I think one of my favorite parts about picking books based on narrators as much as authors is that I end up finding books that I love that remind me of other books. Gary Bennett is one of my favorite narrators, and I’ve been particularly enjoying another assassin story from him when this one popped into my radar. True Conviction, an Adrian Hell novel. The cover doesn’t give too much away and even the description/synopsis doesn’t either. But let me tell you… what a book this was.
I’m used to an author being able to pull the wool over my eyes. I go into most books like I do movies with my “movie or book goggles” on — meaning I just try and enjoy the book. I’m not looking for missing pieces or trying to figure out “who did it” within the first few pages. But, True Conviction may hold the record for the amount of times in a single book that I thought we were going left and we took a hard right. I just didn’t see anything in this book coming, and I’d bet I spent the entire end of the book with my jaw unhinged.
Adrian Hell is a likeable character. A sort of anti-hero and someone who is a pretty broken individual. His ability to stick to the “morals,” if you can say that for a hired killer. But, when he smells something funny, he has to stand up for the greater good instead of just getting in and out. That ends up biting him in the rear end in True Conviction – but what a story it was.
Overall, as you can tell, I enjoyed the heck out of this story. Bennett’s narration was PERFECT for this story. He was able to become Hell, seemingly without trying. And every scene where Adrian had to be emotional/vulnerable, I could feel it coming off of Bennett. And Sumner, I have been warned. You are on my list now. I can’t wait to see what other stories you come up with.
Perfect for those that like assassin stories with lots of twists and turns. Government cover-ups and secret organizations. And just over-the-top action (think Jason Bourne).