Book Review: "Lethal People" by John Locke

I've found a new crime anti-hero to worship—Donovan Creed, the protagonist in a series written by John Locke. I absolutely flew through the first book, Lethal People, in little more than a day, and found the characters to be interesting yet quirky, and the action virtually nonstop. As I've said after I've read other tremendously satisfying crime novels, I don't know why Hollywood keeps making movie adaptations of television shows, comic books and fairytales, or remaking classic movies, when there are some tremendous books that would make great films. Like this one, for example.

Donovan Creed is an ex-CIA assassin who still works as a hit man. He spends his days straddling both sides of the law—he's employed by several different Mob figures (sometimes playing one against another), and in his spare time, he tests weapons for the federal government. On himself. But Creed is sensitive, too; when he finds out his ex-wife is engaged to a man who brutally abused his previous wife, he uses his brains (and a little brawn) to protect her without running the man out of town. When he visits a children's burn ward and finds himself drawn to a severely burned young girl, his investigation into the fire that killed her family nets him a lady friend and a whole lot of danger. And then throw in bombs, hijacked spy satellites, a dreadlocked paraplegic who is a criminal mastermind, a social murder experiment and circus midgets (seriously), and you have a book that is both gripping and entertaining.

I read a lot of crime novels and mysteries, so I look for books that compel me to turn the pages with action, plot and character development. Lethal People has no shortage of all three—Creed is an appealing anti-hero (similar in some respects to TV's Dexter) and many of the other characters were far more than one-dimensional stereotypes. While some of the plot may be a little far-fetched (although do we really know what goes on behind the government's closed doors), I never felt like I had to utterly suspend my disbelief while reading. I'm definitely going to get further into Locke's series, and I recommend this to anyone who likes a good action-packed crime novel. You won't be disappointed.