A gritty, intense and gripping mystery/crime novel.
Ames's prose is excellent, and will pull you into the story. Very much recommended. (Also, check out the movie adaptation.)

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free e-book of this rather short story, which is action-packed, dark and a really quick read -you can read the whole book in one sitting-. The central character, Joe, is an ex-marine war veteran with a history of familial abuse who is hunted by the memories of the monstrous atrocities he witnessed in the battlefield. Joe now works as a ''blacklist freelancer'' in cases of abduction. Joe likes to think that his work restores some kind of balance and justice in an unfair world where those who have the power abuse the weaker members of society. In the first third of the book, the reader gets acquainted with the central character gloomy thoughts and the plot begins when Joe is hired by a U.S. Senator in order to find his underaged daughter who works as a sex-slave after being abducted from a highly-connected and protected, prostitution ring. The story has a nice twist towards the end, but what keeps the reader glued to the text is J. Ames stylised prose which makes ''You Were Never Really Here''' an unforgettable reading experience. The writer manages in a liitle more than one hundred pages to outline a character who reminds the reader of Travis Bickle (''Taxi Driver'' by M. Scorcese) and for whom we feel sympathy despite his extraordinary violent deeds. There is not even one unnecessary phrase in this tightly-plotted and structured short novel and i can recommend it to everyone who is tolerant to descriptions of violent acts and not to the faint-hearted. It is worth mentioning that i haven't seen the movie yet, so my review concerns only the book.

What. A. Wild. Ride.

I found out about this book via the movie of the same name, which I'm sure is driving a lot of new readers here.

If this movie is anything like the book(which I'm sure it will be based on the trailers), I know I'm going to love it as much as I did the book. I'm a sucker for these gritty noir thrillers and Ames' work is no exception.

Joe, a vet, and ex-FBI agent turned hitman is hired to rescue a politicians daughter from a brothel in NYC. Things end up taking a turn for the worst, leaving Joe with his hammer to bash his way out. I couldn't believe it when I got to the end, all I wanted was more.

**I received an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

The tone and pace of this novella are set in the first sentence with a blindside attack on Joe. From that point on, it is a short, brutal sprint to the finish.

Joe is a severely traumatized individual that specializes in exfiltrating children from sex trafficking rings. No longer able to function within the bounds of societal norms required to hold down a government job, Joe freelances. After the job he accepts from a state senator goes south, Joe goes about setting things right with the help of his favorite on-the-job tool - a hammer.

I appreciated that even though Ames writes a violent novella he does not revel in sexual violence and address sex trafficking without being gratuitous.

A short novel created to be a tie-in to a movie starring Joaquin Phoenix and certainly one that will shout out - See This Film!!! Joe is a former Marine and also previously an FBI agent. A very abusive childhood has left him mentally damaged beyond any real chance of repair. He lives with his grandmother in the borough of Queens, New York city and is as much a loner as any human can be. He earns a livelihood through the act of rescuing young girls from kidnapping and being forced into prostitution.
The novel opens as he successfully completes one assignment and receives another job rescuing the daughter of a New York State senator. The senator himself talks to him and advises that the girl is being held in a brothel in Manhattan by the mob. The assignment leads Joe into a situation that involves criminal mobs, and high level conspiracy.
Mr. Ames successfully paints a picture of a world very different than the one most of us inhabit. It is brutal, unforgiving and violent to a degree unknown to the average person. The novel in addition to being a tie-in to the film is definitely one that is leading to another book continuing Joe's activities in this violent underground world. A very well done lead in to further novels by Jonathan Ames and certainly one that will promote the movie.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free digital ARC of this book. This book is true to its title description. The reader won't be disappointed when reading this book.

Joaquin Phoenix made me read this! :-) I think the guy has an amazing ability to seek out great roles in edgy, unique films with unusual storylines. For his lead role as Joe in "You Were Never Really Here" (in some countries released under the title "A Beautiful Day"), Phoenix won the Award for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival 2017, and director Lynne Ramsay collected the Best Screenplay Award.

The movie is based on Ames' novella, which is a neo-hardboiled crime novel about Joe, an ex-Marine and former FBI agent who now works as a hitman saving young women and girls out of forced prostitution. Joe's weapon of choice: A hammer. When one of his jobs goes wrong and he finds himself caught in the dynamics between a corrupt politician and the mob, Joe fights back in a way only a man with nothing left to lose can.

Ames intentionally plays with clichés, but he pulls the strings and does not let himself get strangled by genre archetypes. Joe is one of the scariest good guys ever, and "he was aware that he was not completely sane, so he kept himself in rigid check, playing both jailer and prisoner." Mind you, there's more: "He had come to believe that he was the recurring element - the deciding element - in all the tragedies experienced by the people he encountered." And I have not even started on the things that have turned him into a self-hating Robin Hood.

So if you like to read dark crime and revenge stories, this is just the book for you. The movie trailer perfectly captures the spirit of the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6smn8BBTpo

This is a decent story that matches us with the film.

YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE follows ex-marine and former FBI agent Joe as he tries to rescue a teenager from the hands of sex traffickers. Joe is haunted by such pain an guilt in his past that he no longer cares what happens to him and engages in unreasonably risky behavior as a result. Ames delivers a well-written story, but it feels more like the middle of a book than a complete work. We get Joe's backstory but the events described could make up a whole book on their own, so it feels as though Joe's past is given short shift. Also problematic is the fact that the book doesn't really end, it just stops - without providing resolution, which was frustrating. I honestly thought that I must just be reading an excerpt of a larger novel. It was frustrating. That said, Joes is a protagonist that fans of Jack Reacher will really enjoy.