Logan Booth is a contract killer for the CIA he just didn’t realise who he was working for. Filled with ram packed action Logan is on the hunt for the person who has killed his oldest friend Jorge Romero an investigative reporter.

Logan is unaware as to who the perpetrators are but is determined to obtain justice for his good friend. There was a witness to the murder, Alice a homeless woman who is now in immense danger. The two join up together to bring down the culprits but this in no way will be an easy task. Bloodshed and violence will occur as these two unlikely characters come together. We learn more about them as the book progresses and the author did a great job of presenting these very different characters to the reader.

This is not a book for the faint hearted but if you love a complex and intriguing crime story this book is for you. Fast paced and thoroughly enjoyable I highly recommend this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy, all opinions expressed are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of this book!
The characters were fantastic, likeable with growth. The story was compelling and had me waiting until the next time I could read because I just wanted to know what would happen next! The underlying tonws of the book were ever present and relatable. I look forward to the next instalment in this series & definitely recommend for lovers of David Baldacci, Lee Child, Matthew Reilly & Michael Connelly.

This is an action-packed thriller, with an intriguing storyline, and many shocking twists. I was immediately hooked by the premise that Logan Booth had made a career as a contracted killer for the CIA, without having known he was working for them.

The characters, both protagonists and other key players, had excellent depth, and the writing made it easy to empathise with their psychological states, despite their pasts.

I am not usually a huge fan of gory violence, but this book was so intriguing and well-written that I enjoyed it, and felt moved by the protagonists and what they went through. Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC.

So this is going to be a real 'pros' and 'cons' type review, because I feel like The Forsaken is the sort of book that if its your thing, you're really going to enjoy it, but if not - well then the opposite...

(thanks Netgalley for the ARC copy)

The Pros

Forsaken is a very "Jack Reacher" kind of story, Logan our protagonist, is big, brutal, smart but hulk smashes with an ethical purpose. I did enjoy the started twist of the story where Logan has effectively been operating as a CIA hitman for 10 years, but under the deception that he was working for a rogue vigilante group.

The action of the story is visceral and popping, and I think Rogers really sells the character, its hard to pull-off a Reacher-style hero and I think it works in this book. The story is fast paced, and rarely boring and is a killer action piece.

The Cons

On the other side - if the above isn't your cup of tea I don't think this book will be for you. Personally while the character of Logan was done pretty well there was a point where the story and character just became an bit too try-hard for me. It wasn't so much that the MC Logan was an unstoppable physical force, its just that the constant references to his 'clarity' and 'purpose' just got a bit too cheesy, even the villains of the story seem to worship Logan in their descriptions of him - and when he refenced using Bitcoin because its untraceable I think I might have groaned out loud.

The story also suffers that weird trope where the backstory is actually better than the story, story. The first scene where we discover Logan has been duped into working for the CIA is absolute gold, but in the end doesn't actually have really any relevance to the rest of the story - Logan could have been a retired commando, a vagabond Marine, a spy on holiday all the story needed was a tough guy to get mixed up the situation and blast their way through it.

I would have loved to read a book which actually covered Logan's past exploits and then had the twist say in the middle of the book and then the fallout from that would have been intriguing. Instead our story is fairly whoa-to-go violence with a few cutaways to the villain to see some generic look how bad he is stuff, and then back to the fights.

There's also a very very silly twist towards the end of the book which just helps launch the plot into the stratosphere.

All in all, its a fun book very much in the vein of John Wick, Taken, Nobody type movies. I wouldn't pick this up for depth, but for a blast... yep!

The Forsaken is a high-octane thriller that introduces readers to Logan Booth, a seasoned assassin who discovers that his decade-long career was under the covert direction of the CIA, not the independent vigilante group he believed he served. This revelation plunges him into a crisis of conscience, questioning the morality of his past actions. ​

Matt Rogers crafts a fast-paced, action-packed tale that doesn't shy away from exploring the psychological turmoil of its protagonist. The combat scenes are intense and vividly described, reminiscent of the visceral energy found in John Wick or Jason Bourne films. Yet, it's the emotional undercurrents—Booth's internal struggles and his evolving relationship with Alice—that elevate the novel beyond a standard action thriller. ​

For fans of gritty, emotionally charged thrillers, The Forsaken delivers a compelling read that balances explosive action with profound character development. It's a promising start to the Logan Booth series, leaving readers eager for the next instalment.

Logan had unknowingly been working for the CIA for the last 10 years. Once he found out his life started to spiral. He meets Alice and they try to help each other but are they both too broken - only time will tell. Something happens to his best friend and that makes life even worse. This book was fast paced from page 1 and had me keep turning the pages to find out how it would end. This book gave me Orphan X vibes so people who enjoyed that book would probably enjoy this too. Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster (Australia) and Matt Roger's for the ARC of this book which I received for free.

This was certainly a book with a lot of activity. Right from the start there is plenty going on, and it’s not too long before the bodies are piling up.
Logan is a man on a mission. He’s been betrayed, and discovers his adult life has not quite been what he thought. When his only friend is killed, and he feels responsible, he goes on a war of vengeance. Add in an unexpected damsel in distress, and there is the recipe for action. I’d defy anyone to get bored reading this book.

The Forsaken is explosive action so be prepared to strap in for a wild ride. The characters are shady and smart. The plot is thrilling conspiracy and gets the blood pumping. A mysterious, suspense debut that truly stands out.

The story starts off with Logan finding out some harsh truth about his work. Then he spirals and finds comfort in a dear friend, Jorge.
While I like the violence and the action, truly, there's something lacking about The Forsaken that turns the story into a mindless chase and retribution. It felt monotonous after a while when the stakes were revenge and not-dying.

While there's some more human moments with Alice, not really sure what's Logan's motivation was aside from that. Great book for people who like Die Hard, because it's a lot of gory scenes, but I couldn't relate to the characters.

Well! That got the adrenaline going! Matt Rogers’ writing is so good, so fluid, that I happily devoured pages of extreme violence without batting an eye! Logan Booth is an assassin with a pure heart; this is not an oxymoron as becomes clear in the early pages of The Forsaken. He has been duped into believing his handler for the last ten years, and the consequences for that are the subject of this amazing book.

Logan takes inspiration from philosophers he has read since his days at NYU, although his degrees were in the sciences. He sees corruption in high places, and exploitation of vulnerable people all around him from his one-bedroom apartment in Brownsville, an area of New York “…ravaged by the consequences of the crack epidemic.”

Logan joins up with Alice, a crack-addicted witness he sees as needing his protection, although she has reached the point of self- destruction. Don’t start reading this in bed if you are planning on getting any sleep that night.

Logan Booth is going to be a memorable literary character, and it looks like this book is going to be the first in a series which I will definitely be wanting to follow.

I read The Forsaken in one day. Great book!

Published by Simon & Schuster

The Forsaken isn't my normal reading fodder, but I'd had a couple of slow-moving books and wanted something fast and dirty. This might be why it took a bit of getting used to. Matt Rogers writes in a very pared back minimal way. The book is hyper-violent with graphic descriptions of murdering people and injuries sustained from doing do: the orbital fracture had me wincing. There's also drug use, moralising about drug use, alcoholism, and discussions of suicide, including with methodology and dosage descriptions.

Character development isn't really a priority, though you'll probably like Logan and his new friend Alice Mason, as they kick, punch and spear their way through the hellscape they find themselves in. As for the poncy philosophy underlying why Logan is so good at killing, maybe not so much. The interesting twist was while Booth worked for the CIA, he thought he was a well-intentioned vigilante. His crisis of confidence comes from realising despite his inner feng shui hasn't stopped him from being played: "you had an extensive and easily accessible Internet search history. We knew we could use it to get you to do what you never willingly would. It's all a matter of framing." Guess the elaborate internal philosophy didn't work, it was just another version of the stories we tell ourselves to make what we are going to do anyway feel okay.

Explosive storytelling, brilliant writing and great character development bring this book alive. The novel was impossible to put down as you journeyed through adventure after adventure. Highly recommended read and worthy of five stars.

The plot held such promise, this is exactly the type of story I love to read (being a veteran) however it fell short for me due to a few things. The writing didn't feel like it flowed, many times I had to re-read a section to understand how it was relevant to the immediate moment, or plot or what it meant to the character. Because of this, it was difficult to become invested in Logan's journey. It was like I was reading a book where the author assumed I knew what was going on and gave cliff notes in parts of the chapter. Perhaps I am simply not familiar with the authors writing style however due to this, I wasn't invested in reading and learning about Logan. At times, the stakes just aren't believable either which makes certain moments feel unearned and drains the tension from those moments.

If the above (again it could just be due to myself being unfamiliar with the writing style) if this isn't a top priority for your reading requirements, it is fast paced and contains plenty of action. I think many readers would really enjoy the world of Logan!

You could give this 5 stars or 1 star, depending on what you want from your read. The plot is somewhat preposterous. Logan Booth is the main protagonist, a man who has made a career as a vigilante, knocking people off for a living, a male Eve if you like. On retirement, he is told that he has not been working as a vigilante but for the CIA. All his killings have been on contract from the CIA.

Cue a spin into self-destruction, a life not far from that of a homeless alcoholic. He meets a junkie on the streets and a streak of compassion is ignited that eventually propels him into a deep state tale of corruption at the highest level of the government. Of course, he sorts it all out, but along the way there is violence, mayhem and some twisty bits to keep you on edge. And there is enough unfinished business to generate a whole series.

If you like this sort of thing, a more violent, vicious form of Killing Eve without the humour and the class, then read it. It is a hundred-mile-an-hour tale that will pass a long-haul flight quite nicely. 5 stars if that is what you want—you won't get much better. You know the type—somewhere between James Bond, the Bourne novels, and Jack Reacher.

But, and for me, and it is a big but, if you want a believable story with well-developed characters and good writing, then give it a skip. 1 star.