The second part of the BEST Crime Thriller reviewed on our site so far this year, HIGHWAYMAN, is finally here and it’s named “Four”.
OK. For those who haven’t read the book, or the review of HIGHWAYMAN by MJ Preston, you can, and should check it out before we kick off this review. Don’t worry, we’ll wait. XD
So! “Four” by MJ Preston. The book starts off with an intriguing citation of a mass-murderer which catches our attention and make our juices start to flow, because, as we have seen from the previous novel, which was bloody amazing, literally, those first words, set the tone of the entire book and have a influence on how the book plays out. It’s a like a hint of what is about to happen, yet, we know, oh so well, that we won’t know things until we know, because… Lots of plot twists!
In the first chapters, MJ Preston does something very cool. He recaps, but he doesn’t just recap, he tells the story from a hidden angle from the point of transition of main characters on the side of the FBI agents. Why are we mentioning this? Well, it is simple: one of the biggest reasons why series are destroyed, is the fact that some authors don’t recap a little on the previous book. But, is there a need to do it? Well, if every single reader bought all the books in a series at once, and if all book series were published at once, well, there would be no need whatsoever to recap, but given that this is real life…
So MJ Preston re-tells the story, part of it, and adds details that he purposely left unmentioned in the previous book, bringing forward a WHOLE new perspective to the book itself, as if we were reading a whole new story of scenes that we briefly read about on the first book, Highwayman, and THAT’S super clever! – Now that I think of it, MJ Preston did focus on the killer, a lot on the middle-to-end parts of the last book, sneaky.. XD. We told you that there would be plot twists.
Although this is a crime thriller, where the main character is actually the killer, we have a lot of police work in this, conspiracies inside the FBI concerning this case and internal struggles that add light and colour to the story in cool ways, making it solid, engaging and real. You can feel the pressure that Detective Maxwell is facing as he is literally walking on eggshells in all directions and a wrong move from him would mean the end of his promising career, on a case that, so far, not even the best detectives could solve, while having his superiors on the FBI trying to set him up good and make him trip.
Pulling stories from the sides, we get an interesting side-story from the man that helped Lance Belanger on the first book, Gusa, that is now in seriously deep waters and it’s going to have to bargain for his life when the INTERPOL and the biggest Mafia in Romania. Things get very interesting, I tell you that.
MJ Preston knows how to make your heart beat faster, although you are sitting in a chair or laying in bed. A total pro at suspense and the macabre, MJ induces imageries that you will instantly connect to and feel in your skin, tensing up your muscles without you even realising, and then, sometimes, making you laugh a little so you can enjoy the whole process and get addicted to it. Excellent narrative ability, exemplary and skilled!
The continuous flow of the book is impressive. As the chapters, and parts of the chapters end, or as the scenes end, MJ Preston leaves a line or two, a hint that lets the door of possibilities open, letting the steam of future implications of danger, compromise and leaks of tightly held information on the air, making you think about the many ways things can go wrong and the paths this awesome thriller can take. THAT’S how you do it! This story grips you with certainty, yet keeps itself unpredictable throughout.
The attention to detail in this story is noticeable as the writer takes his time to describe through characters interactions and scenes little things that you don’t expect in a book, at least not in book written by a regular author, so this is definitely a plus.
The cop scenes, the investigation, the details, the tension, the thriller of a chase, everything that makes a criminal thriller worth remembering is there, but unlike the first book, Four isn’t that twisted or macabre. There is a higher focus on the cops, on the investigative work and the chase of the now four mass-murderers that are onto a joy-ride/killing spree in order to fulfil their twisted needs, while playing with the state cops and the FBI.
If you like TV shows that are cop-driven, like NCIS, CSI and others, well, you’ll love this book and appreciate the attention that MJ Preston put into the whole process, making it vivid and real with his incredible narrative, plotting and descriptive ability with a highlight to the superb mental analysis, construction and de-construction of the minds of the main characters, specially Lance’s internal struggles with himself and the points of view that MJ Preston lays in front of us, as readers, through masterfully put body language descriptions and perceptions of those cues from other characters. That was incredible! An intense and gripping read indeed.
Pros:
- Excellent emotional profile development of characters, specially Lance
- Excellent narrative
- Excellent pace
- Excellent and unpredictable plot
- Excellent body language layout
- Great interaction within characters
- Great plot development pace. It’s not something too fast, nor slow, the story isn’t hurried up and there are lots of cool side stories
- No plot-holes
- Breath-takingly engaging
- The ending tells us that this isn’t over yet and leave us wanting more
Cons:
- The focus on the police works, did light-up the novel when it came to brutality when we compare to the first title
Scribble's Worth 