When you see the names Lee Child and James Patterson being bandied about as blurbs on a book cover, you sort of know what kind of novel it will be: one with a lone hero, like a former government agent who plays by his own rules. It seems to be a subgenre all its own in most modern thrillers, so I was a bit hesitant going into THE BRICKLAYER, the debut novel from a former FBI agent writing under the pseudonym of Noah Boyd.
Right away, this book stands as a breath of fresh air. In what's obviously meant to be the start of a series, we're introduced to protagonist Steve Vail at a bank robbery. While a SWAT team waits outside, Vail takes justice into his own hands, then leaves the scene to avoid any sort of credit. Right away, you get the sense that Vail is not a man to be reckoned with, and it shines throughout the book.
The main plot deals with the FBI being blackmailed into making large cash payoffs to some sort of criminal cell. The main problem is this cell takes no prisoners and suffers no fools, in the sense the payoffs are done in a way where the agent who ends up with the job does not come back alive. With each payoff getting more complex, Vail is coerced into coming back to work for the FBI to search for what seems to be a rogue agent who might be behind the whole enterprise.
Vail is teamed up with a female FBI higher-up named Kate and is given carte blanche to handle the case as he sees fit. The rapport between Vail and Kate is on par with some of the great literary couplings, where the sexual tension is throughout, but never done for titillation.
Boyd really hits continuously, with great ideas. Tthe bad guys of BRICKLAYER are truly on the level of evil-genius types. There is a sense Boyd might be using some of his own case histories for some of these traps. This being a debut novel, there are a few bad notes — nothing major to throw readers into a tizzy, but one or two clichés that should be retired completely.
Still, it's a total page-turner and the reveals stay completely hidden until Boyd wants the reader to know what's going on. Not only does THE BRICKLAYER introduce us to a new and extremely likable character in Vail, but a new voice in Boyd, who gives some new life to this genre. Mark me down as patiently waiting for the followup. —Bruce Grossman
Buy it at Amazon.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
This is a pseudonym for Paul Lindsay.
Yeah, the writer is actually a pretty experienced mid-list author. This is no debut.
Weird that they would promote it as a debut, then.