The Breaker by Nick Petrie

Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on January 12, 2021

Nick Petrie is among the handful of Thrillerworld action novelists who have managed to combine interesting, multi-faceted characters with smart plots that generate palpable excitement. The Breaker is the sixth installment in the always dependable Peter Ash series.

The story isn’t quite as down-to-Earth as Petrie’s best work, but it never travels beyond the bounds of plausibility. Petrie imagines that a reclusive tech genius named Holloway has developed a new robotic weapon called HYENAS. The semi-autonomous robots move like animals on multiple legs, have a claw instead of a head, and are equipped with an electronic gun that accelerates bullets toward targets with impressive accuracy. While Holloway could be a legitimate defense contractor who would be despicable for all the usual reasons, his greed compels him to steal the design for the power supply that powers his HYENAS. The power supply inventor gets even by hacking Holloway’s weapon design and threatening to publish it on the internet, potentially allowing anyone with a machine shop to produce an army of killer robots.

Peter Ash, his girlfriend June Cassidy, and his buddy Lewis are minding their own business when they see an armed troublemaker enter a mall in Milwaukee. Naturally, Peter and Lewis intervene. The troublemaker only seems to be interested in stealing someone’s cellphone, but shots are fired. After both the troublemaker and the cellphone owner flee, Peter realizes that the incident has been captured on something like a webcam, placing Peter’s anonymity is at risk. Lewis also enjoys his anonymity, having spent most of his life as a criminal. Hence the need to find the troublemaker and retrieve the recording, a quest that has Peter and Lewis interviewing bicycle machinists and quirky inventors.

June is a reporter who senses a story. She thinks she recognizes the cellphone theft victim from a story she covered many years earlier. Her journalistic inquiries place her at risk when the owner of the pilfered cellphone sends a hitman to kill her. Peter, on the other hand, is given an opportunity to wipe his slate clean if he helps an old frenemy who maintains an “off-books team of special operators.” All of this eventually leads to close encounters with the killer robots.

Collateral characters are the highlights of The Breaker. A young woman named Spark rises above the stereotype of gifted hacker, thanks to a backstory that creates some sympathy for a character who would otherwise be too ruthless and self-centered to be likable. A simple-minded but determined assassin named Edgar loves his work (particularly the part involving knives and torture). Edgar seems to have a hypnotic power over his victims but, unlike those victims, Edgar is quite difficult to kill.

The main characters also have full personalities. Series readers know that Peter is having trouble adjusting to the “static” that fills his head whenever he’s not outdoors. He’s also having trouble adjusting to Judy, who has no interest in being bossed around by an action hero. Lewis is the less complex wingman who, in the tradition of the action hero wingman role, likes to break things while dispensing encouraging advice to Peter.

While action gives the novel its pace, Petrie takes time to create atmosphere. He paints the novel with the local color of Milwaukee, a blue-collar city that has transcended its industrial roots, avoiding the urban decay that plagues less fortunate rust belt cities. A fun plot, troubled but likable characters, and a heartland setting combine to make The Breaker another strong entry in the Nick Petrie series.

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