In the savage world of hired guns, Malakai is a legend, a god, a trigger-puller without peer. His childhood innocence twisted by an abusive father, blood and bullets have become his religion. He sells his lethal skills to the Company, the quintessential lone wolf assassin.
When Malakai is contracted to stop a powerful Japanese crime syndicate from blackmailing the chairperson of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he discovers someone is playing Judas and he needs to figure out who it is before he gets burned.
As the chaos and carnage escalate, his life gets complicated by the arrival of a mysterious woman who may have even more scars on her soul than he does. But is she really who she says she is? With betrayal all around him, Malakai knows one wrong move could cost him his life.
When the Syndicate hires a pair of ruthless assassins to hunt him down, Malakai knows the only way to survive is to fight fire with hellfire. In a scorched earth showdown, he’ll take the war right into the black heart of the Syndicate and as the bullets blaze, discover what truly matters most.
Mark Allen specializes in tough, uncompromising, hard-hitting fiction. He uses words like a scalpel, carving through the surface layers to rip open the dark, shadowy corners of the soul.
He won his first short story writing contest at the age of 16 with "Fatal Love," the true life tale of his uncle's sacrificial death in Vietnam, and shortly thereafter published several poems in various anthologies. His short stories have appeared in "Night Terrors" horror magazine and his romantic action novel "The Assassin's Prayer" was optioned by Showtime for a feature-length cable TV movie. His horror script "Gristle" was a semi-finalist in the prestigious 2010 Slamdance Horror Screenplay Competition where it was called "a perfect blend of high drama and blood-and-guts slasher horror."
Mark Allen currently lives in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York with a wife he loves, two daughters he adores, a pair of cats he hates with every fiber of his being, a dog who doesn't care that he exists, and enough firepower to ensure he is never bothered by door-to-door salesmen.
If you're a serious action-adventure fan, grab this novel now -- it's a page-turner. The combat's fast and furious and there's a solid plot to support it, with cool twists along the way. Plus, the book's smartly formatted, always a welcome feature. Great job!
Malakai grew up in an abusive childhood causing him to eventually kill his dad. Now as an adult he turn his killing skills and is a paid assassin as he tends to keep to himself.
But when a relative simple job turns him into a target by another group, his world starts quickly. He meets a whore who past is just as messed up as his as they fall for each other. But can she really be trusted when he learns who she is?
As the two decide to change their present occupation will they be allowed to get out with their lives? A thrilling read that moves along at a nice pace.
Mark Allen – The Assassins Bk 2 – The Assassin’s Betrayal – Reviewed 8/2/21 – Read 7/23-24/21
The past will eat you if you let it, or is that just to assassins? Ah, but can the future be better?
Malakai and Gabriel Asher were partners in the past until Gabe went solo, then the Company decided to take him out. He had recently taken off time to help Gabe and Larissa reunite and disappear because that was what friends did for each other. Of course, he didn’t tell anyone that was what he was doing. He had stayed with the Company even though he thought they had made a mistake about Gabe. Honing his skills till he had become the archetypal lone wolf assassin. In all of this, he has kept his life to himself with only one or two friends.
When he got the orders to stop the Syndicate (the Japanese crime organization) from blackmailing the Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman, Malakai unearthed that someone has been playing Judas, he realized that this could backlash him if he didn’t put a stop to it. As the battle rages he meets an enigmatic woman, named Shiomi, but he can’t be sure of her or who she really is? One thing he knows is she is even more screwed up than he is. Then to make matters worse he finds out that the Syndicate has hired an assassin to track him down, he will have to use all of his skills to survive this. Knowing only that someone has sold him out, but he can’t be sure who it is, he had been so careful not to leave himself open to just this sort of thing.
Join Malakai as he struggles to win this war and take out the killer on his trail, and what about Shiomi?
What did I like? This is the second book in The Assassin Series, and it is amazing. It rockets across the pages with so much action that I had to hold on to my chair. I was so impressed with the style and the included details that make a storyline complete. It certainly shows that Mark has done his homework when it came to the research for his series. After I read his bio, I understood completely why his books are so good, I mean anyone that has been raised by an ancient clan of ruthless ninjas has to know what he is talking about, Right?
What will you like? After book one, you know that this book is going to be filled with so much action that the pages will be on fire as you go through. The new characters will make you drop your jaw in awe of how clever Mark was in creating the remarkable backgrounds that carry the storyline to the height of drama and excitement. You will again be amazed at Mark’s knowledge of the tools that are utilized in the field of assassins. But of course, his research on the intricate Syndicate operations is outstanding, then add to that a little of the Japanese cultures, all this will have your eyebrows raised in appreciation. Another excellent storyline that will have you for the second time burning the midnight oils. The second book in The Assassins Series, “The Assassin’s Betrayal” is available NOW!!!