Hero by Thomas Perry ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

A private security agent finds that being branded as the City of Angels’ latest hero could also make her its next victim.…

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

January 2024; Mysterious Press; 978-1613164778
audio, ebook, print (336 pages); suspense

I haven't read any of Thomas Perry's books. The premise for Hero sounded like it would be a great suspense novel. Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed with the execution of the story. 

I seriously thought about not finishing it but I hate to do that so I powered through. It did improve towards the end. I liked the introduction of Joe and the action picked up.

The pacing is probably the biggest problem with the book. It felt like it was a debut novel instead of being from an author who has 70 or so novels under his belt. There was a lot of telling in the beginning when the information could have been have been shown a little later in the novel. Plus information that I think the reader needed to know earlier was withheld. So for quite a while, I was confused as to why anyone felt the bodyguard was in so much danger.

The two antagonists in the novel were more caricatures than realistic. For how "elite" they were considered, they felt like amateurs. At times it felt like they were kids pretending to be big baddies.

Plot devices were obvious - it was clear they were just there to move the plot forward but without really feeling natural to the flow of the story.

I wasn't sure about Justine in the beginning but she grew on me. And as I said, I like Joe even if he was a pretty minor character.

The plot was wrapped up but it could be extended into a sequel as there were some unresolved issues in Justine's life.

I wouldn't mind checking in with Justine and Joe in another novel, but the writing would need to be much improved in order for me to truly enjoy it.

I checked a few of the other reviews on Goodreads to see if I was missing something with this novel and there were several others that felt like the novel was off and not up to the standard they had come to know from Thomas Perry.

Buy Hero at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour. 

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