Into the Fire

After reading Mark Dawson's A Place to Bury Strangers, I knew it would be awhile before the third novel in that series surfaced, so I decided to go back in time to the beginning of John Milton's career with Group 15 when he was Number 6. Scorpion is that book which provided me with my John Milton "fix" as I waited for more from Mark's creative arsenal. 

He's an expert assassin, Russian, and he's managed to execute the best operatives sent to kill him. Now he works once or twice a year for Mother Russia on his terms, but mostly he's an extremely efficient assassin for hire. He's known as Scorpion, probably because he strikes swiftly, silently, and quickly. Somehow his latest target, a female former embedded reporter who was known for telling the human side of war torn cities and countries, has caught the attention of Control of Group 15 fame. John Milton is assigned to protect her and rid the world of Scorpion. 

Since no one seems to be able to track Scorpion probably because he's considered to be the best at what he does, Milton knows there's going to be only one way to catch him before he eliminates his target. His plan is anything but foolproof especially when John sees the less than impressive armory in the safe house. 

Through sheer determination John manages to snare Scorpion and what happens following that is strange and shocking to both him and one of the other agents. This is where we see how John begins the "handling" of his job and the John Milton saga begins.

Terrific line comes after explaining to the woman exactly who is after her. After listening to John tell her how Scorpion's considered to be the best at what he does, she asks, "Better than you?" His answer, "We'll find out." Boom! Loved it. 

If you love thrillers, the John Milton Series offers a slew of novels (all reviewed here) that are highly entertaining, well-written for the genre, and take the reader all around the world. 

Father, you know Mark, all about him, better than he knows himself, as you do all of us. Thank you for giving him such talent. Please continue to bless him and encourage him. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.