4 out of 5

The third in the Atticus Kodiak series, and if I wasn’t exactly sold on Greg’s method of grounded character building before, I was upon reading this one. Smoker still has some of the “hot topic” fraying as first Atticus book, Keeper, but Greg’s writing has pretty much fully ditched any sanctimoniousness – not that I disagree with his stances, just that the tone beneath the words sometimes distracted from the story – and Rucka has reborn Kodiak post the downbeat preceding entry into someone confident in his skills, if still on the outside of his bodyguarding industry.

Indeed, we pick up with Atticus doing for-hire work for Elliot Trent, an acrimonious relationship due to prior events. But instead of buying into Trent’s POV, Kodiak maintains his pride throughout, Natalie (Trent’s daughter) essentially working on his side instead of for her father. So when the job goes awry, we’re not back into Finder’s slumps; furthermore, Kodiak refuses some of the faux-hero treatment he’s getting from rescuing said job, and maintains that the outcome isn’t what Elliot is claiming – that a baddie that was put down was a notorious hitman codenamed John Doe. Sticking to this eventually earns Atticus (and Natalie, and other familiar faces from before) the place – over Elliot and his agency – as the primary bodyguard for a key witness in a case against a cigarette manufacturer, with damning testimony proving their awareness of the dangers of their product.

See, even typing that feels a bit cringe – smoking is bad! – but Greg does a good job of clarifying that this isn’t about “solving” smoking, and rather just threatening a company’s bottom line being dangerous; a bit of telling cynicism from Kodiak, balanced by some stories from the witness about just how dire things can get.

From here, it’s a push-and-pull of procedural build-up and fomenting threat, and when / if the latter is not coming from John Doe – not put down after all – then “Drama,” another hitperson, seemingly reporting to him. This formula proves to be insanely effective, with all the character work we’ve done up until now making Atticus’ (and his team’s) decision making come across as very, very sound, with some great sleight of hand to keep the reader present while allowing for some surprises when either Drama attacks, foiling the current plan, or Atticus brings out a quick-thought last-minute save.

Greg’s generally precise writing is craftily used as well, with lots of guns-on-stage you’ll swear you’re clever for catching, but prove to be red herrings. However, the ante is officially upped here – international assassins! – and the action may race a bit ahead of Rucka, though only really problematic in the conclusion, when the ticking clock of a deposition feels like hand waiving to make things much more fraught than they likely would be, and the chapters barrel full steam through some scenes that, if you pause, are a little silly.

But that’s fine tuning stuff that is now clear will come to be perfected by Rucka with time; having taken exactly that through two lower-key books has resulted in a crackerjack followup.