Red Right Hand by Chris Holm, Book Review

A terrorist attack, an assassin, a man-hunt, a secret criminal council, a hit man and action galore, yet also subtlety and exquisite characterisation. This thriller is intriguing in that it’s not always clear who is the good guy and who is the bad guy. Most of us are, after all, a bit of both. And some of us manage to grow and change, even the odd baddie. Not many thriller authors quote Greek philosophers, but when you are dealing with the reality of human nature and not some cartoon oversimplification, then it’s quite apt.

Charlie Thompson, an FBI agent, disobeys a direct order to track down a morally ambiguous hitman. This illusive character is the only person who can find and save a professional assassin aka The Red Right Hand, who is prepared to turn state witness. With all the resources of the FBI focussed on trying to track a cell of terrorists who are thought to have blown up a bridge … I’d better stop here, I don’t like it when book reviews give away too much of the plot. Suffice it to say that it’s a great story with plenty of intrigue and violence.  I savoured every page.

Red Right Hand is the second Hendricks novel. It was nominated for the 2017 Anthony Award for Best Novel. The author Chris Holm lives in Portland, Maine. 

Red Right Hand by Chris Holm was published in the UK by Mulholland Books in 2016.