Iron House [Kindle Edition]

John Hart (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Advance Praise for IRON HOUSE:

 

"If you crave thrillers that are vividly beautiful, graphic, will make you bleed, try John Hart." — Patricia Cornwell

 

"Lean, hard and absolutely riveting, Iron House is a tour de force. With his best book yet, John Hart has clearly joined the top rank of thriller writers." — Vince Flynn

"It isn’t as if Hart’s career needed jump-starting. His first three stand-alone thrillers have been greeted by an ever-growing crescendo of praise, including two Edgar Awards. Definitely not the kind of writer who needs a breakthrough book. And, yet, Iron House lifts Hart to an altogether new level of excellence…. The present-time plot—disaffected Mob hit man on the run, trying to carve a new life without endangering those he loves—makes a superb thriller on its own (steadily building tension, magnificently choreographed fight scenes, including a High Noon–like finale), but it’s what Hart does with the backstory that gives the novel its beyond-genre depth. Like the great Peter Hoeg in Borderliners (1994), Hart uses the familiar story of mistreatment in an orphanage as a way into the inner lives of his characters, and the blind fear, abject confusion, and yearning for love he finds there are both heartbreaking and curiously hopeful, in an almost postapocalyptic way. An unforgettable novel from a master of popular fiction.” –Booklist, starred review

"This rich, impressive contemporary thriller from two-time Edgar-winner Hart (The Last Child) focuses on two brothers, Michael and Julian, both raised and abused at the Iron House of the title, an orphanage in the mountains of North Carolina.... Hart deftly interweaves a complex family history story with Stevan's intense, bloody quest for vengeance.... [The book's] powerful themes and its beautiful pr...

Product Description

An old man is dying.

When the old man is dead they will come for him.

And they will come for her, to make him hurt.

 

John Hart has written three New York Times bestsellers and won an unprecedented two back-to-back Edgar Awards. His books have been called “masterful” (Jeffery Deaver) and “gripping” (People) with “Grisham-style intrigue and Turow-style brooding” (The New York Times). Now he delivers his fourth novel—a gut-wrenching, heart-stopping thriller no reader will soon forget.

 

HE WOULD GO TO HELL

At the Iron Mountain Home for Boys, there was nothing but time. Time to burn and time to kill, time for two young orphans to learn that life isn’t won without a fight. Julian survives only because his older brother, Michael, is fearless and fiercely protective. When tensions boil over and a boy is brutally killed, there is only one sacrifice left for Michael to make: He flees the orphanage and takes the blame with him.

 

TO KEEP HER SAFE

For two decades, Michael has been an enforcer in New York’s world of organized crime, a prince of the streets so widely feared he rarely has to kill anymore. But the life he’s fought to build unravels when he meets Elena, a beautiful innocent who teaches him the meaning and power of love. He wants a fresh start with her, the chance to start a family like the one he and Julian never had. But someone else is holding the strings. And escape is not that easy. . . .

 

GO TO HELL, AND COME BACK BURNING

The mob boss who gave Michael his blessing to begin anew is dying, and his son is intent on making Michael pay for his betrayal. Determined to protect the ones he loves, Michael spirits Elena—who knows nothing of his past crimes, or the peril he’s laid at her door— back to North Carolina, to the place he was born and the brother he lost so long ago. There, he will encounter a whole new level of danger, a thicket of deceit and violence that leads inexorably to the one place he’s been running from his whole life: Iron House.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 609 KB
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1 edition (July 12, 2011)
• Sold by: Macmillan
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004TLHPGI
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (181 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,368 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

John Hart is the author of three New York Times bestsellers, The King of Lies, Down River and The Last Child. The only author in history to win the best novel Edgar Award for consecutive novels, John has also won the Barry Award and England's Steel Dagger Award for best thriller of the year. His books have been translated into twenty-nine languages and can be found in over fifty countries. A former criminal defense attorney, John has also worked as a banker, stockbroker, and apprentice helicopter mechanic. A husband and father of two, he spends his time in North Carolina and Virginia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full meal deal., June 3, 2011

By 

Susannah St Clair Foxy Loxy (North Bend Washington) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Iron House (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

One of the things I love about John Hart is the depth of his writing. Reading a John Hart book is like having the most incredible dinner with ALL the trimmings. His characters are deep, often flawed but you become totally involved with them. In this particular story, he does get harsh and sometimes, well maybe often, bloody. But it does not stop you from wanting to know where all the little jigsaw pieces are going to fit. Every time you think you know where he is headed, he slips onto a new path. Its a love story of many facets. It is also a brutal story of horrible beginnings with people who, at the end, will still be damaged goods. They will learn to be the best they can with all that has happened to them. There is mystery. Yep, lots of it. It will keep you on your toes worrying about how this can turn out ok. But it basically does.
Each John Hart story is unique in its subject but very much the same in the good prose and depth. This is the fourth I have read and I think the most raw one. I suggest you pick up any one of his books. May I say, start with "Down River" or "The Last Child" and then graduate to "Iron House". You should be impressed . No, take that back, you WILL be impressed.

41 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Bless this house, oh Lord we pray, make it safe." Song lyrics, June 23, 2011

By 

michael a. draper (Guilford, CT) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Iron House (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Have you ever considered how difficult it is to get out of an impossible situation and change the future?

Michael and his brother, Julian, were raised in a home for boys. Iron House provided shelter and discipline. Julian was constantly abused and bullied by the other boys. Michael wanted to protect his brother and was forced to fight for both of them. As a result, he became a ferocious combatant. When Julian finally struck back at his main tormentor, Michael took the blame.

Julian was adopted and Michael left the home and lived on the streets, constantly having to defend himself. At age fifteen, he was attacked by a group of boys in Spanish Harlem. He fought courageously and Otto Kaitlin, a crime boss, witnessed the fight and rescued Michael. Otto saw a similarity to himself as a youngster. Michael became his protege and later, his main enforcer. Otto's own son, Steven, continued his education but didn't have Michael's fighting spirit.

Years later, Michael meets Elena and falls in love. The author describes the setting vividly and when she becomes pregnant, Michael realizes that he wants to leave the life of crime to have a normal existence. He has loved three people, his brother Julian, Otto, and now Elena. His love of these people becomes the motivating force in his life.

Michael's final scene with Otto shows his compassion in a way that is beautifully written and memorable.

John Hart is one of the finest mystery writers that we have and is a mulitple Edgar Award winner. He portrays the enviable ability to describe his central characters with a view of life which make them interesting and sympathetic. Michael leads the way and shows admirable qualities of the love he has for his family. He is brave in his actions to protect those he loves, no matter what the cost to himself. These qualities make the reader want to know all that they can about him.

The story is reminiscent of a number of Charles Dickens' novels such as "David Cooperfied" and "Oliver Twist," where the children who are the central characters at the start of the story are in terrible situations and are impoverished. The reader feels empathetic about them and knows that somehow they must rise above the destitute. The manner in which John Hart shows this transformation is entirely realistic and well described.

With this novel, John Hart's readers will be taken on a dramatic ride that they have never experienced.

43 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Damaged children, broken adults, June 23, 2011

By 

Carla Lilie "carlachris" (Des Moines, Ia. United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Iron House (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

When I read the product description for "Iron House" on Amazon I thought it seemed a little clichéd, the mob enforcer who finds love and seeks to break out of his old life, but can't because the mob won't let him go. He finds himself on the run with the woman he loves, who, of course, has no idea who he really is because he has been lying to her ever since he met her. I decided to give it a shot for two reasons; the first is the excellent reputation of John Hart. The second is the creepy, Southern Gothic atmosphere it looked like the book would deliver.

Well, the book does deliver. "Iron House" is consistently interesting, smoothly written, and has a variety of, for the most part, well-drawn characters . I did think the book would center more on the relationship between the two brothers, Julian and Michael, so I was a bit disappointed that Julian himself is missing for much of the book.

There were elements of this book I really enjoyed, and it always held my interest. However, and I know my opinion is in the minority here, I can only give it three stars. One of the main reasons is for the scenes where the torture inflicted on characters is graphically detailed. Yes, I expected darkness in this book, but how the author chooses to depict it makes a big difference to the reader. For me, it went too far. In the end, it all seemed excessive; too many deaths and too much craziness. I also got tired of reading about the obscene amount of money some of the characters had at their disposal. I would like to have had some hint that Michael was at least going to try to do some good with the money, especially since it was basically ill-gotten gains. I also thought the last two chapters should have been left out of the book. For me, Michael and Julian's last visit to Iron House was a satisfying and proper ending. I imagine a lot of readers will disagree with me on this, but I would have preferred the Michael and Elena storyline to have ended on an ambiguous note. I won't be more specific, because I don't want to spoil anything, but the last chapter did not sit right with me and, in fact, seemed kind of silly.

Judging by the reviews already written for "Iron House," most readers seem to really like it. I just had too many problems with it to rate it any higher.