PEOPLE DIE

British author Wignall debuts with a taut and very dark thriller about a hit man who finds he has become the prey of someone else’s stalkings.

J.J. Hoffman, like most professional killers, has an eye for detail but is basically cold-blooded. Which is a lucky thing, because he now finds himself in a situation that requires clear thinking and ruthless action: J.J.’s “boss” has been murdered, and the telephone of his “organization” in London has been disconnected. It’s soon obvious that this is more than random bad luck, since organization men Townsend, Hooper, and Berg have all been murdered as well—along with J.J.’s Swiss girlfriend Aurianna, who had no connection to the organization whatsoever except (unknowingly) through J.J. What to do? Well, the first thing you need at a time like this is intelligence, so instead of going underground J.J. walks right into the eye if the hurricane and tracks down everyone he can from the organization—or from its clients in the CIA or MI5—to find what the hell is going on. It seems that Berg may not be dead after all—in fact may be behind the whole thing. It also seems that the Russian mafia is involved—although it may have more to do with British operatives. In any case, apparently it’ll be necessary for J.J. to go to Vermont to track down the widow of someone he whacked in Moscow several years ago. It goes without saying that a number of J.J.’s sources (some of them old friends) will have to be quickly disposed of, along with quite a few bystanders who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But, hey, that’s business.

A gripper that suffers some from overboiled dialogue (“There’s no charge for the one who raped my girlfriend, but he owes me the regular fee for Wilson and Sanderton”). Still, it moves briskly to its surprising end.