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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Four and a Half Stars, January 5, 2008
After Nadia Stafford took justice into her own hands, she had to leave the police force. She finally ends up becoming a hitwoman for a small mafia family, whilst at the same time trying to keep her tourist lodge solvent. However, when one of her hits is mistaken for the work of a serial killer, she joins forces with five other assassins to stop the killings before they are all exposed.
Nadia as a heroine is a bit of an enigma. Even though we're in her head, there are still parts of her that remain a mystery. And I liked this. I liked having to think about her motivations. As a hitwoman she's decisive and professional, but there's something inside her that's not functioning quite properly. I'm hoping we gradually find out more about her in upcoming books. I wonder, if she'll ever have to confront all the things she's denied.
Of the other hitmen - Jack, Evelyn, Quinn and Felix - we spend most time with Jack, who is Nadia's mentor, and Evelyn who was Jack's mentor.
...Jack said, "You saw my note, right? It said 'wait'."
"That was a note? I thought it was a haiku."
Jack brings new meaning to the word taciturn. Whilst he uses the minimum number of words to get his point across, and none if he can say what he wants to non-verbally, his presence looms large on the page. He remains a complete professional, focused on the job at hand, and yet there is a chemistry between him and Nadia that is almost tangible - probably moreso because the two of the them don't acknowledge it. Yep, I think I'm gonna be a Jack/Nadia shipper.
Kelley Armstrong writes characters who feel like real people, whether they're an ex-cop hitwoman, or the world's only female werewolf. In Exit Strategy this is emphasized in the 'victim vignettes'. Two or three pages we spend with the victims of the serial killer before they're murdered, as they just go about their daily lives. In just a few pages they become real people, not just red shirts. By the time you read about Gracie and Cliff you'll be biting your fingernails.
One of the most memorable scenes for me in Bitten (Otherworld Bk1) has nothing to do with werewolves. It's the scene where Elena is pursued by a killer through an airport parking lot. You were there with her, and Exit Strategy has a similar feel. Would I recommend this book to everyone - no. If the reason you read Kelley Armstrong's books is for the urban fantasy element, then this one might not be for you. If on the other hand it's for her dialogue, and the way she makes characters come alive on the page, then give it a try.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
silliness overcomes plot, August 19, 2007
Fans of Kelley Armstrong's Otherrworld series know that she usually delivers strong plotting, tough female characters (usually with a hunky male counterpart for some sizzle), and an overall fun read. In this book, however, the transition to the real world from the Otherworld strains the reader's credulity to the utmost. The plot is straightforward enough: a hitman has turned serial killer, and a group of other hitmen get together to take him down before he draws too much attention to their profession. OK as far as it goes... but it's one thing to have hitmen as heroes, another to have them as uncomplicated heroes. The hitmen Nadia meets (all of whom kill people for a living, some without caring why or who the hit is on) turn out to be hunky, well-educated, charming, and altruistic, far more concerned with 'doing the right thing' than the general public. By t he end I found that it required less suspension of disbelief to read Industrial Magic or No Humans Involved; once you accept witches and demons, the story flows. Asking the reader to buy this image of hitmen... no one, or two, but three mega-attractive remarkably altruistic hitmen... made this a very silly and ultimately unsatisfying read for its genre; fans of realistic mysteries or suspense novels will be very disappointed.
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting entree into the suspense genre---3.5 stars, August 5, 2007
Before I started reading fantasy, I was devoted to Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, and Michael Crichton. What's common about the thrillers these gentlment write is that they grab you by the throat and don't let go til it's over and even then, often leave your head spinning wanting more.
That's what I'm comparing "Exit Strategy" to. While I liked the book, I definitely find it lacking for an entree into the thriller genre. The last 80-100 pages are what I would expect--the book was darn near impossible to put down and written tightly enough to keep things moving, but the setup was far too long. Fans of Ms. Armstrong's who cross over to this book to read her will probably like this book, but thriller fans may well not--and like as not, "Mystery Thriller" is where this book is placed on the shelves and where it will have to be compared.
"Exit Strategy" opened with an excellent hook. Nadia, a professional hitwoman, performs her contract and discovers that her 'hit' is being credited to a serial killer, "The Helter Skelter Killer." Nadia is understandably concerned that the Feds are going to lay all the Helter Skelter killer's crimes at her feet.
When Jack, a hitman of her acquaintance, offers her a chance to join a team that's being funded by a mysterious source to catch the Helter Skelter killer, Nadia takes him up on it. You see, Nadia is not just a hitman--she's a former cop who lost her job when she went vigilante and took justice into her own hands. Our heroine has got a past--one that leaves her screaming from nightmares many nights.
From there, we meet the rest of the team: Evelyn, a white haired lady who's about to retire from the business but is still actively recruiting proteges so she can leave her mark on the profession; Quinn, a lawman who's gone vigilante; and Felix, a man of many disguises. The quintet embarks on a US-wide chase of the Helter Skelter killer. Each member of this team has his or her own story and motivation--they're folks who are a law-onto-themselves who are hiring out to do a lawful task for various motives of their own.
The problem is the interior portion of the book is seriously lacking in suspense. Armstrong stepped out on a limb by giving us several passages from the killer's point of view. I'm of two minds as to whether showing us the killer as he is working is a good idea or not--in this case, I clearly knew the killer was a he and that eliminated a very interesting possibility.
Further, there was a lot of time needed to set up the character of her five-person team. If "Exit Strategy" is going to be followed with a sequel or more--this is going to pay off, because we will have a very interesting cast of characters to play from.
The finale was a standout. If Ms. Armstrong had kept that kind of pacing through the whole novel, it'd be a 5 star book. At the end, "Exit Strategy" left me wanting more. Ms. Armstrong shows she has the chops to write thrillers and stand among the giants. I'd strongly recommend reading "Exit Strategy" as background and picking up the second book of this series based solely on those last 80-100 pages.
This follows my personal experience with "Women of the Otherworld." Ms. Armstrong's "Women of the Otherworld" are some of my favorite fantasy novels; however, I stopped reading both "Bitten" and "Broken" and have not reviewed them, because I do not think it would be fair to do so. "Industrial Magic" was excellent and I have found the rest of the series to be of similar caliber. I sincerely believe the second book and those following of the Nadia series will improve and very likely take their place along with the other greats writing the thriller genre.
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