I had the chance to get an ARC from Blackstone Publishing of the latest installment of Nick Mason’s series: An Honorable Assassin, releasing on August 27th, 2024. A fast-paced thriller with non-stop action of a hired assassin trying to accomplish his mission, protect his family, and get to the head of the shadow organization that hired him in the first place.
If you are a fan of TV shows and book adaptations such as Reacher and Jack Ryan, this is a perfect book with non-stop action that keeps you on the edge of your seat until the end!
An Honorable Assassin Plot
Nick Mason, an assassin for hire working for a mysterious organization was just released from prison – after some serious string-pulling by said organization – is hauled into a plane and flown to the other side of the world. The moment he gets off the plane, the mission starts…
His target: Hashim Baya, also known as The Crocodile, an international fugitive, #1 on the Interpol list, and a ruthless and powerful killer. The problem? Mason is operating without a plan, with a brand new team he does not trust and he fails his mission… for the first time ever.
Baya gets out alive and Mason is thrown into the middle of a terrifying and exhilarating thriller chasing down The Crocodile, who always seems to be a step ahead of him.
In An Honorable Assassin, Nick Mason makes finding Baya his life’s mission, because not only does his life depend on it, but also the life of his family. The amazing thriller novel is the 3rd installment of the Nick Mason series, from the Edgar Award-winning author Steve Hamilton.
These were the words that men like Duval and Sauvage lived by: Lethal force is permitted only in cases where there is an imminent threat to life.
After the failed attempt, Mason is joined by Torino and Luna, both operatives of the shadow organization and his new team members. They are professionals and have a lot of resources, but operate in a completely different way than Mason does. There is no plan, no blueprints, no exits covered, just the mission itself. This does not bode well for Mason who is accustomed to perfectly planned and flawlessly executed missions.
The three of them must examine different angles and solutions to find the target and end him, but Baya is a very powerful man with a lot of money. Finding him and getting close to him is barely possible.
On top of that, the Interpol agent, Sauvage is also on the same case. Baya destroyed his life back in Paris and Sauvage made it his life’s mission to arrest The Crocodile.
Nick Mason must do everything he can to get to his target. The novel reads like a perfect combination of a James Bond movie and a spy thriller like Jack Ryan.
We follow Mason through Jakarta, the Philippines, and other locations around the world as he tries, and at times fails, to get close to Baya. Mason is thrown from mission to mission, is captured, escapes his captives, and, yet again, is thrown into another mission to find and kill Baya. All the while, Sauvage is right behind him.
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An Honorable Assassin Rating: 4/5 stars
What I Loved About The Book
An Honorable Assassin started out like a bullet fired from a gun; fast action and introduction to characters that had mission after mission, covert operations, backstabbing, a sub-plot about the character’s motivations, and a mole. It is the perfect blend of a spy thriller with action-packed storytelling.
I’m in a fucking James Bond movie, he thought, even as he realized the hard reality: James Bond acted of his own free will, not with a constant thread to his family hanging over his head.
The action and suspense are always present, even when the trio is planning out the next move and mission. If they are not working on an angle, there is a backstory being explained about the characters, the shadow organization, or we are following the side story of Sauvage, the Interpol agent working on the same case.
Backstory
The backstory of the whole novel is compelling and, despite my not having read the previous two novels, I completely understood what the whole overarching story was about. Steve Hamilton does a great job of injecting just enough information about Mason, his previous missions, and his life to understand and recap the previous books throughout the whole novel.
The Characters
The characters in An Honorable Assassin were also very believable and had enough of a mystery about them to make them interesting to follow.
The Interpol agent Sauvage, with his tie into the story because of the death of his family because of Baya.
Torino and Luna, the newly introduced characters part of the shadow organization that is putting pressure on Mason to complete his mission. If he does not, they will kill his family. Torino and Luna were great additions to the story as they added the element of suspense as to who can be trusted or not, but also that additional edge to the problem that Mason is involved in.
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The Throughline In The Story
From the moment Mason gets off the plane, the mission starts and as the reader, you learn more and more about the mission and the target, the same as the main character does. This was a great way to introduce the throughline of the story from the previous books, and how all of this is tied into the whole, bigger story that is happening with Mason.
Even the little side-story of the little girl Mason needs to save has value in the book, although it was a bit too pointed for me to drive the whole “honorable assassin” subject through, but it still has merit.
What Could Have Been Better
To be honest, after reading An Honorable Assassin, I did not find that it lacked much of anything. It has action, suspense, a great story, and good characters with their own backstory.
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However, I must say that I did not read the two previous books, which I definitely will after reading this latest installment. The only thing that I was thinking about while reading the book was that Mason, the main character, does not do a lot of assassinations in the story. It took a while for him to actually kill anyone in the first place, which I found odd, but then again the book is called An Honorable Assassin, so I guess it drives the point home in the first place.
The Review Breakdown
An Honorable Assassin is a great thriller book that is action-packed and never slows down. Even if you have not read the two previous books, you still get the whole idea of the overarching plot and the character’s backstory throughout the novel.
For all thriller lovers, this is a must-read this year!
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The Review
An Honorable Assassin
A fast-paced, non-stop action thriller you cannot miss this year.
PROS
- Fast-paced story
- Engaging characters
- One does not have to have read the previous two books
CONS
- Not enough kills at the start
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