I tend not to read blurbs on books before I dive in, particularly if the book is by a favourite author who does dark, dirty and high adrenaline as well as Bergmoser does. So I was somewhat pleased to see these lines in the blurb when I went to write this review:
Think: Die Hard meets The Raid, but the funnier, grittier Australian version. Fast, furious and ferocious, this is thriller writing at its nail-biting, unputdownable best.
And a bit tempted to just put that as the review and mark it done and dusted because that Die Hard line is exactly what I was thinking. But a bit more is probably called for. Featuring a couple of characters as the main focus - the unkillable Jack Carlin and the equally indestructible Maggie - both have made appearances in earlier novels, but this is less of a series and more of a character study, if what you're studying is extreme violence and a f***-you attitude to anything and anybody trying to screw with either of them or their mates (which includes looking out for each other's backs as is the case in this one).
What it won't hurt to know however is Jack Carlin's a rogue ex-cop with a history of very dodgy going's on and a daughter Morgan who has had her own fair share of scrapes with the law. Maggie's ... well Maggie. Tagged as "the Fugitive" in earlier novels like The Hitchhiker, she's one of a kind. A difficult life, missing mother, drunken father, plenty of things to be hiding from, she's close to Carlin and when he finds himself in a spot of bother, of course she shows up, and helps out - in the only way she knows - with extreme violence and sheer determination. So to the lines from the blurb:
Fast - it's breakneck. Right from the opening paragraph, even if you have no idea what the hell is going on, you're going to be sucked into this vortex of fast moving, lunatic crazy as Carlin tries to get his daughter to safety, tracking her down to a scungy old tower block of flats where she's currently running a counterfeit operation from the top floor.
Furious - in that there's a few people pissed off with Carlin, and he's not best pleased that Morgan's likely to become collateral damage. Furious in that the violence in this one is extreme. Over the top. And in a bit of a guilty, Die Hard sort of way, funny as hell in more than a few places.
Ferocious - in that Carlin, Maggie and even Morgan once she gets with the program will do what it takes, when required, to survive. And no bunch of loser vigilantes in it for the cash have a chance when ferocious comes with determination and nothing to lose. And that goes double for corrupt cops, and a strangely controlled hitman with a tremor.
This is, as always, just such over the top, action thriller, serious fun (yes I know it sounds sick but it's fiction for goodness sake), and I just love the way the author delivers the fast, furious and ferociousness of each and every scenario.
High Rise
A heart-pounding, high-stakes, high-adrenalin relentless blast of an action-packed thriller, from Gabriel Bergmoser. the bestselling author of The Hunted and The Caretaker.
After a year of searching, rogue ex-cop Jack Carlin has finally found his estranged daughter, Morgan, holed up in the top floor of a rundown, grimy high-rise building. The trouble is, Jack's unconventional policing and information-gathering methods in the past has made him some serious enemies. And what Jack doesn't know as he heads into the building, intent on saving his daughter, is firstly, that Morgan doesn't want to be saved - particularly not by him - and secondly, that the entire criminal underworld in the city are on their way too... There's a bounty on his head, and they're after his blood - and they don't mind if Morgan is collateral damage.
As bounty hunters and gang members converge on the building, father and daughter are thrown into a desperate fight for survival through fifteen storeys of deadly enemies - with only each other to rely on. Think: Die Hard meets The Raid, but the funnier, grittier Australian version. Fast, furious and ferocious, this is thriller writing at its nail-biting, unputdownable best.
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