|
Disenfranchised, as it were, from the "Agency," Jack Dunphy has been reassigned to a desk closet, so to speak. His superiors are more than a little concerned over a case that's been bungled while in London (a "number" he's supposedly had under wraps, surveillance-wise is now dead). Dissatisfied and just more than a little suspicious that his "handlers" are trying to ease him completely out of the picture, Jack begins his own investigation....and from there "Kingdom Come" comes alive. Well, to a point. Granted, author Jim Hougan is compared (whether it's a complement or not remains to be seen) to Robert Ludlum, Ian Fleming, and Dan Brown, among others. Certainly, Hougan has chosen the "spy thriller" genre and probably there's not an overabundance of new and brilliant and readable ideas there. Still, Hougan gives it a try and does well, everything taken into consideration. Agent Dunphy has to fight the demons in the closet, so to speak, and he has a partner in Clementine and together they go after the conspirators in the usual do-or-die scenario. Still, Clementine is a nice additive and complements Dunphy admirably. Still: it's spy-thriller-fiction. That said, Hougan has every right to go for it, literarily. "Kingdom Come" is a very readable thriller, and like Ludlum, Flemilng, and Brown, those universal conspiracy cases can only go so far, and like these two, he has to stretch occasionally. Again, it's fiction. It's not a Dan Rather expose or a Bill O'Reilly revelation-it's fiction. And worth the effort. A pleasant read.
|
United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada