This is a chaotic novel and not in an exciting bombastic way; rather a mess that feels made up on the fly. Described as a violent and unpredictable noir, the unpredictable part is the only aspect that hit the mark for me (and that’s not a good thing as you soon will see). Perhaps I have high standards as a crime/mystery thriller is one of my favorite genres to read, but the tone of the book didn’t work for me. It jockeys between trying to be a darker grisly man on the run story and a buddy cop/anti-hero slapstick comedy and doesn’t do a particularly good job in either direction. The plot is also nonsensical with things happening with no rhyme or reason and it has a habit of throwing in random flashbacks that derail whatever story is happening in the present instead of seamlessly transitioning back and forth with context. After the first 100 pages or so I stopped reading this as a mystery/crime investigation and as a “what ridiculous things from left field are they going to throw at the wall next”. How a soldier’s training allows a retired veteran to kill someone by impaling them with a…
