It’s been quite a while since I’ve read a Dan Brown-style thriller. Probably since the last Dan Brown book I read (so, 2011? Maybe?). But this is definitely one: Extremely short chapters (most are less than four pages, often they are only one or two); plain, workmanlike prose that cares more about getting the plot up and out there than anything else; shallow characterization; the presence of huge conspiracies involving powerful people. Anyway, that type. Except, Dan Brown does it much better, I’m sad to say.
Premise spoilers to follow, and even though all of it is included in the blurb, I highly suggest you don’t read the blurb if you are wanting to read the book.
I think this book just bit off more than it could chew. The premise here—that there is a cultish group of powerful Black men who have a secret fortress where they keep white people as slaves, as revenge for the wrongs done to their ancestors—is an extremely fraught one. But this is not a book built for subtlety or nuance. The author wants to shock you, and then make you root for his hero, Martin Grey, as he heroically risks his life to free the white slaves by going against his (creepy as shit) Black brothers. The most detailed discussion we get on race is from the group of powerful, rich assholes who like to enslave people, so it’s obviously colored by their desires and perspectives, which are to put it mildly, fucked. And we don’t ever really get any other perspectives from any other characters; the book just isn’t interested in that. The book spends ages leading Martin into the group and then the author tries to squeeze the takedown of this corrupt and secret countrywide organization into about fifty pages. To say that it was implausible is an understatement.
Don’t even get me started on the dialogue.
I was tempted to round this down to two stars because I thought the story really didn’t work the way the author wanted it to, and ignored things it shouldn’t have, but despite its many flaws, the story remained compelling. It’s the epitome of a page-turner, and it more than kept my attention the whole way through.
[2.5 stars]
Read Harder Challenge 2022: Read a political thriller by a marginalized author (BIPOC or LGBTQIA+).
