A Dangerous Man - SFBA Book Club

eBook, 304 pages

English language

Published Sept. 19, 2006 by Ballantine Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-345-49565-5
OCLC Number:: 466422633
Goodreads:: 7178712

(1 review)

Reluctant hitman Henry Thompson has fallen on hard times. His grip on life is disintegrating, his pistol hand shaking, his body pinned to his living room couch by painkillers–and his boss, Russian mobster David Dolokhov, isn’t happy about any of it. So Henry is surprised when he’s handed a new assignment: keep tabs on a minor league baseball star named Miguel Arenas.

Henry has no pity for the slugger and the wicked gambling problem that got him in trouble, but he can’t help liking the guy. After all, Henry used to be just like him: a natural-born ball player with a bright future. But hell, that was long ago. Before Henry did some guy a favor and ended up running for his life. Before his girlfriend and buddies got gunned down by someone on his tail. Before he agreed to buy his parents’ safety with a life of violence.

And …

Reluctant hitman Henry Thompson has fallen on hard times. His grip on life is disintegrating, his pistol hand shaking, his body pinned to his living room couch by painkillers–and his boss, Russian mobster David Dolokhov, isn’t happy about any of it. So Henry is surprised when he’s handed a new assignment: keep tabs on a minor league baseball star named Miguel Arenas.

Henry has no pity for the slugger and the wicked gambling problem that got him in trouble, but he can’t help liking the guy. After all, Henry used to be just like him: a natural-born ball player with a bright future. But hell, that was long ago. Before Henry did some guy a favor and ended up running for his life. Before his girlfriend and buddies got gunned down by someone on his tail. Before he agreed to buy his parents’ safety with a life of violence.

And when Miguel gets drafted by the Mets and is sent to the Brooklyn Cyclones, Henry must head back to New York, back to the place where all his problems began—and where Henry might find a real reason to keep living, a reason that may just cost him his life.

2 editions

Phil in SF reviewed A Dangerous Man by Charlie Huston (Henry Thompson, #3)

Fitting finish

4 stars

Hank Thompson owed money to a Russian mobster, but couldn't pay. The mobster has Hank's face changed with cosmetic surgery and uses him as someone to break legs or kill. But Hank needs more and more drugs to get through it and is still not able to do the job properly.

I didn't think I would like this one very much. Hank as a reluctant but effective hit man? That's sorta what the ending to book 2 promised. If that didn't come about, I didn't think I wanted a rehash of the previous two stories where Hank goes on the run for extended chapters, barely able to get through each encounter with a bad guy and there are so many bad guys. There's a little of that, but it doesn't drag on. Huston must've figured that would be tiresome.

If you've read the previous Henry Thompson books, you know how …

Hank Thompson owed money to a Russian mobster, but couldn't pay. The mobster has Hank's face changed with cosmetic surgery and uses him as someone to break legs or kill. But Hank needs more and more drugs to get through it and is still not able to do the job properly.

I didn't think I would like this one very much. Hank as a reluctant but effective hit man? That's sorta what the ending to book 2 promised. If that didn't come about, I didn't think I wanted a rehash of the previous two stories where Hank goes on the run for extended chapters, barely able to get through each encounter with a bad guy and there are so many bad guys. There's a little of that, but it doesn't drag on. Huston must've figured that would be tiresome.

If you've read the previous Henry Thompson books, you know how this will end. But it got there in a satisfying manner, and none of it wore out its welcome for me.