Rate this book

The Assassin Trilogy The Silver Bear / Columbus / Dark Men (2000)

by Derek Haas(Favorite Author)

4.1 of 5 Votes: 3

languge

English

genre

review 1: I enjoyed reading this book. Fast paced and there aren't too many characters. Some great twists to the story. I would recommend reading the entire series.This is an experience of reading a hitman's thoughts, feelings and experiences. Would he have it any other way? This is not your typical good-guy wins at the end but it was a really a good read. In this series, you would want Columbus to win. :]
review 2: I tend to shy away from these types of novels because in my experience they always stray too far from reality to allow me to continue to immerse myself into the fiction. This may be an occupational hazard of being a police officer, but having said that, let me review this book from a police officer's point of view.I was absolutely engrossed for the entire fir... morest book of the trilogy. It's been quite a while since I've read a novel that had me thinking about it even when I was doing other things. Why was it engrossing? Because Haas finds the perfect balance of letting you into the mind of a professional hitman without being overly wordy. There is no fat to trim here, just fun fiction at a good pace that never becomes a slog to get through.The way he goes into detail about the details is what set this apart from other action novels. He explains the assassin's routine of stalking his mark, making note of every detail about the mark's life, whether it seem irrelevant at the time or not, and most importantly WHY the assassin does these things (so he can get away with it without getting caught), then lets it all unfold, sometimes as planned and sometimes with monkey wrenches thrown into the plan.My worst fear after reading the first novel was that the series would lose some steam, and it does. But if you're honest with yourself most good series' start out with an awesome first punch and then lose a little momentum as they go, so I'm hesitant to punish the author for this, only the very very best authors can maintain that momentum or gain even more as they go.But if I had any complaints about the direction the series began to head it was (spoiler alert) the way this hard assassin breaks his own rules to pursue a love interest. I really don't find fault in that itself, it just shows that the protagonist, albeit a hitman, is still human and still has human needs. That's fine. But towards the end of the 3rd novel this new Columbus becomes a little less interesting as he starts to soften up and allow a woman into his life.Then things start to spiral downward even more as he begins to try to mold his new woman into an assassin herself despite the fact that she has never had any weapons training, no experience in that lifestyle at all. He tries to pass this off because she's a "natural" but even a natural would have a ton of growing pains acclimating themselves into this role. She also seemingly has very little problem acclimating her conscience to accept the fact that Columbus kills people for a living. I think very few people, even if madly in love with someone, would so easily accept that they are a killer and just "roll with it." And sadly the final sentence of the trilogy (again spoiler alert) shows that Risina (his woman) is pregnant. Assassins are not as interesting as family men, they're just not. That's why Dexter lost a lot of steam as the TV show reached it's final few seasons, so I hope that Haas does not fall prey to that same pitfall as he continues this series.My last complaint is that the author refers to gun magazines as "clips." They're not clips, they're magazines. Not a huge deal because the rest of the story is actually pretty believable, but every time that word "clip" would come up it would get under my skin.All in all, these were some very solid books. The way Columbus allowed himself to love a woman and then recruit her into the lifestyle is what kept me from giving this series a 5 star review, but like I said, that's a minor quibble for what is otherwise an outstanding trilogy. Derek Haas knows how to tell a story and keep it interesting from start to finish and I can't wait to see what he has planned next. less

Download links for: The Assassin Trilogy The Silver Bear / Columbus / Dark Men

Advertising