358 ( )

okay, NOW Atticus Kodiak and I are done. ( )

This is a good thriller and verging on great. It's set in a number of locales and not your typical ones such as Georgia (the country not the US state), Turkey, Dubai, Ireland, USA and so on. It's about the sex slave trade of young women and isn't pretty and not very complimentary about some of the countries and peoples it's set in. The author did seem to do a lot of honest research and this was clearly very important to him.

I think I read this is 'Reacher' like and, while one can s=find similarities, it isn't. Reacher is more personally introspective and typically much deeper about the US locales the book is set in. But there is violence and the character isn't at all worried about killing the baddies.

Worth the read. ( )

Rucka takes on the heartbreaking topic of human trafficking in Georgia, once part of the USSR. However, he handles it so well in this action-packed thriller, that it does not become graphic or nightmare-inducing. The continuous action and the larger-than-life hero, Atticus Kodiak, who is able to handle everything thrown at him, made the story readable. In this case, his neighbour's young daughter was taken after her father was murdered. Kodiak sets out to find her, a search that takes him as far away as Dubai. In parts Rucka describes the factual circumstances that contributes to what amounts to modern day slavery. Kudos to Rucka for raising awareness of the topic. He admitted in the acknowledgements that research for this book was the most painful he'd ever undertaken. ( )

I was very impressed with the previous book in this series, "Patriot Acts," but find myself let down a bit by "Walking Dead." One gets the feeling that Rucka wanted to weigh in on a very important contemporary issue, but I've come to realize what it is that keeps Rucka from moving from being an excellent writer of thrillers to being on a par with the likes of John LeCarre or Robert Ludlum is his lack of confidence with the moral nature of his characters.

"Keeper," his first in this series, deals with abortion, and it was clear that Rucka really felt uncomfortable with a morally-charged issue, his treatment becoming somewhat ham-handed.

In subsequent stories, although his skill at developing his characters continuously improved, he never took on another "serious" moral issue, although he did seem to give a hint of the moral nature of his characters.

"Walking Dead" takes on a serious issue (human trafficking), but comes up short on delving into the moral issues surrounding it. He clearly wants to say it is evil, but one never quite gets a sense that he fully understands (for himself) why trafficking in human beings is fundamentally immoral.

The book has the feel of being a last hurrah for Atticus Kodiak, who has gone from being a bodyguard to becoming an avenging angel. It is a bit on the contrived side, as was the case with "Keeper," although it is more maturely handled than "Keeper" was. I cannot see a plausible future for the character.

Hopefully, Rucka will stop the series while it still reflects his impressive development as a writer. ( )