Tag: A Wanted Man

A Wanted Man by Rob Parker: Meet Ben Bracken

A Wanted Man

A Wanted Man

by Rob Parker
Series: Ben Braken, #1

Kindle Edition, 206 pg.
Lume Books, 2017

Read: May 6-8, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

Jack’s father goes missing but turns up dead in a warehouse at Manchester Airport. Shot. Who has access to firearms here in the UK? Farmers, the police, and organised crime. I can’t picture an angry pig farmer losing his shit and heading to Manchester Airport to clip someone. Nor can I especially imagine a police officer doing the same thing, although stranger things have happened. And that leaves the last one. Organised crime.

What’s A Wanted Man About?

Ben Bracken was sent to prison not that long ago, but just walked out a free man—although he wasn’t actually released (nor was he scheduled to be). He has some “insurance” to keep him from having to go back and had a little cash set aside for when he was out of prison.

His plan is to get his cash, secure his insurance policy and head off to London to get revenge on the man who got him sent to prison. But before he can do that, his friend Jack has a problem. Jack’s father was just murdered and he doesn’t see the police—or his father’s criminal associates—doing that much to find the killer. Would Ben help? Sure—especially because Jack’s also in danger as long as the killer is out there.

Before Ben can enjoy his first beer in years, he’s set on a path that will lead him to going up against two crime syndicates, and decades of history, just to get Jack both the answers and safety he needs.

A Little About Ben

But… I feel a nagging. That familiar tug of duty. I carry it everywhere with me even now, bound by it, cajoled by my gratitude to Jack…

My problem is compounded by my brittle, unique moral compass. My idea of good and bad is very black and white, with great streaks of grey smeared straight across the borders between the two– the zone in which I have been known to take matters into my own hands. Those grey areas demand I owe Jack some assistance, even if it is outside of my self-imposed remit.

Ben Bracken is yet another soldier who’s having a hard time adjusting to society after years of active duty (see also Jack Reacher, Peter Ash, John Rambo, and a couple of other characters whose names slipped my mind as I got to this point), but his sense of duty kept him trying to do good. His early attempts were less than successful, landing him in prison. Now that he’s released, he’s going to resume his quest (you can practically see him sporting Joe Pike’s tattoos—as well as living them out). Sure, he had another initial target in mind, but Jack’s situation fit his mission, so he’s able to delay his own plan and help Jack out.

But basically, you get the idea that he’s going to be another of the modern wandering samurai hero—like Reacher and Ash—just with a different kind of baggage. Namely, being an escaped prisoner in a country where the kind of weapons Reacher and Ash seem to have a steady supply of aren’t that readily available. It’s a fresh version of that character type, and I’m more than interested.

There’s more than just his criminal past to separate him from the typical wandering warrior. He’s not a technophobe, actually, he’s fairly capable when it comes to the basics of technology (once someone explains what Siri is and how to use it), but he’s not a whiz. He has a sense of humor, but he’s not cracking jokes all the time—and to say that he has issues with women is understating it, but he’ll likely move on from those.

I was pretty much sold on Ben early on, and was invested in the story—but at one point, we get this line:

I whistle a little (surprised to find my ‘go to’ whistling tune is Somewhere Over The Rainbow), and drop my pocket change noisily onto the dresser.

and I knew I liked Ben, and was probably going to be buying a few more books.

Parker’s Writing

The actual writing involved in a book is something I always think about, always take into consideration when rating a book—but it’s the thing I have the hardest part discussing. Something about Parker’s work here made me want to try it.

There’s a lot of this book that comes across as a pretty standard indie thriller. That’s not a judgment, it’s just a description. In many indie thrillers, there are repeated sections that make me wince (including novels that I like). A Wanted Man has none of those—quite the opposite, he has several sections that are just wonderful.

He can sum up a character in a few words—

The curious obsessive-compulsive aspect of this guy, which, twinned with the seemingly bottomless battery of his energy, gives his personality an almost pathological slant.

His precise, measured way of speaking seems pulled from the pages of a book, exactly how you’d picture someone of his generation learning a foreign language.

I had a few more examples in my notes, but this post is getting too long.

His ability to capture a scene or a room is even better:

I leave the motorway networks as the daylight fades and trundle through the bleak stone township of Glossop, as wild hills begin to sprout out either side of the settlement. I know where I am going, and follow the ‘V’ in the horizon where two hills meet and a road carves through: Snake Pass. Suddenly, the buildings and pavements disappear, and I’m out in the open, rolling through a picture-book patchwork of varying landscapes: undulating rugged grasslands, steep canyon drop-offs, vast forests of tall firs, and a softly lapping reservoir. You could be lost out here, but still feel in touch with the gods. It’s Lord of the Rings country, Tolkien’s inspiration. It’s Britain at its most beautiful, most powerful, most respectful.

Ben and Jack visit a floating restaurant and I could almost think I’d been there.

Sure, some of his descriptions are a bit much—I didn’t need that much detail about one man’s behavior at a urinal. No one does. But thankfully, those are few and far between (but, sure, I have a crystal clear vision of what happened there).

One more example of how good Parker can be, and then I’ll move on. At one point, Bracken visits the house he grew up in. I read the two paragraphs as he left a few times, they were just that good (and hopefully out of context you can tell that)

I walk down the path to the scuffed, mucky pavement. The gum on the concrete beneath my shoes, some of it is undoubtedly mine. My DNA lies at my feet, inseparable from my town, my past. That DNA is now the only evidence I was ever here. Thirty years of love, life, family– all reduced to a dirty bit of gum on an old pavement.

This will steel me. Toughen me. It has to. Because this would, could, should break a lesser man.

So, What Did I Think About A Wanted Man?

There’s a very “pilot episode” feel to this one—the focus is on introducing Ben Bracken, his world, his situation, and his mission. The actual story seems of secondary importance. Maybe I’m being too harsh—I likely am, but that was the impression I got.

The Epilogue shows that this isn’t just going to be a series about Ben’s quest for vengeance—there’s something else going on. Now Ben just out to get revenge on the man who sent him to prison would probably be worth sticking around to watch. But Ben doing that and the stuff from the Epilogue? Now, that’s a winning combination.

Do I recommend this? Absolutely. A great character, a compelling direction for the series, and some strong writing make up for a story that seems pretty boilerplate (but a good boilerplate, don’t get me wrong). I’m coming back for more soon, and can see these books becoming a favorite.


3.5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

The Friday 56 for 5/7/21: A Wanted Man by Rob Parker

The Friday 56This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
The Friday 56 Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
The Friday 56 Find a snippet, short and sweet.
The Friday 56 Post it

from 56% of:
A Wanted Man

A Wanted Man by Rob Parker

We go through all the names quickly, and Jack identifies each one as one of his father’s friends or family members. He can’t identify a couple of them, but the picture is already clear. The first phone is for personal use only – a useful tool for organising the dualities of the life he had chosen.

That poses the inevitable question of the twenty-six names on phone two. Call signs or numeric pseudonyms for twenty-six people who clearly got the special treatment. How best to find out who they are, though? And of course, what was that third phone used for, if not for business or personal? That makes me question if there’s a fourth, that perhaps he had one with him when he was taken. I could ask Jack, but all three phones are identical. ‘IPhone 4S’ in black, ‘32GB’ it says on the back of each. There’s no telling them apart. Even the home screen wallpapers are the same.

A Wanted Man by Lee Child

A Wanted Man (Jack Reacher, #17)A Wanted Man

by Lee Child
Series: Jack Reacher, #17

Hardcover, 405 pg.
Delacorte Press, 2012
Read: Dec. 16-17, 2013

Despite the fact that I’d written 2 paragraphs of this while reading it, I had a really hard time coming up with something to say here. This is about the most reliable series I know — how do you say something new and/or interesting about Old Faithful? Every 60-110 minutes it goes off, you can count on it. Every year or so, Lee Child let’s Jack Reacher go off. This is not a problem at all for the reader — far from it — but it’s a pain in the rear if you’re trying to write about it.

The greatest strength of this series is how different each novel/adventure is, totally unlike the rest — and yet each is quintessentially Reacher. There’s an unmistakable feel to reading about everyone’s favorite nomadic ex-MP.

This time out, Reacher’s still hitchhiking his way to Virginia — the same trip he started shortly after 61 Hours, and is picked up by two men and a woman on their way back from a corporate retreat (he assumes). He starts to notice a few things not quite right about the way they’re acting, but on page 33 he says, “Not my problem.” Which pretty much guarantees we’ll be spending the next 400 pages dealing with these people.

So what makes this one different from all the rest? It’s the twistiest, turniest Reacher in ages (if not ever). Like any good suspense writer, Child specializes in throwing a good curveball or five at you in the course of a novel — but (again, this is common with the best) usually you can look back at what’s come before and see where that plot twist came from. But there were a couple of turns in this one that took me totally by surprise. Not that Child cheated at all, or used a Deus ex machina, or the like. Just honest, out of the blue, surprises. I would’ve enjoyed the novel without those touches, but having them was a pleasant bonus.

I’m really looking forward to this next adventure — Reacher’s worked harder to get to Virginia this time than we’ve seen him before. He’s had a goal longer than we’re used to. I expect a humdinger of a read next time — and who knows?* Maybe it’ll be worth more than just one.

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* who knew? Actually got to use the word “humdinger.”

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4 1/2 Stars

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