Going into what I believe is my 32nd book from Tom Abrahams. I have a pretty good idea as to how a book is going to play out. But, every time I think that he’s able to come in and surprise me. Now, this is unmatched to my surprise in No Good Deed – that one genuinely caught me way off guard. But it was still close. This time in smaller moments throughout the book.
I applaud Abrahams. I just read the synopsis and there are no spoilers to the other two books – it’s pretty generic to the story that you get – but he didn’t give away the big secret/reveal in book two either. So, that means I’m going to have to try to do the same.
In this book, Beck is trying to survive while figuring out how to save more people – this time it’s his friends. One in the Hand jumps back and forth between the posse that he traveled with before and his current circumstances. Each point of view was interesting since the one was of the antagonist of the story (through conversations with his captors) and the other was Beck and his new friends as they traveled to try and save his old friends (sorry for the vagueness – trying not to give anything away – though I think I still did).
Learning about Mr “Am I Right?” – aka Leo – was interesting. We learn what he did before D-Day and how he got to be where he was. We also learn of his backstory and what made him into the tyrant of a man that he is today. All of these backstories made hating him even easier. I thought Abrahams did a great job making him feel human but still making him evil enough that you wanted to bash his face, especially those white teeth, in.
There was a scene in the book that reminded me a lot of a scene from the movie The Book of Eli. I won’t go into what scene – but those who have read this book and have watched that movie will probably know what I’m talking about. It wasn’t the same but it was similar and I had the exact same feeling of unease throughout it.
I tend to go on and on about these books because I enjoy them so much, but there were a few things that hinted at where this series or story could go along with spinoffs if Abrahams wants. I know he did that a bit with The Traveler series and I wouldn’t be mad if he did it again here. There were enough characters backstories and “real” feeling people that I would like to know what makes them tick.
Overall, another phenomenal Tom Abrahams book that had me staying up way past my bedtime to finish. I think it took me 2-3 sittings to finish this book – I just had to know what was going to happen next. Oh, and the finale of this book might be one of the most satisfying endings to any Abrahams book yet. It wasn’t tied up with a pretty little bow, but for a gritty series like this – it was darn close.