Before we start, let’s see if we’ve got everything, according to our pack list:
- a rural and beautiful setting – check.
- A disturbing series of crimes that break the setting – check.
- The actual police totally in over their head – check.
- A hero who sucks at live in general, failed marriage, with problems connecting to their kid, also a former (alcohol) addict, and much better qualified at solving the crime spree – check.
Yeah, no, I think we’re all good here, let’s start this thriller show!
Alright, that might have been a lengthy way to say that this series protagonist – we’re talking book one here, folks, this could be the birth of a new series star! – makes heavy use of the “damaged hero” trope. Tyler Zahn is a former alcoholic, and he’s a little awkward around his daughter, because he’s got every minute they’ll spend planned in advance. And his journal reads “catch fish”, not “enjoy fishing”. Think Bruce Willis in Die Hard 4.0 (especially the daughter part), combined with a mild case of Monk (not really obsessive compulsive disorder, but maybe a little ocd).
I’m talking a lot about Tyler here because, as I’ve mentioned, this novel marks the potential start of a series (in fact, a second one called False Summit is already here), and those series are all about the protagonist. Granted, you need a good storyline, but if you want your readers to be looking for the next book, you need to hook them on your character. That’s the reason the Jack Reacher novels are so damn successful, because everyone likes Reacher. And a lot of authors try to write the next Reacher. I think Cam Torrens might be on to something here, and he wisely choose to make Tyler not into a larger than life hero like Reacher, but rather into a hero broken by life.
Fun fact: I grinned the first 2 to 200 times I’ve read the full name, Tyler Zahn. Especially since Cam is doing the Reacher thing here, where most people – including the narrator – call Tyler by his surname, Zahn. Even his daughter does it! That might not be funny to you – but for me it is, as Zahn is German for tooth. So I’ve ended up thinking of him as some kind of muscled tooth fairy (Zahnfee). Long story short, to my inner eye, Tyler started to look like a certain actor.
On an existential level, he didn’t know what he believed in. But at ground level, he believed in himself.
Tyler muses about self-confidence
Zahn has the hallmarks to become a new Reacher. There are elements here that would mix well with the way a Reacher story is told – how people act the way they do is told so it makes their actions believable, which is something I really enjoy in a thriller. You know, when people do stuff and you can actually follow their reasoning. I hate it when actors in stories do stupid stuff without a reason. But I’ll gladly accept even mighty stupid acts of craziness if the person committing them had at least a good reason to think it was a good idea, from their point of view. That is what’s happening in stories by Child, and Cam Torrens is pretty much along those lines. Including the fact that Zahn drinks his coffee black, no sugar, no fancy name.
There’s one thing Child does better, though – reading a Reacher novel means riding piggyback on Reacher’s mind. Everyone has a reason why they do shit in the Reacher novels, especially Reacher himself, and the reader becomes part of that thought process. Child shines out in his capacity to take the reader along, and I think that Cam could enhance my experience as a Zahn reader by improving upon this point. That’s, of course, only my two coins of small denomination.
To what it all amounts to, is this: With Tyler Zahn, Cam Torrens has created a fantastic character who thriller readers will love to follow through his adventures. Stable’s main villain is believable and acting in ways that I might condemn, but which make sense in the given context. He’s not a monster by simply being evil, but a monster by choice, driven by greed – and that’s highly realistic. All of this is blended into a story that seems realistic enough to give you shivers at time, and with enough thrills to keep you on your toes.
I think Tyler Zahn has a great career as a thriller novel hero in front of him. I would advice Cam to let the readers take a bigger part in Zahn’s thought process – riding his thoughts piggyback – and to invest a little work at the pacing front, and we might witness the rise of a new star here. 4 stars, highly recommended for thriller fans.
Crossing the Pond Reviews 