Welcome to my stop on the Damp Pebbles blog tour for Broken Steel by Stuart Field. Thanks to Emma Welton for letting me join, and thanks to the author and publisher for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
Broken Steel by Stuart Field
After ten years in prison for his wife’s murder, Brian Armstrong is free.
When a freak accident with the prison transport gives him and two others an opportunity to escape, they seize it. With revenge in his heart, Brian disappears into the storm-filled city. After an ex-schoolteacher is found dead, Detective John Steel is brought in to investigate.
The circumstances are mysterious – just the way Steel likes it. His partner Samantha McCall is convinced the timing between the escape and the death of the teacher are more than coincidence. As they start to investigate, the case becomes more complex than they could have ever imagined. With time running out, can they find the killer and bring him to justice?
My thoughts
This is an adrenaline-packed book. If you’re looking for a novel to cure your insomnia, look elsewhere. Once I started reading, I finished it within a day. It was quick, exciting, and filled with danger and intrigue.
I haven’t read the first two books of the John Steel series (Steel and Shadows and Hidden Steel) but I didn’t have much difficulty following along. Steel has an ongoing conflict with a mysterious organization, but I pieced together the necessary facts as I read.
Characters
John Steel is a complex character. Even when I was reading his point of view, I found him an enigma. When necessary, he kills, sometimes in . . . creative, shall we say, methods, but most often with his gun. (There’s a high body count.) He appears and disappears effortlessly, quietly, and seems almost superheroic in his ability to survive crashes and falls.
Yet inside, he mourns the murder of his family. Even as he appreciates other females’s attentions, the memory of holding his wife while she died haunts him. He’s vowed to avenge their deaths, and he will because John Steel always keeps his promises. Always. And he’ll do whatever it takes to keep them.
When someone likens his scars to Phoenix, the mythical creature, it’s clear what Field means: Steel has died and been reborn, risen from the ashes.
Sam McCall is a tough girl. I liked her a lot, especially when she and Steel butt heads. Or rather, he teases her and she gets mad at him. Steel infuriates her, yet she fights a strong attraction to him. (He’d infuriate me, too.) But she’s a tenacious investigator who works tirelessly to find the truth.
Brian Anderson, the convicted wife-killer, is a fascinating character to me. Once in prison, the other inmates nickname him the Teacher, and learn to respect the man’s intellect and physical strength. Now that he’s escaped, many people think he’s killed again. But has he?
Suspense, tension, and action
Stuart Field deftly plays with our suspicions, giving us multiple possible killers. But for a long time, it’s unclear how all these gruesome murders tie together. The victims seem to have nothing in common.
He’s great at building suspense, stringing us along as more clues appear, more possibilities emerge, and more people die. And all along, I wondered why. Why target these people? Why use these methods? And why now?
There are a lot of good action sequences throughout the book. It’s easy to imagine movie producers turning this book into a blockbuster thriller. I’d buy a ticket!
A few glitches
Unfortunately, there are multiple spelling errors throughout. Many of them are similar sounding words (“alfa male” for “alpha male”), homophones (“fir” and “fur”), or other oddities (like a sentence that used the word “reminisce” for what could only be “remnants”). There was also a few continuity issues, such as the number of dead prisoners seeming to change between two chapters.
I also questioned the police procedures and behavior at a few points. For example, during the autopsy of a person whose lips have been sewn together–yes, that’s gruesome, and it gets worse!–would agent/detective Steel be allowed to cut the string, or would the medical examiner need to do it? I’m not a police officer, though, so I may be wrong. I do know that I’m a stickler for accuracy in professional behavior portrayed in fiction.
Normally, these sorts of issues irritate me enough that I mark the book down to three stars. Misspellings and such distract me from the story, and I want to whip out my metaphorical red pen and start marking up the page. I’m a stickler for details like this, as my critique partners have discovered (probably to their dismay.)
But here’s the thing: the story gripped me. Despite any flaws or weaknesses, I kept reading, hungry to learn the truth. Field pulled me into the story, made me have sympathy for these characters, and that offset the technical issues.
Recommended for action thriller fans. Or for people who need to stay awake all night!
I’m also VERY excited to learn that the fourth book of the series will be out in August 2020. Stay tuned for a damppebbles blog tour for Blood and Steel.
About Stuart Field
Stuart Field was born in the UK, in the West Midlands. He spent his early years in the army, seeing service in all the known (and some unknown) hotspots around the world. He now lives in Germany with his wife Ani. When not engaged in highly confidential security work, he writes thrillers which perhaps mimic his life-experience more than the reader would like to believe.Stuart Field was born in the UK, in the West Midlands. He spent his early years in the army, seeing service in all the known (and some unknown) hotspots around the world. He now lives in Germany with his wife Ani. When not engaged in highly confidential security work, he writes thrillers which perhaps mimic his life-experience more than the reader would like to believe.
Buy Broken Steel now!
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/