Caleb Book Review

Caleb by Jeff Menapace

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Popcorn action anti-hero that was a fun read.
I was craving an action thriller and this one sounded quite interesting and was well-reviewed and with KU I thought why not? Well, it was certainly full of action and our anti-hero ticked all the cliché boxes. Kickass tick, badass tick, tough-as-nails tick, damaged past tick, narcissistic and full of sass tick, strong moral code tick and, for you John Wick fans, loves his dog TICK.

I have to say I enjoyed the book and the story which held much promise. I’m not sure I liked Caleb exactly, he barely tolerated his assistant who along with the rest of his ‘team’ seemed to love the guy though it was hard to see why or what brought them into Caleb’s inner circle to make them feel as loyal as they did. Really, the only one Caleb treated with any real affection was the dog. That’s fine, it worked and with hints of his tortured past and with further books in the series maybe that backstory stuff will all come out. I have to say, his therapist certainly went above and beyond her professional requirements and she did it all for us (that’s you and me pilgrim).

So what is it about? Well, Caleb is a gun for hire, a hitman so to speak only he has a code, he only takes jobs on people who deserve to be punished (which in plain speak means killed, often brutally so and which Caleb takes way too much pleasure in). When Caleb takes a job that is all but impossible for him to turn down it goes suddenly sideways on him. I don’t want to give any spoilers but suffice it to say Caleb finds himself turning from hunter to hunted and his hunter has deep pockets.

Fast-paced and full of action this book was a quick, easy and fun read. It was boldly unrealistic and is what I call popcorn action, you know like those fast-action Jean-Claude Van Damme movies of the 90s or a Diehard movie, add a teaspoon of Smokin’ Aces and a splash of Hard Target and you get the picture (unless you are twenty-something and thinking ‘what the hell are you talking about’ and if you are one of those people then I can only encourage to go watch a few or indeed all of said movies).

So my criticism. It was over too quickly with no real character depth even for Caleb other than the ‘addition’ of his dog to show his soft side. The villains were all caricature villains with no effort to develop them so we can see what made them tick, other than an introductory scene to show us how badass, evil or psychotic they were (but also how good they were at killing). It all felt pretty shallow in all honesty and really, Caleb is a massive, self-centred @%^& and is as guilty as any of the villains for what transpires. I can’t believe he wasn’t arrested for what he did and what he brought to the doorstep of Hicksville USA. If you read this book you will see what I mean. The ending showdown too I found a little disingenuous. And, as for the bad guy who fell for the old gravel-in-the-eyes trick, shame on you evil dude, shame on you, totally unprofessional!

For the record, Caleb is not as clever as Dexter though he may be as twisted, nor is he as badass as John Wick or for that matter Jack Reacher. If I was being generous Caleb Lambert sits somewhere in the middle of those orbits. I can only hope in the next book we get to understand a bit more about Caleb’s past and what makes him tick.

That all being said I did enjoy the book and if you are looking for a fast-action story with a broken protagonist who has a penchant for kickarsery then you might too. So give this book a go.




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