The Devil's Assassin

by Brian M. Holmes

(thriller/horror/suspense) After a long day of work as a New Jersey prison guard, Linus Hather wakes up to find that his high-tech security system has caught an unexpected intruder. He calls his old college buddy who is a biology professor and he comes to Linus's house and tells him that he's captured a new man-related species (a hominid) that will change the world (in the same way that capturing a Bigfoot would)! His friend and the other scientists who come to take the creature away pronounce it as "not dangerous". But Linus has evidence (or HAD evidence) that the creature is a killer and was actually on his way to killing Linus that night. But with no evidence, he has no luck convincing anyone, even his friend, that the creature is a threat.

Much to the scientists' chagrin, not only does the creature turn out to be dangerous, but basically it's a serial killer. And if that's not enough bad news, the evidence is stacking up that there appears to be more than one "creature" out there.

Linus is set upon a path to find this killer before it kills again, but it turns out that he's pursuing the stealthiest mankiller that has ever lived and he'll need the help of many reluctant new friends from the four corners of the earth if he's going to have any success at capturing the Devil's Assassin.

170 pages, Paperback

First published April 11, 2013

Reviews

[Karen Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Devil's Assassin starts off with an improbable hero fighting an improbable beast.
Even with all that, the author Brian M. Holmes, immediately gets the reader engaged with the premise of the book that something malevolent is attacking innocent people all around the world. How could this be? Answering that question is the one motivation that makes this book so engaging, so mystifying and just so good. Science fiction is not necessarily my genre of choice, but when I read the review I was curious.

The book did not disappoint. The protagonist, Linus is a corrections officer. Early in the book the reader meets Linus, as Linus confronts 'the lurker' What is it?...how does it get so many places in the world? What is the connection between the lurker we meet and the one described at other places in the world? Well the intruder, unfortunately meets it's match with Linus but only temporarily. From that point on, the reader is taken on a wild ride with Linus, all over the world.

It is not often I read a book in one sitting, but I had to. The mystery of the intruder needed to be solved. What a rush! what excitement, and the ending is thrilling. Take a Goodread of this book.

[Christel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old school tech as this is a reprint, but remembering back to that time, accurate overall. More suspense than horror with a touch of romance but no sex. A quick read in a no nonsense style that didn't play with readers. Everything is overall "feasible" with the creature including the guard's wrestling it with his prison training. Would make a good SyFy movie - better than a lot they've made and shown. I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to review this.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started out not really like this so much, but it seemed to get a little more odd and a little creepier with each turn of the page. Apparently I am a fan of odd and creepy, because Holmes' story gets 4 stars from me!

[Lulu Pushic · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story didn't waste any time getting to the strange being which I liked. Toward the end of the book the author took a different direction than I was anticipating, but then turned the story around again.