"The Good Kill" is a book with a premise that's more interesting than the plot you actually get to read. It's a bit of a let down.

I believe I enjoyed this book, however, some of the actions by the characters seemed so far fetch that I thought of putting the book down on more than one occasion. At times some of the concepts seem overly redundant that detracted from the overall story. I would read another book by this author.

I was highly looking forward to The Good Kill as the premise sounded action-packed and it seemed like just the book to get me over my slumping fantasy phase of reading. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Instead of being a helpful and entertaining reprieve, I found myself struggling to work through the pages and make any headway at all on the story.

While the concept was good and the action was generally fast paced, there were a few issues I had with this book that resulted in to being a DNF.

The main reason I did not enjoy this book was purely to do with editing. The combination of incredibly long sentences without any reprieve from small clauses to break it up, as well as the dialogue constantly referring to each person by name made this story a slow read. Each sentence felt like a paragraph and I just couldn’t begin to relate to the story when they were weighed down by an excessive use of adjectives.

It’s really a shame as a I genuinely tried to persist with this book for nearly a month. After that I decided to call it an end but the story had been just starting to gain momentum. I have the opinion that if the story had been edited differently I’d be writing a completely different review. I’m not usually one to get picky over editing but this was an unusual case where I just couldn’t get in to the story AT ALL due to the editing.

There was great potential in this book and I look forward to trying more books by Kurt Brindley in the future.

The Good Kill by Kurt Brindley
A Killian Lebon Novel #1

Do the ends justify the means? Is killing every the right thing to do? Who deserves death? Should death be simple? Is torture ever okay? And, is a person who takes justice into his or her own hands with the intent of killing someone evil ever in the right? Just a few of the questions I asked myself as I read this book.

The book begins with the brutal execution of a man who had no remorse and was as evil as they come. The “Killer” was a man who used his skill-set to to remove evil sex traffickers from the earth...and he really does an excellent job of it. Some of the scenes are graphic and violent and some might not be willing to read such but within the context of this story it does make sense.

Killian Lebon is a man who has served his country for two decades and when he is injured on a mission and can no longer serve he finds a way to feel useful and serve the world though some might question the way he moves forward with his life. His story is told in flashbacks (a few of them) that mention his service, his last mission and why he does what he does.

This book has many characters in the beginning and flipped back and forth between past and present as well as between threads of the story. The threads are eventually brought together and tied up in the end but it took me a bit of time to see what all of the threads had to do with one another.

In addition to the vigilante justice aspect of the book there are women to save, Russians to thwart and the beginning of a potential romance that may or may not bloom into something more if/when the series continues. I am hoping Killian will eventually find peace and a safe place to land.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more by this author? Yes
What might I recommend? Perhaps some editing to reduce the page count to make the story a bit tighter/move more quickly.

Thank you to NetGalley and Books Go Social for the ARC – This is my honest review

4 Stars

This is a very dark, gritty well written novel, the author has handled the subject matter in a brilliant way, the characters are all three dimensional and so life like.

Killian Lebron had been a Navy SEAL for 20 years until one mission got him severely injured, his career as a SEAL is over, but like a lot of servicemen, that have been doing this for such a long time it is so difficult for them to adapt to home life, all Killian has known for all those years is to fight in a war and to live a regimented life. He is in a state of anomie, where he doesn’t belong at home having been away for so long, but he no longer belongs with the SEALs.

The opening scenes of the book involves the execution of men who have been involved in the business of sex trafficking. Lebron is the vigilante doing what he believes should be done to these people for the heinous crimes they have committed. He films them reading statements, admitting to their crimes, and involvement in the sex trafficking business, he then kills them. These films go viral, with everyone wanting to know who this assassin is cleaning up the filth off the streets.

The story gives flashbacks giving the reader more information about Killian’s tragic past, the death of his mother, the Catholic Priest who became a father figure to Killian, because his real father had got involved in more and more things. You learn of the incident in Afghanistan, that has made Killian the way he is. Also how R.J fit in his life in the early days.

Killian wants to continue to do what he does best, but his injuries have put paid to that. He is haunted by his last mission. He feels he let the young women and girls down. He also knows they have probably been sold on as sex workers by ISIS.

Killian has PTSD, and as has happened in a great number of cases in real life, he was given no support, he has lost all faith in the system, that has let him down. The fact he turns to vigilantism, to him he sees this as morally right, he sees it that he is ridding the world of evil, if he doesn’t then these people will continue to exploit others, for their own gains. Killian wants to stop them. He makes a decision to do what no one else is willing to do, he isn’t afraid to dirty his hands. But at what cost? How far is he willing to go? When people he loves are put in danger, what decision will Killian make? If he makes the wrong choice can he live with himself?

There a lot on unlikeable characters in this book, one group of people being sex traffickers, as well as drug pushers, at times some of the things are tough to read, but the author deals with the subject matter as delicately as possible to portray the evil doers.

R.J.Gunther has loved Killian since they were young, their relationship didn’t work out years earlier, I won’t say what happened as it will spoil part of the story.. she is kidnapped by the bad guys and now Killian has to find her and rescue her if he can.

The characters in this are so well written, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and despite the very dark subjects, sex trafficking, there is a lot of violence but that’s not there just for the sake of it, it’s done as it’s necessary to the parts of the story. It’s not done for shock value.

This is a really great read, although not for every taste obviously, with the subject matter involved, it is a very dark and gritty novel. But these things happen for real.. The sex trafficking of young girls/women. Not an easy subject to cover but I think praise to the author here for the way it is handled. Great drawn out characters both the good and the bad.

Thank you to #Netgalley and #BooksgoSocial and #Kurtbrindley for an e ARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

If you are after quantity of words and not quality of story, this is a book for you. Filled with long and unnecessary rants, as well as lots of factual errors, this is not a book for me.

This is an extremely dark book and isn't for the faint hearted it also isn't a fast read like a lot of books are these day By the time you have finished it you will have felt like you have fallen through the gates of hell

Is cold blooded killing ever justified that is the question you will ask yourself as you read this book and I have to tell you to me this killer is a hero he is taking out the scum of the earth and when all legal channels are either paid off or powerless he is the one you would want on your side. Killian Lebon is an ex-Navy SEAL Senior Chief who was badly injured in a mission where he was trying to save girls sold as sex slaves by Isis and when he finally recovers from his injuries that becomes his mission in life This book is not for the squeamish there is plenty of torture and fairly graphic scenes but if that doesn't worry then I am sure you will love this story