Cold Justice Review

A THRILLER SO REAL IT HURTS. It's here: the landmark debut thriller from superstar Ant Middleton, million-selling, number one Sunday Times author of First Man In and The Fear Bubble and star of SAS: Who Dares Wins.

Mallory, ex-Special Forces, is forced to leave the military after a fatal, vengeful decision. Now he walks the world, helping those in need, running away from a past he'd rather forget and the killer inside him.

General Impressions

"Cold Justice" is an extremely unsettling and exciting book not because of what happens in it but because of who the author is. Ant Middleton has been a staple of British television for a few years now but before that, he led an extremely successful career in some of the most elite military groups in the UK Armed Forces. He's pretty much what most men wish to be. Everything I knew about Ant though, I learnt from watching this Russel Howard interview which was enough to see that he put a lot of himself into Mallory's struggles after getting off duty.

I started this book without any expectations but was pleasantly surprised by the beginning: I liked Mallory a lot more than I expected to like a thriller hero. Mallory is the kind of man that is so sure of his capabilities and masculinity that doesn't need to put others down and that is sadly unusual in a lot of thrillers. "Cold Justice" features not only a diverse cast of characters but several female characters that are interesting and dangerous on their own without being sexualized.

What I liked the most about this book was that this was not the typical thriller where some tragedy the hero could do nothing to avoid happened and that is used as a reason for him be some masculine fantasy of what a "real man" is supposed to be. Mallory found himself in a position where he had to do an impossibly difficult decision and has to live with the consequences.

This is a book that works so well because it doesn't need to be showy or impressive when the author knows exactly what would happen in each situation and the reader can feel that knowledge and security through every page. Unlike pretty much every action or fantasy book out there, the reader never needs to suspend their belief: the action, the characters, the way everyone behaves is as real as it gets.

That is not to say that the physical fights, spying, and pursuits are not showstopping because they are. Technically, this is not the best reading experience I've ever had and I wish we had spent much more time seeing Mallory process and start healing from what he had to live through but for a debut this is awesome and I know it will only get better. I particularly enjoyed how Ant wrote people and not movie villains and that once again goes back to his personal experiences. You had mercenaries in bad marriages, making video call to their children's birthdays and forgetting to pick up family calls while getting rid of a dozen bodies. That was my absolute favourite thing about this book.

Conclusions

This was a solid read, with action spread over three continents, a believable plot and interesting enough characters. I did start liking Mallory less towards the end, where he became more like an American propaganda hero than the traumatized man he started as but that final plot twist at the end was everything I didn't know I wanted and left me screaming!

P.S. We finish this book without knowing Mallory's first name and I don't know if I think that is awesome or the ultimate drama queen move.

Thank you to Bloomsbury and Sphere for gifting me this proof.

Rating: 3.5/5