Trust No One: A Thriller

"Trust No One" takes you on a ride that makes the most paranoid person you know look like they aren't worried enough about things ... Nick Horrigan has lived the last two decades quietly, under the radar, trying not to be noticed - because at 17 he made a mistake that cost his stepfather his life and sent Nick into hiding for years. But now, all that is changed in a moment when a madman takes control of a nuclear reactor, threatening to blow it up, and refusing to talk to anyone but Nick Horrigan. But what Nick learns in that reactor puts him on a forked path - he can choose to start running again ... or he can fight and finally bring to light the secrets that have kept him prisoner all these years. With more twists than I-90 over the Rocky Mountains, this book keeps you turning the pages well past your bedtime. The action is taut, and the characters defined. I definitely recommend this book.

Do NOT start Gregg Hurwitz's new novel Trust No One at the end of a long day when you have to get back up early the next morning. This is the only warning you get. Hurwitz is a good writer, dependable for action and intrigue. I've read his novels and his comic book and I always find myself flipping through the pages till I reach the end of whatever story he's spieling. I loved last year's offering, The Crime Writer, which, like Trust No One, is a stand-alone novel. His Tim Rackley books are great, but I really enjoy the way Hurwitz can twist characters and plots till you're not sure who's doing what to whom. Or sometime what's really at stake. In this book, there are a lot of things at stake. The main character gets woken up in the middle of the night by a Secret Service team that yanks him away and doesn't give him a choice. He doesn't know what's going on, and the event immediately reminds him of the last time he crossed paths with the Secret Service. Nineteen years ago, at the tender age of seventeen, Nick Horrigan was forced to leave town or be arrested for the murder of his stepfather, a decorated Secret Service agent. Nick's own father was irresponsible and left the family, but Nick idolized him anyway. In a few short chapters, though, Hurwitz makes us care a lot about his stepfather. Past and present converge in an explosive encounter that leaves one man dead, and with Nick delivering the murder weapon. The action picks up even from this breathtaking beginning and hammered me to the pages. The first night I admit that I started the book late. I should have known better. I read until I went blind that night, simply couldn't make out any of the words on the page anymore. I got up the next morning and marched through the rest of the book without breaking stride. Hurwitz has created a thoroughly enjoyable potboiler involving powerful politics played out against a lethal background of secrets. There are a lot of twists and turns in the book, and every time I seemed to figure an event out, or get to where I could predict how a character would act, Hurwitz threw another curveball into the mix. I enjoyed the relationship Nick has with his mother, her new husband, and her stepdaughter. I especially liked the scene with Induma, his ex-girlfriend. Hurwitz writes really tight, driving dialogue and I found myself blistering through the scenes at a frantic pace. With the first-person narrative, he's able to delve deeply into the characters and make me feel like I was carrying Nick Horrigan's burden part of the way with him, and I rooted for the character from page one. So, do pick this book up for sheer entertainment, but do block out the time to read it. Hurwitz grabs you by the throat with this one, and he doesn't let go till he's finished with you.

The reviews that say this is a page-turner are right. So you don't want to read the synopses--they give away too much of a strong plot. I read this when I was buried in stuff I had to do, so I had to keep putting the novel down. I wouldn't have if I wasn't forced to. There's hardly a moment when you're not racing to find out what's about to happen or get to the next reveal. So you wanna read the book and skip the online thumbnails. This political thriller is Six-Days-of-the-Condor smart, and a big change from the recent run in the political suspense genre. It digs into the lives of two candidates and things they want to hide, instead of trading in issues or missiles or the-world's-gonna-end-unless. (That's what makes the breakneck set-up, a terrorist holding a nuclear plant hostage, so sharp--the story's got nothing to do with terrorism [and neither does the guy holding the plant hostage, but now I'm giving away plot, too, after jumping on other readers for that]. You get rolling, right away, in a chase after a red herring: terrorists and diabolical mass destruction. Then TNO turns out to be something else completely, and a lot more memorable. The story's as angled and jagged as the classic noir thrillers, yet absolutely contemporary. LA and palm trees, but no trenchcoats, spiral staircases, cocktail glasses, or stilleto heels. Instead: a guy who's done everything he can to hide in the anonymity of loserdom (an unwitting but dependable LA tradition), only to get dragged back into the spotlight. Bonus: a cool alternate read on what could have shaped up as the 2008 US presidential election. That pays off in bits and fragments throughout, parallel to the action. Not that you'll need anything other than the action to keep you reading.

Nick Horrigan has spent the last 17 years of his life running from a tragic event that caused the death of a step-father he'd grown to love. His stepfather, a secret service agent, had stepped into Nick's life during his teenage years and slowly earned Nick's trust. Nick betrayed that trust and had to flea Los Angeles to stay alive and protect his family. Nick is forced to come face to face with the events from 17 years ago when a terrorist at a nuclear power plant says he will only talk to Nick. Nick gets only a little bit of information from the man before the SWAT team kills him. Nick is hailed as a hero and courted by both presidential candidates who are currently involved in a tight election. Nick is troubled. Secret Service Agents are leaning on Nick to go along with the press acounts of the terrorist at the power plant. But Nick knows what really happened, and believes it may relate to his step father's death so many years ago. The plot takes off from here and never stops. The novel is full of twists and turns that involve murder, betrayal and revenge, all underneath the backdrop of presidential politics. Author Gregg Hurwitz has written an exctiing thriller that has endorsements from very popular authors. I think Hurwitz is really good, but not great. This novel won't rank up there with the best of Michael Connelly or Harlan Coben. It doesn't have the layers or the depth, but it does have the thrills. I recommend this book and look forward to more books from this author in the future.

See story lines above. "Why would some terrorist want to see me?" That's what Nick Horrigan was thinking when a SWAT team so rudely interrupted his evening, not knowing that the next week of his life would be filled with unimaginable surprises. Horrigan is a very likable and compassionate character. This is definitely one of Hurwitz's best novels. It's all been said before but worth repeating. Fast-paced, engrossing, and a true thriller.