The Price You Pay by Nick Petrie

Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on February 6, 2024

Nick Petrie continues a reliable thriller series in the latest Peter Ash novel. Trouble has a habit of finding Peter, interfering with his desire to live a quiet life with his wife June, the woman who helps still the noise of PTSD that would otherwise make it impossible for Peter to sleep indoors.

Peter’s good friend Lewis used to be the leader in a small group of thieves who specialized in stealing from criminals. The criminals who survived or the organizations for which they worked would like to get revenge, but they only know the thieves as the Ghost Killers. Cops think the Ghost Killers are an urban legend, but the underworld knows better.

After the Ghost Killers retired, one of their number needed help to recover from a brain injury. Teddy’s speech therapist told him to record every memory of his past in a journal. Teddy dutifully wrote down everything he knew about the other Ghost Killers and the crimes they committed. Unfortunately, he shared some of that information with his speech therapist (he was shagging her by that point and wanted to impress her). She turned out to be bad at keeping his secrets.

One of the criminals who lost money to the Ghost Killers learned about the journals. Lewis worries that if the journals are distributed throughout the underworld (or to the police), all of the Ghost Killers will be at risk of arrest or retribution. Yet the woman who wants the journals suffered a deeper loss than money, giving her a special motivation to find Lewis and the other Ghosts. She wants to go Keyser Soze on them. She hires a man to find the journals and to bring the Ghost Killers to her. The man is a former CIA agent. He’s good at his work but he learns that Peter and Lewis are formidable adversaries.

The Price You Pay is an intelligent action novel. Peter and Lewis stay true to the personalities they have developed in earlier novels. Peter is defined largely by his courageous efforts to battle his PTSD while Lewis is overcoming his dark past by making a relatively normal life with his new wife and her kids. Or course, life might not qualify as normal when Lewis is being chased by men with guns, as is often the case.

Petrie creates suspense by forcing Peter and Lewis to overcome obstacles as they track down the stolen journals and protect their families from the woman who seeks revenge. They use their wits in combination with their fighting skills, bringing a freshness to action scenes that go beyond improbable shootouts and tough guys hitting other tough guys in the throat. Their wives bring skills of their own to assist Peter and Lewis. The ending delivers the kind of tension that thriller fans expect. I’m pleased that after eight books, this series hasn’t gone stale. I hope Petrie can keep it going for a few more.

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The Runaway by Nick Petrie

Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on January 18, 2022

Peter Ash thrillers always give a fresh twist to a reliable formula. The formula involves an action hero (Reacher is probably the prime example) who roams around, either searching for or stumbling upon wrongs to right. Some action heroes have a sidekick or two (Ash has a friend named Lewis) and some have a significant other (Ash is married to a woman named June) while others roam in solitude, but they all have a loner’s personality: independent, uncomfortable in a crowd, happiest when working out their aggression by laying waste to bad guys. They have generally been damaged by life (Ash suffers from PTSD, not an unusual condition for action heroes who are part of this formula).

At an early stage in The Runaway, Ash stumbles upon a woman named Helene. She took over her mother’s waitressing job at a rural gas station in Montana. Her employer, a deputy sheriff, allowed Helene to live in a trailer in exchange for her labor. The deputy has made plain his intent to rape her when she turns eighteen. She has sex with a transient who is working a temporary job in the area, but he leaves her behind when he moves on to his next job. When a good-looking and charming stranger stops at the gas station for a bite to eat, she empties the cash register and persuades the man to take him with her.

Roy Wiley turns out to be a burglar and a serial killer. With a gang of three, he burglarizes summer homes in Colorado and high-end residences in a nine-state area. By the time Helene figures out that Roy is a criminal, she’s married to him. By the time she figures out he’s a killer, she’s pregnant. When she announces her desire to end their relationship, her pregnancy is the only thing that keeps her alive. She knows she’s trapped and she knows Roy will kill her when he does the math and figures out that the baby isn’t his.

Helene is making a desperate and unsuccessful attempt to flee when Ash finds her. The rescue is short-lived. Roy and his gang chase Ash and reclaim Helene. The story follows Ash’s effort to track down Helene, sometimes with the assistance of Lewis and June and a tough woman named Bobbie who gets dragged into the plot when Ash tries to steal her truck.

Bobbie is a strong, sympathetic character who, like Helene, has been wronged more than once in her life and has learned to survive. Helene is a complex character who does what she needs to do to survive. Nick Petrie invites the reader to consider the moral question of just how much leeway a victim like Helene should be given when she harms others to save herself. Helene isn’t necessarily a bad person but she certainly isn’t the best person she could be. She’s far from helpless but she’s also far from innocent. How readers might react to her is up to the reader. Petrie deserves props for creating that kind of ambiguity in a crime victim.

While the plot has familiar elements, it isn’t a typical “serial killer kidnaps an innocent victim” story. The plot takes interesting detours as Ash tries to catch up with Roy, while the characterization of Helene helps the novel stand apart from typical serial killer stories. The swift pace is suitable to an action novel, but the story transcends action. This is a smart novel about people in difficult situations making hard choices.

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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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Tear It Down by Nick Petrie

Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on January 15, 2019

I enjoyed Light It Up (the third Peter Ash novel but the first I read), in part because Ash is a tough guy who doesn’t act like a typical thriller tough guy. There were enough fight scenes to establish his tough guy credentials, but there’s more to Ash than the ability to throw punches. I liked him even more in Tear It Down. When a kid steals his truck, wallet, and phone, Ash lets it happen, in part because he doesn’t want to risk being shot, in part because he doesn’t want to hurt the kid. That’s a refreshing attitude for a thriller tough guy. His restraint doesn’t stop him from being an action hero when the need arises, but he doesn’t feel the urge to show off his skills just to prove his toughness. Of course, Ash wants his truck back, which adds an interesting subplot to a main story that is already more entertaining than most tough guy thrillers deliver.

A homeless boy named Ellison Bell listens as his three friends, none older than fifteen, cook up a plan to rob a jewelry store in a mall. Bell is the smart one so he does most of the planning. He’s reluctant to take the risk but against his better judgment, he does. Of course, the robbery does not end well, and Bell is hunted by one of the baddest bad guys in Memphis. That sets up the subplot.

Meanwhile, Ash is getting antsy. His broken bones have mended, and as much as he enjoys his time with his girlfriend June, he needs to be on the move. June sends him to Memphis, where her friend Wanda Wyatt, a black lesbian war photographer, is being harassed by a white supremacist.

The harassment consists of destroying her house — repeatedly, on one occasion by using a belt-loaded machine gun. That seems a bit extreme just to make a black lesbian leave the neighborhood, so Ash and the reader wonder what the real motivation might be. The answer is surprising. Surprises are always good in thriller plots.

Ash has been damaged by his experiences, making him more likable than thriller heroes who are merely self-righteous or filled with the wrath of justice (however they define it). He’s also empathic; he can relate to the damage in others. He has an affinity for Wanda, who has seen her share of carnage and might be even more damaged than Ash. Lewis, his tough guy buddy, isn’t as carefully developed, but he’s likely to grow a more detailed background in future novels.

Tear It Down offers some insight into why redneck racists blame everyone but themselves for their problems. It paints a convincing portrait of Memphis as a city that offers few opportunities to people who were not born into the privileges offered by a middle-class life. The story argues that violence is a way for the powerless to gain a feeling of power, regardless of their skin color. At the same time, it suggests that people of all races can change negative racial perceptions by being kind to each other. Maybe those aren’t original insights, but they give the novel more weight than a typical action thriller.

Still, this is ultimately a tough guy novel, which means fighting, chasing, and shooting, all unfolding in cinematic style. The plot is unusual, unpredictable, and fun. With the addition of strong characterization and a bit of philosophy, Tear It Down demonstrates that Peter Ash novels merit the attention of fans of tough (but smart) guy fiction.

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Light It Up by Nick Petrie

Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on January 16, 2018

Peter Ash has put his claustrophobia on hold long enough to do a short-term gig helping his friend Henry provide security while transporting cash from legal marijuana sales in Colorado. Nick Petrie conveys the essence of Peter and Henry in a couple of early chapters. He does it without wasting words, but he gives them depth by pulling the scabs off their lives.

A marijuana delivery goes bad and Peter finds himself in need of a lawyer. Of course, she’s beautiful, and of course, she wants to have sex with him on the night she first meets him (not entirely credible, given that sex with clients gets lawyers disbarred). But Peter has his heart set on a different woman, so readers are denied a juicy sex romp. Instead, we’re treated to some unusually entertaining action scenes as new players come on the scene, all intent on killing Peter.

The new players apparently have a connection to the state police. They also have a military connection, including Daniel Clay Dixon, a self-hating gay who spent 25 years in the Marines, a hatred that is encouraged by his church and by the southern “values” with which he was raised. Dixon is another character Petrie creates with sensitivity and perception.

Peter gets an assist from his friend Lewis, one of those good-hearted criminals who only steals from people who deserve it. There’s usually a buddy in a novel like this, and Lewis is a good one — a dark, mysterious loner who nevertheless plays the role of loyal friend.

One of the novel’s villains is a predatory businessman who makes money by purchasing companies in distress and then reselling them at a large profit. To enhance his opportunity to buy at a low cost, he causes (or enhances) the distress. That makes him a more interesting and realistic villain than the cartoon terrorists that obsess lesser thriller writers.

Did I mention the action scenes? A car chase across a golf course would be a great movie scene. Petrie manages to make it come alive in the reader’s imagination. The last few chapters are filled with nonstop shooting and stabbing and punching. I dismiss most action scenes in tough guy novels as being borderline ridiculous, but the ending of Light It Up is both exhilarating and convincing.

The plot travels in unexpected directions as it explores the legal marijuana business and the trouble it creates for key characters. And while I wouldn’t want to know most of the tough guys who dominate thrillers, Peter Ash is intelligent, troubled, and interesting — meaning he’s not a tough guy at all, despite his toughness. That makes Light It Up an appealing novel.

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