A popular concept for thriller authors is contemplating the difference between good and evil. Steven James in his Patrick Bowers Series dares to speculate the availability of evil resides in even "good" people - as in the potential to commit an evil act even when they know it's wrong. However, the opposite is rarely true.
In Thin Line by L. T. Ryan, Jack Noble believes that line between doing right and wrong is thin, particularly within he and his partner Bear's clandestine framework. This philosophy makes it even tougher to discern who to trust because it seems they alone have each other's backs - and a few of their contacts.
Jack's former SIS boss Frank Skinner wants to hire Jack to take out a man he says has sold his country out to the highest bidders, namely a certain terrorist Jack should have eliminated years ago when he had the chance. Frank grudgingly accepts Jack's ultimatum: Bear accompanies him on the mission or Jack won't do the job.
As Jack and Bear prepare with full awareness of how professional and sophisticated their target is, they place the only location they have for him under surveillance in New York City. When there's a death Jack and Bear don't expect, a New York City police detective gets involved. Like everyone else in this strange job, she seems to know more than she should about their business. Add an all-world aging gangster to the mix, and the plot thickens as they say.
The cover for who wants this supposed rogue agent dead is deep and suspicious, and Frank refuses to expose its source.
The job takes Jack and Bear to Paris, France, and back to New York City, to New Jersey, and eventually to Pennsylvania before once again winding up in New York. Through all of the confusion and threats, Jack must provide protection for his on-again, off-again, girlfriend Clarissa Abbott, the daughter of his now dead former Commanding Officer. Each new situation becomes more deadly for Jack and Bear, and the information is slow to come and leads to more hidden threats.
Jack and Bear do their best to sort out the confusion, calling in favors from old friends, fearing they're being set up. The all-world gangster keeps popping up in Jack's life asking for his services while making it evident he knows far more about everything that's happening to Jack and Bear than they do.
L. T. Ryan has the ability to write the reader into the corners Jack finds himself in, to feel his adrenaline, to look for some solution when it seems there are none. Right to the end, there is no one trustworthy outside of their tight contacts, and the inevitable dangers of their work, past and present, catch up to them in horrible and spectacular ways. It's heart-thrumming thriller writing right up until the partially resolved cliffhanger ending.
I'm totally immersed in the Jack Noble Novels. Haven't read any like this since Vince Flynn's. Although defintely different from Vince's books, Jack Noble is a unique character who knows there are secrets in his line of work but when those secrets could result in his and his partner's deaths, he will not rest until he figures out the entire picture of what's really transpiring when bodies start dropping or disappearing.
I highly recommend these L. T. Ryan novels to those who love action, intrigue, confusion, and mayhem. A few language warnings and definitely some violence. Thin Line is a complex and true thriller.
Please continue to bless Lee with stories to tell. You are the inspiration and giver of every good and perfect gift. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.