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Book Review of Saint

Saint
thunderweasel avatar reviewed on + 147 more book reviews


Hallelujah, amen, you are dismissed.

That sentence, frequently found in Saint's text, is just one cryptic note hidden in this thrilling adventure, following an assassin trying to recover his memories and identity. Though it sounds pretty straight-forward, it's anything but.

Siant follows the ever-developing story of Carl Strople (though he won't be known as that by the end of it), a former army chaplain taken under the wing of the black-market X Group to develop his already exemplary skills as a sniper. The methods used aren't a part of your common-day training regimen - a 150-degree room of seclusion, electro-convulsive therapy, and hornet-filled sniper boxes are naming just a few.

After a (to put it as lightly as a feather) rigorous routine involving many of the aforementioned methods, Strople is assigned a hit: Iranian defense minister Assim Feroz, who is pushing U.S. president Robert Stenton for support on a Middle East disarmament. Because unexpected emtoions stall his finger on the trigger, he loses his chance to take Feroz out. No bother, because the X Group's head cheese has switched his targets - his hit is now the President himself. This and little team rivalry sparks an overseas race between Strople and fellow X Group assasin Dale to claim the target as their own. That is, if they don't kill each other first.

Oh, and here's another little twist: Carl and Dale both have the special power of controlling their surroundings. Doesn't sound like much until flying daggers and boulders come into the picture, which they include several times. A rather confusing conclusion rounds out the story, making the journey to the end more worth the 347-page read than the ending itself. But Dekker's prolific writing skill should kick your imagination into high gear.

Hallelujah, amen, you are dismissed.