Deadlock by James Byrne

Published by Minotaur Books on August 8, 2023

It would be difficult to find a more likeable tough guy protagonist than Desmond Limerick. He isn’t a pacifist, but he prefers to avoid violence when he can. Unfortunately, he has a tendency to make enemies who want to kill him. He might kill to solve a problem on occasion, but he has a moral compass that limits his use of violence for retribution. He can be creatively nonviolent when people need to be punished. There are nevertheless times when he concludes that threats must be eliminated to protect people he cares about.

Deadlock is the second novel about Dez, a former soldier from the UK who attained the legendary status of gatekeeper. He opens locks and gates and holds them open until the mission is complete. He’s retired from a military life and isn’t seeking similar work in the private sector. Rather, he’s moved to the US where he plays his guitar and enjoys his life. At least, that’s the goal.

A young woman named Raziah, whose band Dez occasionally joins, asks him to help her sister, who has been facing threats in Portland. Laleh was writing a profile of a forensic auditor who was looking into Clockwork, a Portland tech firm that does all sorts of good around the world. After the auditor died, someone apparently worried that Laleh learned something from him that she shouldn’t know.

Dez goes to Portland, thwarts thugs who plan to kill Laleh in her hospital room, then makes a plan to keep the sisters safe. In the long term, that plan requires him to learn why Laleh has been targeted so he can eliminate the threat. As he unlocks various doors, he learns that Clockwork has been infiltrated by criminals who have a clever scheme to gain and shelter ill-gotten wealth. I won’t discuss the details but I will say that, while some of their criminal tactics are familiar, the ultimate criminal goal it’s a surprisingly original. Kudos to James Byrne for coming up with something new.

Dez endeavors not only to keep the sisters alive, but to help the older sister understand her younger sibling. He makes a new female friend (a Russian bar owner named Veronika) and patches up a relationship with a British SIS agent whose career he might have destroyed during his gatekeeping days. The novel’s plot and subplots arrive at tidy resolutions. Is there anyone who doesn’t enjoy a well-crafted thriller?

Dez’s attitude, reflected in snappy and very funny dialog, contributes to his likeability. He has other traits that make him a terrific thriller hero, including humility, a sense of fair play, and fierce loyalty to his friends. Laleh is astonished that Dez hasn’t tried to sleep with Raziah, but she’s only nineteen and Dez sees her as a talented singer/songwriter, not as a conquest. He isn’t sanctimonious about right and wrong — he’s able to make flexible moral choices — but he always does the right thing, even when that he does morally questionable things for the right reason. There’s enough nuance in his character to make him interesting and enough integrity to make him admirable.

Byrne keeps the story in constant motion. Action scenes are more inventive than readers encounter in standard thrillers. Dez is often the target of shootings but he tends not to use guns. He prefers to settle disputes by outthinking his enemy but he has no problem using his fists. One powerful punch is typically all he needs to subdue a foe. He improvises weapons as needed to win battles. Dez's ability to think and plan sets him apart from action heroes whose idea of thinking is to decide which gun to use next.

Deadlock is every bit as good as The Gatekeeper. At a time when most tough guy series have gone stale, it’s good for action novel fans to have a new thriller hero keeping the genre fresh.

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The Gatekeeper by James Byrne

Published by Minotaur Books on June 7, 2022

Desmond Aloysius Limerick is my new favorite action hero. While most fictional tough guys take themselves much too seriously, demonstrating their toughness in a transparent effort to mask insecurity about their masculinity, Limerick doesn’t take himself seriously at all. He’s funny, self-effacing, completely secure, and — only when he needs to be — tough.

Limerick’s background is a mystery. He is recognized and respected by highly ranked American military officers, but he isn’t currently in the military. He apparently hails from England, although he spent time in Ireland and Scotland before branching out to the rest of Europe. He speaks Spanish and a version of English that Americans don’t easily understand. (Limerick’s complicated explanation of the phrase “He’ll have a right bull” inspires a cop to say “This is America. Speak English.”) He plays bass in a bar band. Some people call him chef, which might be French for chief, although he claims to have gained the nickname by working in many kitchens.

At this point in his life, when he isn’t playing music, Des is a gatekeeper. He opens doors, guards them, keeps them open, controls who and what passes through, closes them when the time comes. Six months ago, he was opening doors in Algeria for people with guns. Des knows his way around a gun but he doesn’t seem to need one.

When the main story starts, Des is in Los Angeles, playing in a hotel bar. On his way to his room, he flirts with Petra Alexandris, amusing Petra but not her bodyguards. He looks out the window of his room and sees a sniper, then sees thugs entering the hotel. Since Petra has bodyguards, he concludes that the thugs might be coming for her. He wanders down to her floor and nonchalantly but violently saves her from being kidnapped. They spend much of the novel together, sometimes in bed. Des has a good life.

Petra is counsel for her father’s corporation, a massive company that finances and expedites contracts for the world’s militaries. The kidnap attempt ties into a plot that involves white supremacists who are lured to central California with the promise of carving out a 51st state, just for them. The actual scheme is more ambitious and surprisingly clever. To throw a spanner in the works, Des needs to take on the supremacists, defend a nuclear plant, and cause havoc on a not-quite-closed military base. Des takes some beatings in the process, but never loses his smile. Trying to control him by locking him in a cell turns out to be futile because, after all, he’s the Gatekeeper.

The novel gets its charm from Des, one of the wittiest action heroes I’ve encountered. I laughed out loud more than a dozen times at the novel’s sly and surprising humor, often appearing in asides and non sequiturs. The reader has little time to fret about plausibility in an action-filled, fast-moving story. The Gatekeeper is a refreshing change from action novels featuring self-centered tough guys whose personality is based solely on being tough. Des’ personality is based on being kind, smart, funny, disarming, and good with doors. His toughness is a quality he feels no need to brag about. Des is an unconventional protagonist I look forward to meeting again ... and again ... and again.

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