Exist Strategy – Steve Hamilton (Nick Mason #2)
Exit Strategy is the second. book in the Nick Mason series from author Steve Hamilton. The Second Life of Nick Mason was the first book in the series and it introduced readers to a different kind of hero. Nick Mason was a prisoner serving 25 years as the result of a robbery gone wrong. While in prison gang kingpin Darius Cole offers Nick his freedom, but not without a catch. The catch is that Nick has to carry out any mission assigned to him. And if he doesn’t hs ex-wife and nine-year old daughter will pay a heavy price. The missions – kill people who Cole needs dead!!
About the Books of Steve Hamilton
I have been a fan of Steve Hamilton and his character Alex McKnight since I read the second book in that series Winter of the Wolf. I had gone to the library to check out his first McKnight novel A Cold Day in Paradise but it was checked out. So I settled for Winter of the Wolf and I’ m glad I did because I have read every book since!!
From Steve Hamilton’s website:
Hamilton’s very first book, A Cold Day in Paradise, won the Private Eye Writers of America/St. Martin’s Press Award for Best First Mystery by an Unpublished Writer. After it was published, the novel went on to win the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel and the Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Award for Best First Novel, the only first novel to win both awards. That book introduced Alex McKnight, an ex-cop now making a living renting cabins in the small town of Paradise in Michigan’s isolated Upper Peninsula, who becomes a reluctant private detective…..
…..But it was his standalone The Lock Artist that made publishing history, his first book to win an Edgar for Best Novel, a CWA Steel Dagger for Best Thriller in the UK, and an Alex Award – which is given out by the American Library Association to those books that successfully cross over from the adult market and appeal to young adult readers. The Lock Artist has been translated into seventeen different languages, and was an especially strong seller in Japan, where it was voted the number one translated crime novel of 2012 by both the annual Kono Mystery Ga Sugoi guide and by Weekly Bunshun magazine. Read More
About: Exit Strategy
Darius Cole has a problem, He has been granted a retrial based upon an Anonymous Juror violation. His problem is that the two key witnesses that testified against him in his first trial twelve years ago are still around and ready to testify again! They both are in the Federal Witness Protection Program.
Like Darius Cole, Nick Mason has a problem. It is Darius Cole! Nick hates the life he has to lead. All he wants is to get back to living a normal life, particularly with his nine-year old daughter Adriana. That can’t ever happen unless Nick figures out an exit strategy from Darius.
So with that on his mind Nick is given an assignment kill the witness set to testify against Cole. Once gain it pains Nick to be directed to kill. Mason becomes more determined to break free of the clutches of Cole, but can he do it before the next assignment breaks him!
Bottom Line
Exit Strategy is a strong 4 star book for me. The book really has everything you’d want. An engaging main character in Nick Mason.There are also a ton of engaging secondary characters. They include Mason’ daughter and ex-wife, Cole’s woman Diana who is Mason’s house mate. She is as much a prisoner of Cole’s as Mason is. There is also police detective Frank Sandoval. Sandoval has been on Mason’s trail since the crime that sent Mason to prison.
Then there is also a great storyline. Although I do think that some of Nick’s escapes during his missions were a little hard to believe. But those things are not enough to dampen my enthusiasm for the book. It certainly didn’t slow down the rapid reading pace that the book had me reading!! So Check it Out!!