‘On the Run’ by Max Luther.

Published by Canelo,
14 March 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-80436-582-3 (PB)

 In this, the second book in a trilogy, private bodyguard Alex Drayce is working in the United States, protecting a wealthy businessman under threat of assassination.  The book’s opening chapters cover this in all its high-speed, tense and violent action, emphatically showing Alex’s particular skills.  Having completed this assignment successfully, his employer, Nelson, suggests that he should not hang around and offers him a job looking for a missing daughter, cash in advance and no mention of his name to the police investigating the recent incident.  Alex accepts but, inevitably, the job is not as straight-forward as it had seemed. 

 Alex’s search for the missing daughter has any number of twists and turns, as he is pursued by some determined gangsters and the police.  The pace maintains a tight feeling of breathlessness as Alex switches between confrontation and flight, constantly having to think on his feet and use whatever skills and weapons he has to hand.  The tension never lets up, with shoot-outs, chases and, eventually, a confrontation with a final surprise.

Alex firmly establishes himself as a man not to be messed with and it will be interesting to see where the next book takes him.
------
Reviewer: Jo Hesslewood

Max Luthergrew up immersed in literature, reading the likes of Roald Dahl and the Biggles books, before discovering crime fiction in adulthood. A lover of fast paced stories, whether on the screen or the page, he decided to try his hand at writing one of his own. Nowhere to Hide, a crime thriller starring private bodyguard Alex Drayce, is the first.

Jo Hesslewood.  Crime fiction has been my favourite reading material since as a teenager I first spotted Agatha Christie on the library bookshelves.  For twenty-five years the commute to and from London provided plenty of reading time.  I am fortunate to live in Cambridge, where my local crime fiction book club, Crimecrackers, meets at Heffers Bookshop .  I enjoy attending crime fiction events and currently organise events for the Margery Allingham Society.