Eighteen-year-old Connor Dunsmore was about to begin his professional hockey career as the top NHL draft pick when an on-ice accident shattered his life’s dream. Eight years and over five hundred stitches later, he’s become a fan favorite as an enforcer for the Boise Bombers of the United Professional Hockey League.
Off the ice, Connor also moonlights as an enforcer for Costache Ojacarcu, the Bomber’s owner, and head of a discrete Romanian organized crime operation in the Treasure Valley. What started out as running simple errands for extra money to supplement his meager hockey salary has evolved into collection, intimidation, and retribution.
After becoming an unwilling accessory to murder, Connor’s life begins to spiral out of control. When he rescues a prostitute from an abusive drug dealer, he begins to dig himself in even deeper, and soon realizes how entrenched he truly is.
This story should have been a bust. I don't follow hockey-the lead character is a hockey player. I don't read mob stories-plot centered around a Romanian crime family. And yet, I loved it! The characters were well developed and believable. You quickly felt like you knew them on a personal level. The plot was fast paced, an edge of your seat thrill ride with a lot of suspense. I wasn't expecting the ending. That caught me by surprise. Though I shouldn't have connected with this plot, I did. A very emotional story that is sure to suck you in and have you rooting for the good guy!
Fast paced, detailed,could not put the book down. I felt as much a part of the main character as I possibly could. I lived his life, good and bad from page one to the epilogue. A must read book!
I have never watched more than 30 seconds of an ice hockey game, but have Canadian friends. Nuff said, I suspect. So I gave this a go, and really enjoyed it. I liked the fact that characters had emotions. So often tough guys are written as emotional as rocks. But no human being is unless way beyond being human any longer. PTSD is real and brave tough people can get it. Horror affects. I liked that people behaved badly, even good people. Complexity is interesting.
The story was not that interesting. I kept reading trying to get somewhere. It isn't that there weren't places that kept your interests; it was so slow in developing. I kept speed reading to get to what was developing into a feel-good ending--which is good.
Enforcer is a great piece of fiction, well written, lots of action, lots of details. Beautifully integrated story of an Enforcer; a lot can happen in the place where Hockey and Crime meet, and nothing feels fake here. The characters are gritty, hard, and many of them respect only two things: money and power. But there is empathy here, too. You feel for Connor, for the situation he's become trapped in because of his love of the Game. You'll find other characters to love, to hate, to have ambiguous feelings for; they're all *people* given life by Travis Hill's exceptional storytelling. Honestly, there's so much I want to say, but I love it so much that I'd hate to spoil it for you! I've read this at least twice, but somehow, I never managed to write a review... until now.
I didn't know it had anything to do with hockey when I picked it as a freebie from Amazon.com. But knowing a lot about hockey didn't matter. At times the blood and such was a bit much but the story was such that I couldn't stop reading it. I kept having to go find my Kindle so I could read more.
Keeps you entertained throughout. I would recommend this book to anyone. The characters are great. You want to find out what happens to them in the end.
The book was very slow to start for me. I almost gave up on it a couple of times. A little over half way through the story picked up and I was able to stay with the book.
Put c. all together, a good read. At times, too much of a sob story. Found myself skipping paragraphs and sometimes pages, but the story line kept my interest
Not a womans book. I like action and adventure, but sports are boring. I'll take a sniper spy over a hockey jockey with his head in his pants any day. Just couldn't make myself finish this book.