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Lethal People (2009)

by John Locke(Favorite Author)

3.77 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1440151717 (ISBN13: 9781440151712)

languge

English

genre

Mystery & Thriller

publisher

iUniverse.com

series

Donovan Creed

review 1: “Lethal People” is the first book of eleven currently in the Donovan Creed series by John Locke. In this novel we are introduced to the character of Donovan Creed, an ex-CIA assassin, an ex-husband, a nearly ex-father, a current guinea pig for a government agency testing torture devices, a current hit-man-for-hire, and a currently lonely man. He is also a hilariously snide psychopath, but, then, no one’s perfect.Others have called this work a spoof or a parody. I agree that there are elements in the plot line that seem outrageous on the surface – the deformed giant that is Augustus Quinn, the army of little people led by the quadriplegic Victor, and the omnipotent federal agency director called Darwin. But beneath the surface of these stereotypes is a sense of real... moreity. None of these characters come off as stupid or ignorant or pitiful, let alone as Saturday Night Live caricatures. Donovan, Augustus and Victor are genetic anomalies who have taken the hand they were dealt and used it not only to survive, but to flourish. And Darwin, along with Donovan’s support team, are trying their best to keep everyone alive and on point.John Locke has created a character that is a professional assassin. These types of characters are not usually portrayed as the best of persons and are not generally written as the main protagonists. But Donovan is self-aware. He does not apologize for what he is and he is not a mad man with a driving need to maim and destroy.There are two quotes from the novel that support the assassin-with-a-moral-compass character that Locke has invented. These quotes knock the hilarious spoof theory right out of the water and go a long way to explain the rationale that military and government counter-terrorists use in their jobs.The first is early in the novel and Donovan states to a person who has contracted his services: “We who kill people for a living avoid making personal judgments about our targets…I’m not her attorney. Not her judge. Not her jury. I’m not being paid to determine her innocence. I’m being paid to render justice…all I need to know is that someone, somewhere has found (her) guilty of something and sentenced her to death. My job is to carry out the execution.”The second quote is from an internal monologue by Donovan as he contemplates the disaster he currently feels is his personal life: “I attribute the bad times to the crazy hours I kept, the high stress component of my job… the void in my chest where a heart would normally be located…and the depression I suffered when the opportunity to kill people for the CIA ended so abruptly….I just wanted to get to a place where Janet might be able to find it within her power to have some decent things to say about me to our daughter.”Locke gives us a truly different version of the “flawed” protagonist and he also gives us a supporting cast of flawed, but unique, souls. And the two Mafia dons are no slouches either. So is the book funny at times? Oh, yeah, some of the dialogue is absolutely hilarious. But, don’t for one minute think that this is a comedy. It is gritty, coarse, graphic and violent. And it is a serious, action-packed thriller.
review 2: A few of my GR friends highly rated this novel. Unfortunately, I can't say the same. I didn't like this book mainly because of this protagonist's attitude towards murdering other people. When I read assassin thrillers I don't expect the protagonist get depressed and mourn over each victim. But I like him to at least partially value human life. Because even a prostitute's life is still a human life. Call me a prude or a hopeless romantic, I don't care.Take for example Barry Eisler's John Rain. He kills for money but he chooses his targets and doesn't take killing lightly. Whereas here Donovan Creed kills the woman and then in 5 minutes jokes about her death and now killing some hookers. As if he just swatted a fly. No regret, no remorse, no compunction. At least show some respect, you just ended a human life. And his general approach toward killing: you pay me and I'll kill whomever needs killing, no questions asked and I don't give a damn why. I like protagonists in my books to have at least some morals. Such examples like Mitch Rapp, John Rain, Jason Bourne, Court Gentry are more to my taste. Otherwise, a book has no meaning for me, is hollow and a waste of time. less

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