Distracted: A Thriller

Shell #1

by Phillip Thomas Duck

For fans of Lee Child, Walter Mosley, and Barry Eisler, comes a novella about hard men, and even harder choices...

TWENTY-FOUR HOURS

Shell, a killer-for-hire, is the hardest of these men. Nevertheless, someone has infiltrated his Network. They have the five women closest to him. And they will start murdering these women—one every twenty-four hours—unless Shell meets their demands. Just one demand, actually: kill Roger Coke. But killing Coke, a brutal gun and drug trafficker, is no easy task. Making the job even more difficult is the sudden presence of Coke's girlfriend, a stunning beauty in desperate need of a savior. But why must her greatest moment of need come just as Shell is set to make his kill?

Killing is tough business, especially when you're...

DISTRACTED

70 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 10, 2011

About the author

Phillip Thomas Duck is the author of several traditionally published adult and young adult novels. EXCUSE ME, MISS(Romantic Suspense) and ONE QUICK KISS(Sexy Short Stories) are his first two independently published e-books. His third, MODESTY, was released February 2011 and his latest crime thriller, Distracted in April 2011. He resides in New Jersey with his wife and daughters.

Reviews

[TC · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up as a freebie, on the basis of the suggestion it was similar to Lee Child's books. Shell is a hitman whose network has been uncovered. To prevent his Five women dying he must kill one man. That man, Roger Coke, is no easy mark, surrounded by hard cases and a beautiful woman who diverts Shell's attention from the job at hand. This is a novella that dives straight into the action and has a gritty feel about it. While it is well written and oozes dark and dangerous I felt that the characters were a bit flat. Coke's girlfriend could have been a character I sympathised with, but there wasn't enough of her history to illustrate exactly how bad her life was that she found herself in a relationship with him. The other hitmen felt a bit one dimensional too.

I also thought that some of the keys to the progression of the plot were a little unclear. Shell makes more than one visit to an individual related to his target for information but either I was paying attention or there was nothing to indicate how Shell knew of him.

I liked the author's style and the feel of the book but this novella didn't really do the story justice. I was originally going to give this 3 stars but coming back to do the review a day after finishing I only feel lukewarm about it, hence the 2* rating.