Wallace Stroby is back again, this time with SOME DIE NAMELESS, a stand-alone thriller that goes far beyond the New Jersey territory of his previous novels (including his excellent Crissa Stone series). But Stroby wisely avoids some narrative pitfalls in this contemporary yet familiar story.

Ray Devlin is living off the grid in a small houseboat in a downscale Florida marina. But his solitude is broken by an unexpected visit from an old colleague. At first it seems like Devlin’s friend longs to stir up memories of their past; when they were part of paramilitary operation contracted by the U.S. to help put a brutal South American dictator in power. But the visit does not end well when gunshots are fired.

Devlin suddenly finds himself on the run from someone who wants to cover-up what Devlin and his cohorts did all those years ago. Devlin then enlists the help of Tracy Quinn, an investigative reporter for a Philadelphia newspaper fighting for its life in today’s world of Internet news.

But as Devlin fills Quinn in on the details of his past operations, and speculates as to what might have gone wrong, a team of sadistic assassins is on Devlin’s trail. And these killers will stop at nothing to complete their mission – even if it means taking out Quinn along the way.

Stroby immediately thrusts us into the plot within the first few pages of the opening chapter. The action hardly lets up as Devlin moves from one narrow escape to another. While the third-person focus is mainly with Devlin, it shifts occasionally to include the the two assassins and then Tracy Quinn.

It is Quinn’s involvement that prevents Stroby from telling another mercenary-on-the-run story. She provides an outlet for Devlin’s past and helps fills in some of his unanswered questions thanks to her investigative resources. Their relationship strengthens as Devlin reveals his past covert actions, But here again Stroby avoids the obvious by taking Quinn and Devlin’s partnership in an unexpected direction.

The hidden U.S. government conspiracies that were Devlin’s livelihood are as relevant today as they were when Devlin was in the field. Along the way, however, Stroby also takes the opportunity to convey the current sad state of newspapers and news reporting. As a former journalist himself, Stroby knows firsthand about the many once prominent newspapers that have gone out of business, as well a how the surviving publications must compete with instant online postings. As the reporters in the novel demonstrate, even the most prominent news stories these days are likely to appear online first before the full story is printed in the traditional ink-on-paper format.

Stroby’s skills at portraying action scenes are formidable. Each moment is presented with a cinematic eye for detail that sometimes lasts for more than one paragraph. Yet we never lose sight of the action and are left feeling as breathless as the characters themselves.

If there is a downside to the novel, it is the complicated politics that are the source of both Devlin’s and the assassin’s operations. Devlin’s recalling of these motivations to Quinn risk slowing down the otherwise forward-driven narrative. But this proves a small price to pay for all the satisfying action and suspense that follows.

This latest work proves that, if he so chooses, Stroby can stand toe-to-toe with the very best in the already crowded thriller fiction field. Time alone will tell if Stroby follows this path or returns to the more domestic setting of his previous novels. Either way, it is certain that readers will eagerly await his next work, as Stroby continues to prove himself one of the finest crime authors working today. —Alan Cranis

Get it at Amazon.