Hour of the Assassin by Matthew Quirk – a Review

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Description:
As a Secret Service agent, Nick Averose spent a decade protecting the most powerful men and women in America and developed a unique gift: the ability to think like an assassin. Now, he uses that skill in a little-known but crucial job. As a “red teamer,” he poses as a threat, testing the security around our highest officials to find vulnerabilities—before our enemies can. He is a mock killer, capable of slipping past even the best defenses.

His latest assignment is to assess the security surrounding the former CIA director at his DC area home. When Nick enters the man’s study, the home’s inner sanctum, he finds the man alone and unconscious. Someone else has been here—someone who attacked the chief and left him for dead, just moments before. Desperately attempting to save the man’s life, he contaminates the crime scene. Now, investigators believe Nick is somehow involved.

Nick knows he’s the perfect scapegoat. But who is framing him, and why? To clear his name, he must find the truth—a search that leads to a nefarious conspiracy whose roots stretch back decades. The prize is the most powerful position in the world: the Oval Office.

To save himself and the people he loves, Nick must stop the men who rule Washington before they bury him along with their secrets.

Review

Hour of the Assassin by Matthew Quirk is an exciting tense political thriller.  This was my first book by Quirk, and I really enjoyed it; very well written.

Nick Averose, our hero, is a former Secret Service agent, who now owns his own security firm, as he is considered the best in his field, especially his ability to think like an assassin.  Nick also goes on assignment for powerful clients, to see if he can break their security, which he can, and offers suggestions to improve.   Nick manages to break into former CIA Director, Malcolm Widener, who has top security in his home, and explains his findings to the es-Director; but as Nick prepares to leave, he hears someone breaking in, and by the time he gets back to the director, he finds him murdered. 

Nick realizes he is being setup to take the fall, but manages to escape the mansion as the police and other threats arrive on site.  When he goes back to the office, all papers confirming his assignment, as well as people he talked to have been erased.  Why is someone framing him, and how high on the political front does this go?  Nick is now on the run, knowing he needs to find the truth to clear him.  Who can he trust?

What follows is a wild, exciting, tense adventure that not only puts Nick in danger, but also his trying to save those close to him whose lives become threatened. Every step along the way is filled with surprise twists, intrigue, secrets and lies.  Nick will discover that powerful people are trying to squash something from the past to help bring one of their own up for a high political office.

Hour of the Assassin was non stop action from start to finish, with no break to catch your breath.  Matthew Quirk gives us an intense exciting thriller that I could not put down until the end.  Very well written.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher