MIKE GRIST - SAINT JUSTICE (2019)

Synopsis/blurb.....

Justice will be done

When rogue DELTA operator Christopher Wren uncovers a vast human trafficking operation in the deserts of Utah, he aims for the payback to be fast and righteous.

But Wren soon learns there's more than thousands of caged humans at stake - this conspiracy threatens to destroy the very idea of the United States itself - and Wren will never allow that. Not on his watch.

Wren enlists the help of his off-book vigilante 'cult', the Foundation, but that only brings all the heat of the CIA down on his head. Now hunted on all sides and fighting for his life, Wren must race across the country and against the clock to take the terrorists down, before the country he loves blows apart at the seams.

Saint Justice is "as urgent and gripping as it gets" (bestselling thriller author Oliver Harris), packed with rollercoaster twists that will leave you hungry for just one more page.

Perfect for fans of action thriller heroes like Jason Bourne, Jack Ryan, Mitch Rapp and Jack Bauer.

Saint Justice is the first in author Mike Grist's Christopher Wren series. I already had a copy on my kindle but was happy to take up the offer of a free Audible download code. The book would probably have gathered dust on the device otherwise, whereas I had the commute to and from work and a few solitary hours each day in my workplace to blast through it. It was an ideal companion in that respect.

More thrillerish in tone and pace and content than my usual reading, I quite liked it without ever feeling stunned or amazed. There's a requirement for some suspension of disbelief going in, but nothing totally outlandish or ridiculous.

We have the main character Christopher Wren trying to prevent an all out race war in the US. Wren is a conflicted character. As we get some of his back story through the book, we learn he himself heads a cult, he previously escaped from a cult and he has some severed links and acrimonious history with some alphabet soup intelligence agencies. He's ex-military, I think and has worked undercover in a variety of hostile overseas environments, aided by his darker than white skin tone.

In a nutshell, Wren has to take down a biker gang in order to get closer to the man pulling the strings and trying to manufacture a racial civil war in the states. Part of our villain's masterplan involves abducting homeless citizens en masse from the streets and re-educating/brainwashing them with his white suprecamist dogma before lighting the spark. Wren with law enforcement on his back, tries to utilise his own network to foil the plot.

Quite gung-ho and violent, decent pace and a fairly topical plot line in respect of the increasing radicalisation of people fostering Alt-Right sentiments in both Europe and the US and our hero's efforts to thwart them.

Cults, bikers, beatings, a race war, intelligence agencies, law enforcement, the dark web, a fugitive, the homeless, PTSD, abduction, brain washing, friendship, loyalty, trust, a coin system, suspicion, beatings, murder, executions, past histories - personal and political, a hunt, sacrifice, fire, death, etc etc... more of the same - then an outcome.

I wasn't totally blown away by the book and it might have been prudent to have had a few large pinches of salt close to my earphones on occasions, but overall I was entertained and the time spent immersed in the book flew by. Lots of excitement throughout and there was some elements of humour sown into the dialogue and interactions with Wren and both friend and foe. Definitely there was a lot more to like than take issue with. The book succeeded in it's purpose of entertaining.

I'd be curious to see what mischief Wren gets up to in the second installment of Grist's series - Monsters.

Overall 3.5 from 5

Read - (listened to) April, 2020
Published - 2019
Page count - 480 (8 hrs 26 mins)
Source - Audible download code received from the author
Format - Audible