major terrorist attacks of the last decade. This author has shown he’s not afraid to bump off sympathetic major characters, as well as killing and maiming large numbers of innocents – the book is violent and moderately gory, although not gratuitously so.
The only real weakness of the book (and the trilogy as a whole) is the romance between the two leads, neither of whom is likeable – he’s cold and callous, she’s vain and stupid, and they both confuse lust and hormones for love – they barely know each other, and are kept apart for basically the whole book, so I was unconvinced if not surprised by the ending. It’s labelled as a trilogy, but not all plot arcs are wrapped up, so while that’s the last I expect to see of this duo, it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the minor characters reappear in other books – or at least I hope they do, even if only so the rest of the baddies can be dealt with. I’ll certainly be reading more of Patching’s work and recommend the trilogy to fans of dark conspiracy thrillers.
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