LAST SHOT (Pub. 2006) by Gregg Hurwitz is the author's seventh novel, and the fourth in Hurwitz's Tim Rackley series. I stumbled across this author whLAST SHOT (Pub. 2006) by Gregg Hurwitz is the author's seventh novel, and the fourth in Hurwitz's Tim Rackley series. I stumbled across this author while perusing the library shelves a couple months ago, and he immediately shot to the top of my favorite-authors list. You know you've found reading gold when you scramble to get every book written by the author, no matter the cost or the hassle. I've blazed through almost the entire 20-book oeuvre, and thoroughly enjoyed every story, but LAST SHOT is possibly my favorite Hurwitz book, and that's saying a lot.
Hurwitz has a magical way of weaving several plot twists and believable character issues into the main story that give all his books many layers. It's impossible to call any of them cookie-cutter thrillers.
This story has everything a thriller reader wants - it starts off with a unique and intriguing bang, and keeps blazing away until the very last page, with the stakes steadily climbing at a relentless pace that kept me turning pages as fast as I could. Multiple story lines running at just the right level, with a strong and believable base plot backed up by great dialogue and fantastic writing that doesn't try to impress, but manages to do so any way. You can't help but marvel a bit at how well this author spins a tale without trying too hard. Hurwitz hits all the right notes all the way down the line. But what makes this one really stand out are the incredibly well-drawn characters that suck you into their lives in a subtle, yet irresistible way. And the brilliant characterization is capped off by a surprising twist on what's supposed to be the bad guy--a man who, at the end of the day, is really a good guy that made some bad decisions along the way. It brings a very interesting slant to the story, and makes this thriller far and above the usual fare.
The protagonist, Tim Rackley, is a Federal Marshall brought in to hunt down a felon who's escaped from a maximum security prison, in what turns out to be a masterfully well-executed plan. The first thing Rack must figure out is why the man would escape when he had only a year left on his five year sentence? And it turns out Walker Jameson is not your average convict - he's a decorated former elite soldier / sniper, with several tours of duty in the Mideast under his belt before the government found a way to kick him out on a dishonorable discharge. Rack quickly realizes he's met his match in Walker Jameson, and it will take everything he's got to bring the man in without getting killed or worse. But what Rack doesn't know until the train's already left the station is, Walker escaped prison to seek revenge on behalf of his sister, and the man wastes not one minute of his hard-won temporary freedom. The blood-letting starts on his first night out, and continues until every man involved in his sister's murder is dead - dead in a big, ugly, public kind of way.
LAST SHOT has such poignancy, real heart-pulling stuff--even while the thrills keep rolling--I have no doubt it will linger in my mind for days. ...more
THE SURVIVOR (Pub. 2012) by Gregg Hurwitz is a fantastic read. It starts off with an unexpected twisted-up bang within the first few pages, sucks you THE SURVIVOR (Pub. 2012) by Gregg Hurwitz is a fantastic read. It starts off with an unexpected twisted-up bang within the first few pages, sucks you right in and keeps blazing away to the last page. This book is almost impossible to put down, and I finished it in less than two days. If you love stand-alone thrillers that pull on your emotions while biting your nails sitting on the edge of your seat, you will love Gregg Hurwitz's novels.
The story is centered around Nate Overbay, a former soldier who served in the Mideast, and returns home with a rough case of PTSD, coupled with crippling guilt born from watching a good buddy die in his place. That info comes in a succinct quick-zip of backstory woven around the opening scene taking place in present time. Nate's been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) on the heels of losing his beloved wife and daughter to an impending divorce, which is the last straw for our soon-to-be hero. He heads up to the eleventh floor of a bank building, and climbs out on a ledge planning to jump. But fate has its own plans, when behind Nate's back, vicious thieves start shooting innocent bank tellers then turn their guns on a little four-yr old girl. Nate climbs back in the window and shows them what a real man is made of.
But Nate's heroic efforts quickly unleash a huge ball of trouble for him and his family because the bank heist was perpetrated by a Russian mafia head, all for the sake of breaking into a safe deposit box. The box's contents set off a whole chain of cataclysmic events.
Hurwitz makes us quickly care about Nate, and cheer him on throughout the story, hoping all the while that things will end well for him. And very badly for the scarily believable villains. We get a small squirt of romance, a few chuckles along the way, a quasi murder mystery, a scoop of detective work, all woven around the absolutely thrilling main plot line. All the characters are well drawn, but the spotlight stays firmly on Nate, and I greatly admire Hurwitz's skills in pulling off that dual edged sword so well.
This is the second Hurwitz novel I've read, and between the two, I'm completely impressed with this author. The writing is top-notch, the stories are multi layered with just the right amount of description and character building without once tripping up the relentless pace or deviating too far from the thriller vibe. Hurwitz has easily vaulted onto my Top 5 favorite authors list, and I'm thrilled to know there are a dozen more of his books on the shelf. I can't wait to read the next one....more
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