Customer Reviews

Critical Space

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Every book featuring Atticus Kodiak gets better and better and it's hard to imagine Mr Rucka could write another book any better than this one. I couldn't put this book down but at the same time that I was staying up late into the night reading, didn't want the adventure to end. This installment puts the reader on a roller coaster of emotions . . . alternately cheering for Atticus and agonizing over some of the decisions he is making that appear to be turning him into the type of person he is usually hired to protect against! I strongly suggest that a person read the previous books in the Atticus Kodiak series to truly appreciate the characters that surround Atticus.

Atticus Kodiak, a name you wont soon forget after reading this fast moving thriller from the mind of Greg Rucka.

The pursuer becomes the pursued and the assassin becomes the target. Drama is the code name of one of the top assassins in the world belonging to a group known as The Ten. Atticus Kodiak is the only man alive that has bested her. Now Drama is being targeted by another dangerous assassin known as Oxford, and would like Atticus to protect her. Her scheme to get Atticuss help is no less than genius. Once he relents and decides to help, she trains him and teaches him everything she knows about survival in the world of assassins. Training he will need to survive.

I really liked this book. It was fast paced with adventures in international locales. It had likeable characters with depth. The story gave you a good idea about the job of bodyguard as well as some secrets of the assassins. A thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Highly recommended.

Greg Rucka is one of those special authors that weaves intriguing characters, witty dialogue and plenty of action into a first rate story. If you have not had the pleasure of reading him, then you are in for a real treat. However, this is one of those series that it is vital to read them in order and this review will unfortunately, by necessity, give away some details. The characters change tremendously in this series and this particular novel ties up quite a lot from the proceeding books. The earlier novels are Keeper, Finder, Smoker and Shooting at Midnight and should be available at almost any bookstore and of course, your local library, either in its collection or through the Inter-Library Loan Program.

Atticus is virtually at the top of success in the professional bodyguard world. His company, KTMH Security, is doing very well especially after the success of stopping Drama in his last book. (See, I told you to read the others.) Drama, a world-renowned assassin in intelligence circles as well as the underworld had a violent encounter with Atticus and both were very lucky to escape with their respective lives. After a year and no retaliation by Drama, Atticus believes the threat has lessened and that one and all should breath easy. He believes that even though she was thwarted in her assignment at great personal cost, she has moved on to other targets.

But, a book has been released, featuring reporting on the incident and there has been a resultant wave of publicity. While that has been good for business, it has brought the shallow celebrity style clients that Atticus does not want. But, there are clients that he does want and adores, such as Lady Ainsley-Hunter from England. Atticus agrees to protect her while her ladyship is in the United States and soon things begin to go wrong.

Lady Ainsley-Hunter is in definite danger and it may all trace back to Drama. Drama has her own problems and is not through with either KTMH or its most famous owner and employee, Atticus Kodiak. She violently makes her presence known and with so much at stake, both professionally and personally, Atticus has no choice but to accede to her demands.

This is a tough, action filled and well written book that will keep you turning the page. In writing there is an old axiom that admonishes writers to "show, don't tell." Greg Rucka is one of the best at that and uses dialogue wonderfully to paint a picture. The pictures he paints through words are complicated and multi layered and full of emotion. Simply put, his books are very good and I would strongly recommend him to anyone.

This one is by far Rucka's best novel. The character development is outstanding. He really knows his characters and makes them very real to the reader. All of the emotions they feel are felt by the reader. You really care about the characters. And it's got great, well-sequenced action and a gripping plot. Once you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down. I can't wait for the next one.

Each one of Rucka's books featuring Atticus Kodiak is better than the one before. Here is a writer with complete control of his material, with great feeling for his characters (who are never cartoonish or less than very real) and with impeccable narrative timing. Rucka is also fearless in the risks he takes with his core characters, revealing them by degrees in each successive book. He's one of the few male authors who writes about women with insight and respect, never using them merely as vehicles to move the plot forward but rather as complex and conflicted beings who are integral to both the story and to Kodiak. What I particularly liked about Critical Space is the core thesis that everything changes--even the fundamentals of one's personal value system--and that no relationship is a given. To that end, the reintroduction of Drama, the remarkable assassin, is a singular accomplishment. Not only does this woman become comprehensible, she also becomes very human, even lovable. The author never goes where the reader expects; Rucka's plotting skills are superb. The narrative takes on a breathtaking pace as it moves toward the conclusion, and even at the close, he resists the feel-good wrap-up, opting instead to leave the reader wondering where the next Kodiak tale will lead. This is a thoughtful, intelligent, understated and utterly compelling book. Most highly recommended.

Former SAS Robert Moore hires Atticus Kodiak and associates to assist in the protection of media darling Lady Antonia Ainsley-Hunter. Morris worries that Lady Ainsley-Hunter is a perfect target for terrorists because of her visible position on the children's rights issue. A lone gunman comes after Lady Ainsley-Hunter, but Atticus manages to dismantle the weapon with pictures taken that make all the papers and magazines. Atticus knows this was dumb luck.

Atticus is the only known person to have thwarted an assassin attempt by Drama, perhaps the deadliest killer of the notorious murderous row, The Ten. Rumors abound that Lady Ainsley-Hunter is her next target. Atticus admires Lady Ainsley-Hunter for her work and will do anything to keep her safe, but Drama manages the impossible and abducts her. However, Drama uses Lady Ainsley-Hunter as a pawn to obtain Atticus' services as a bodyguard while Drama trains him in her not so gentle art because she knows that a hit man is after her.

CRITICAL SPACE is a character-driven thriller that makes the action seem plausible and thus more exciting. The audience feels and understands the camaraderie between Atticus and his peers, his clients (even the ashtray tossing actress) and Drama. This happens not just because Greg Rucka peels away the essence of Atticus; he also lays bare many other players in the cast. This novel is going to be one on every thriller fans short list for one of the genre's best of the year while causing readers to use the rebate to buy the author's previous keepers.

Harriet Klausner

SPOILERS: DON'T READ UNLESS YOU WANT TO KNOW! The fifth Atticus Kodiak novel. Kodiak's company gets a mild brush with fame after guarding a high-profile client and being featured in a true-crime book about Drama, the assassin from Rucka's Smoker. But fame comes at a price, as Drama kidnaps Kodiak's principal, then Kodiak himself. She takes him to her Caribbean home and hires him to protect her from another of "The Ten" named Oxford. Much to the disgust of Bridgett and his co-workers, Atticus accepts. The association with a killer may indeed be harmful, as Atticus finds himself willing to do whatever it takes to protect her. This is a terrific book, up until the end. Rucka has created an amoral world of grey, where the CIA offers murder contracts and assassins can be sympathetic; Rucka keeps the drama tense and brutal by killing off two characters, one of whom is rather major. Unfortunately, the ending is spoiled by a totally unbelievable meet between Atticus and Oxford. It's in the dead of night in an abandoned, desolate spot. After showing us for dozens of pages the lengths to which Drama will go to get Atticus alone for a meet, it is simply not credible that Oxford would walk into a trap like that with no backup and no plan, not for revenge or for the money Atticus has stolen or ten times the amount. A pity Rucka dropped the ball at the end there; up until that point, he had me riveted.

And then some in this very well plotted continuation of the series. High marks to Rucka for pulling off another tour de force with this work a la "Shooting at Midnight." Once again he is able to absolutely turn the work on a dime, take the reader in an unexpected direction and not lose a step. The only knock that I can think of is that the next excursion of Atticus Kodiak and company is going to have a very, very long way to go to keep the series moving upward. It will be very interesting to find out.

This book shouldn't work. The plot is a lot less realistic than those in previous Rucka works, but somehow Rucka pieces it together in a way that you can almost for how ridiculous some of the story in.

In this installment, Atticus Kodiak is now famous and his adventures involve a starlet, an activist heiress from England, and the shadowy world of assassins. Much of the work is about a series of life-altering experiences for Atticus that shouldn't rign true at all, as they border on the preposterous. But I turned the pages, my doubts were shoved aside and the action took off. Rucka brings a lot of what he's used as a novelist and as a writer of rather down-to-earth comic books into every page and every plot twist. When the book ends, the reader is left in shock at what's become of Atticus, and can't wait to see what Rucka does next with him.

Greg Rucka gets better with each book ! However, if you haven't read "Smoker", you'll miss a lot of the background that adds weight to the continuing relationships that are the basis of this book. I can't wait for the next Atticus Kodiak !