Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for a copy of Safecracker in exchange for an honest review.

Safecracker by Ryan Wick

Genre: Thriller

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press /Thomas Dunne books

Publication Date: August 11, 2020

Blurb

In this wicked debut, safecracker Michael Maven must pull off the most dangerous theft of his long career—or his friends and family will be killed.

Safecracker Michael Maven‘s latest job should be simple: steal a rare coin from a New York apartment. Except the coin’s owner comes home with a beautiful woman, who murders him, nearly murders Maven, and takes the coin herself, and then Maven’s life gets really complicated: the woman’s boss, a sadistic drug lord, forces him to take on a far more dangerous job.

If Maven fails to crack the safe of a rival cartel boss in Miami, his friends and family will die. If he succeeds, he might. Which means he not only has to somehow pull off an impossible heist, but also outwit two crime bosses as well as his reluctant new partner – the woman who started it all.

Ryan Wick hits the right combination in Safecracker, unlocking a fast-paced, action-packed, cinematic thriller. (from Amazon)

My thoughts

In a word: thrilling. If you love thrillers, Safecracker by Ryan Wick is one you won’t want to miss. Ryan Wick has written a compulsively-readable page-turner filled with explosive action and characters you won’t forget.

This book grabbed me from the opening sentence, when Michael Maven rather casually mentions having his throat slit in Alastair’s Pub at exactly 9p.m. And then calls it both infuriating and unfortunate, because his BFF Jimmy owns Alastair’s and Michael considers it a second home. All he was doing was watching a Cardinals game when the cuckoo clock chimes and his would-be killer takes a knife to his throat.

Somehow the words “infuriating” and “unfortunate” seem like an understatement for attempted murder.

From this attention-grabbing first chapter, Wick backs up to twelve days earlier when what should’ve been an easy theft turns deadly. From that point on, Wick slowly turns up the tension, little by little, until the harsh, bloody climax.

Characters

Michael Maven is a complex character. Though he’s a professional thief, he has moral guidelines for his behavior: never leave someone’s place a mess after stealing their possessions, don’t sleep with married women, and don’t tolerate violence against women. He’s not opposed to violence, but he’s not a killer. He loves his friends, too.

Like all good thieves, he prepares for his crimes with almost OCD-level preparation, knowing that he’ll have to adapt to whatever unexpected things happen during his heist. He uses his ill-gotten wealth to indulge in his other passion: keeping his beloved movie theater afloat.

He’s met his match in Katarina Georgiu, though. She’s beautiful but deadly, of course; that’s a given in this genre. Yet of all the femme fatales I’ve read about recently, she’s one of the most compelling. An intelligent and ruthless trained fighter, she’s a worthy opponent for Michael.

Surrounding them is a cast of memorable, almost unscrupulous people of varying levels of evil. I say almost because all of them have some moral code they adhere to. These aren’t people I want to cross paths with in real life. But on the page, I couldn’t keep my eyes off them. From an ex-intelligence officer-turned-hacker to two bloodthirsty crime bosses out for revenge and everything in between, these characters both fascinate and horrify.

Point of view

Wick immerses us in the mind of a professional thief. Through Michael’s eyes, we see as he casually swipes a beer mug to obtain a fingerprint, picks locks in under a minute, and searches a wealthy man’s empty house for valuable property.

Reading about these professional thieves makes me wonder why I bother to lock my doors. On the other hand, I don’t have the type of property these pros would want. No rare coins, valuable jewelry, one-of-a-kind art. No connections with drug cartels, either.

Plot

The story unfolds like one of Michael’s beloved movies, always with an eye toward the visual effects. The action scenes are as carefully choreographed as any action flick and obviously written by someone trained in martial arts. With the snappy dialogue, the plentiful action sequences, and compelling cast of characters, this book feels like a blockbuster in the making.

Ryan Wick ratchets up the tension to an unbearable level–and then cranks it up some more. During his attempted heist, Michael has every imaginable problem (and then some!) thrown at him. It takes all his ingenuity and strength to overcome each one, and as Wick makes clear, failure is always a possible outcome. So is death.

By the climax, I was breathless with anticipation, not knowing how events will play out and hoping that the outcome would fulfill the promise of all the previous chapters. I wasn’t disappointed.

Recommended.

Content warnings: Violence. Murder. No explicit rape scenes. References to domestic violence, sex trafficking, and rape (including rape of children) and descriptions of the before and aftermath of a rape. Otherwise, the gun/knife/fighting violence is standard fare for this genre.

Like this? Read that!

If you’re in the mood for thrills, check out my review for Into Darkness by TJ Brearton.