Mirrigold: Mutterings & Musings

The Kite by N.R. Walker

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

This was a departure from Nic’s usually light-hearted romances and I was totally down for it!

It’s a fast-paced, adrenalin rush ride as two off the books black ops assassins end up working together to find out who’s put a bounty on their heads.

Bouncing around the Mediterranean, North African coast and into the Middle East, the narrative takes the reader from one country to another as Harry and Asher follow leads and search for clues under the direction of a mysterious man known only as Four.

Along the way they go from uneasy allies to frenemies, to friends with benefits to lovers and then to falling in love, all while dodging bullets and the two men on their tail.

For a book which has a surprisingly large number of deaths on page, it doesn’t feel particularly violent in tone, which sounds like a bit of a contradiction. But the kills aren’t drawn out, it’s a one line reference to someone being shot and nothing is graphically described on page.

Which is one of the reasons for why I knocked a half star off. For me it made Asher and Harry’s role as assassins a little bit too good and lacking some of the tension which comes from taking a life – whether that life has been spent doing evil in the world or not.

Especially when Harry finds out that his kills in the last few years haven’t been bad men at all, but people who knew too much about his handler’s dirty deals. He’s essentially killed three innocent men and yet there is no reaction to that news.

There’s always an element of having to suspend disbelief when you’re reading any kind of book that deals with special ops, black ops, behind the scenes dodgy government dealings etc, but this one didn’t go too out there and make things ridiculous.

Four’s ability to know everything and find Asher and Harry ways to escape from every corner they found themselves trapped in was a bit too easy, but it wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility.

I did think the big climax was far too easily achieved though and I would have liked just a little bit more of a confrontation and final throw down with the bad guys.

Overall though, this was an enjoyable read and I would definitely read more of Asher and Harry – if they hadn’t retired their guns and settled down to a life of domesticated bliss 😀

#ARC kindly received from the author via NetGalley in return for an honest and unbiased review

View all my reviews