Smoker

Atticus Kodiak #3

by Greg Rucka

Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins

The subject is BGs--bodyguards--and Natalie Trent (bred and buttered in the personal security business, where her father, Elliot, is a top player) says to Atticus Kodiak, "You know what a bad reputation BGs have. Most people on the street think a BG is a muscle-bound heavy with mirror shades, undereducated and overarmed."

Atticus, of course--as readers of Greg Rucka's explosive and intelligent books about him (Finder and Keeper) already know--is none of the above. He does tend to get involved in running gun battles in heavily populated urban areas, however, and has lost a client or two in a shootout. No wonder the very slick Elliot Trent doesn't want him as an employee, let alone a son-in-law, in a case involving the protection of an eccentric scientist about to blow the whistle on a giant tobacco company. But Atticus worms his way in anyway--and the results are as exciting and packed with fascinating inside details of the BG trade as ever. Particularly entertaining is a scene where Atticus and Natalie are hired to test the security of a safe house, using everything from unordered pizzas to volleys of tennis balls to irritate the guards. And the presence of a very spooky world-class hired killer known only as John (or Jane) Doe keeps the tension wires at maximum tightness. Another fine performance from a writer ready to move up in weight and class. --Dick Adler

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Suspense, Adventure, Mystery Thriller

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Greg Rucka, is an American comic book writer and novelist, known for his work on such comics as Action Comics, Batwoman: Detective Comics, and the miniseries Superman: World of New Krypton for DC Comics, and for novels such as his Queen & Country series.

Reviews

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may be the best Kodiak of the three I've read. These are better read in their published sequence, as I found out reading a later novel Patriot Acts upon publication ten years ago. Cigarette industry makes a great villainous background, and an assassin is the primary villain.

[Aric · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only criticisms I have with this series is that it is too short and availability is limited.
First, you have a character whose occupation is suited for strife. He is a protection specialist (commonly known as a bodyguard). The series would not suffer from what I call "Jessica Fletcher Syndrome" where a writer keeps setting up a somewhat normal person into dangerous situations.
Named after the main character in "Murder, She Wrote" constantly having murders committed in her proximity. The crime rate in her fictional town rivaled locations in what can be considered third world countries.
It is a little bit of a spoiler to say that the main character in the series does not stay in the profession however.
My other complaint is that in this digital age books in the series are hard to find unless searching through used bookstores. Some are available for the Kindle and some are available as audiobooks.
There is a book centered around one of the secondary characters that can only be found as a used book.
Anyhow... this one might be my favorite in the series. The previous two novels had Atticus Kodiak (don't thriller novels have to have the main character either have an unusual name or names with only one syllable?) reeling from personal losses in the prior two novels which damaged his reputation in the industry. A combative head of New York City's largest protection firm seemingly throws him a bone by hiring Kodiak on a seemingly pointless and easy bodyguard job but things are not as simple as they appear.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is fun and quick read, and it definitely falls into the thriller category. Kodiak's professional career still has not recovered from the setbacks (personal and professional) that happened in book 1. Competitor, and father of fellow personal security agent, Trent tosses Kodiak a lifeline. It's supposed to be an easy, and short security gig to try and get Kodiak over the hump.

Except, Trent was not fully forthcoming about the job and his deception puts lives in danger, not just Kodiak, and Trent's own daughter Natalie. The person they were assigned to protect was pretending to be the witness in a case against a BIG tobacco company. Said witness was the company's chief researcher and is going to testify as to how the company makes their product more addictive.

The repercussions of this testimony are such that the company has hired one the best assassins in the world to kill the witness.

Arguably everyone is outclassed by this assassin.

Rucka, if I recall correctly was with Army CID, and attended their personal protection course. He brings a sense to detail how personal security (i.e. bodyguards) would really work even in a near hopeless situation.

A minor issue is that this installment probably has the least amount of characterization of Kodiak, which I would say was the strongest point of the first two novels.

[Oli Turner]

The third atticus kodiak novel dealing with the protection of a witness from a professional assassin. There are a couple of really fascinating chapters describing the process of auditing a protection detail.
rucka’s style and writing is becoming much more polished. Its a lean tight thriller with some very effective cliffhangers at the end of most of the chapters. Drama is an intriguing character and I want to know more about her. Interesting choice to have Bridgette only referred to and not actually appear throughout the entire book. A few plot threads left unresolved but I can use my imagination to tie those off. An explosive conclusion, very entertaining. Full of suspense.

[Harry · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this third of the Atticus Kodiak series, we find that the tobacco industry will go to any lengths to prevent damaging testimony with regard to cigarette sales - even hire one of the world's most deadly assassins to eliminate a star witness. Along comes protection specialist (a.k.a. bodyguard) Atticus Kodiak to shore up the existing, and often inept, security of the that witness. Too bad he is dating the daughter of his former employer. Atticus is the strong silent type, not easily ruffled and he even wears glasses.
While there is a compelling storyline, I felt that the name of the assassin, John Doe, was rather lame. And the finale was a bit of a letdown.

[Hans · Rating 4 out of 5]

The previous two novels placed Atticus Kodiak, a professional bodyguard, with a damaged reputation, a self-demolished personal life, and a new title as guardian. Atticus is drawn into a case of protecting a former cigarette industry executive who is providing evidence on a major case. All great page-turning fodder. That probably would be enough to sell me on the story, but of course the amped up version of the book has to have one of the top ten hired assassin's in the world going after the client. Rucka writes the hell out of this silly concoction.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this series! Atticus Kodiak works as a bodyguard, protecting people at his own peril. When tasked with protection for a witness in a tobacco lawsuit, Atticus and his team come up with a plan to insure the witness' safety. However, they're up against one of the foremost assassins in the world. Also, there might be a leak in the team. Lots of action but not a lot of guns and a lot of suspense. I don't know why Greg Rucka is not more widely read!

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd like to give the first third of this book 1 star, and the remaining 2/3 can have 4 stars.

The way Rucka describes the onsite work of the guards is fascinating and engaging so the story is great once Atticus is retained and committed to his principal. Unfortunately, the book took way too long to get to that point and the set up provided was awkward, unbelievable and uninteresting.

[Jdetrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this may be favorite of the Atticus Kodiak books, although I do wish we had a little more of an ending. All of these books end abruptly, and while I understand why and don't care for overly long endings, there is more resolution here that I would like to see..

[Carolyn (in SC) C234D · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished this book back on June 22, 2004, but am unable to add that date to the “finished” slot. At any rate, I rated it eight out of ten stars at the time, although I can’t recall details now, in January 2022. (I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Keeper), as well.

[Elly Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3* Definitely an action thriller and hard to stop listening to. Just not as believable as some of the legal thrillers I've enjoyed.

[Veselin Nikolov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Приличен екшън, има и небостъргач със счупени стъкла.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I did not find it as engaging as "Finder", Greg Rucka's third installment of the Atticus Kodiak series entitled "Smoker" is a taught thriller that in some ways works as an amalgam of the elements that preceded it. There is the threat centered around a controversial subject as it was in "Keeper" but the professional vs. professional angle of the threat seems more in keeping with book two and we can see the transition the series is beginning to make where Atticus is being drawn into a world that you would not have anticipated when you cracked the spine of the first book.

"Smoker" also continues to show us how Atticus deals with his personal life and the way it affects his professional standing. He still makes some questionable decisions in regard to his relationships but they feel organic to the character and we begin to see Kodiak as the sort of person who is becoming very self-aware of his own actions. He doesn't shift blame and as a result he takes on some guilt that he shouldn't and it makes for a very interesting read. As a character, Kodiak feels very well developed because Rucka knows how to play the situations presented in such a way that they always reflect back on Atticus. Some of the side characters feel like empty vessels at times, but our protagonist is strong and with first-person narratives you have to empathize and be able to care enough about him to stay engaged. Rucka never leaves you feeling like you don't want to spend time with this character.

All in all, I greatly enjoyed book three. It evolves the series in necessary ways and does so with Rucka's talent for straightforward prose that compels long spells of reading. He's one of the few writers whose novels I can finish in a single sitting.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rucka herds a large gallery of complex characters through fun action and emotional character development. You get to see the cutting edge tech of the 90s (and realize how far we've come) and plenty of interesting characters. He seems to have dropped the shallow quirks some characters had in earlier novels which is also nice. Also Rucka has a lot of very interesting women in his books that are just as deep and strong and sexual as the men. It's easy to admire his main character's moral stance on various issues without that character suddenly becoming the man of steel. Atticus Kodiak has many flaws and at times they cost him dearly, but it just boils down to the fact that he has more wins than loses and usually comes out on top if not at least breaking even. It's obvious that Rucka nailed the mark in what he was trying to accomplish with this novel. We get to see insider secrets of the bodyguard trade, nuanced and likable characters, and entertaining action. This is easily my favorite of his novels so far and I look forward to more.

[May · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Smoker" is the third book in the Atticus Kodiak series by Greg Rucka. The author has become my favorite author in the thriller genre for his clever plots, well-rounded characters, and lack of overly gratuitous violence (although violence there is--it is the thriller genre, after all).
This book has the cleverest plot of the series, so far. Atticus Kodiak is hired to protect someone with a stalker girlfriend, and through some clever twists and turns, it turns out that that is the least of Atticus's challenges.
Intertwined with Atticus's professional bodyguard challenges are his personal challenges with a friend that he's sleeping with and a love interest that he's not sleeping with. (Like I said, it's complicated.) The secondary characters are well-written and interesting. On the other hand, the overall plot stretches credulity a bit, and I'm not a huge fan of making tobacco companies the bad guys, as happens here. But these are minor quibbles, and "Smoker" is a fast and fun read.

[Ensiform · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third Atticus Kodiak novel, in which the bodyguard is hired to protect the star witness in an anti-tobacco lawsuit. See, Big Tobacco has hired one of the Ten, as in the ten best assassins in the world, to off the former executive before he can make his damaging deposition against the company. It's a pretty thrilling 300 pages, filled with Rucka's usual attention to detail and authentically dangerous action (characters die, Atticus gets wounded, things go wrong). Still, although Rucka's female assassin does have some interesting character traits, I’m a bit bored by all these super-genius, manipulative supervillains. But leaving aside the comic-book slick perfection of the antagonist, this book hits the ground running, zips through a few twists, and never lets up the intensity.

[Daryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't often read books in the mystery/thriller/adventure genre, though I'm not sure why, 'cause when I do, I usually enjoy them. I've read Rucka's previous two Atticus Kodiak novels, and this one was a nice addition. I find it interesting that Kodiak's not a private detective or something like that, and that there's no real mystery here. Kodiak's a professional bodyguard, and his task here is simply to protect and keep alive his client. Rucka's style makes for a smooth read, and he really knows his stuff, without bogging down the reader with pointless details. Good stuff.

[John Watt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spoiler Alert!!


My favorite of the Atticus Kodiak novels. This is the book which introduces Domino. this is a great cat and mouse story of how she tries to assassinate her target and Atticus' moves to stop her. Of course Atticus prevents to assassination. It is this story which sets the tone and leads to all of the Atticus stories which follow. Great character creation and again Rucka does not fail to pull punches, while Atticus succeeds there are consequences which follow.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was my first novel from Rucka, and I made a mistake of starting with the third Atticus Finch novel. Most series detectives have a fairly loose continuity; this novel is so referential of the ones before that I found it immensely difficult to connect with the characters or even get a clear grasp of their personalities. I eventually found aspects of the plot so implausible that I stopped reading; I might go back and try again with the first book, but it will be a while.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this book, and it was a good read. I never heard of the author before, but he writes like an established writer, similar to James Patterson.
This book was the third of the Atticus Kodiak series; I'll have to read all of the books now.
Do yourself a favor and read this series, especially if you like well-written thrillers. 5 stars

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wait, didn't i say that about another Rucka book? Yeah, bit of a fan. His heroes are noble and flawed, his villains smart and motivated, and the action arely goes where the reader thinks it will. Definitely a smart roller coaster of a book and an author worth paying attention to.

[Danny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kodiak #3. Smoker as it turns out introduces a very key character in the Kodiak universe although you wouldn't know it at the time. In this book Atticus ends up protecting a big tobacco whistle blower named Pugh from one of the primier assasins in the world known only as John Doe.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, so, so good.

[Sajeev · Rating 2 out of 5]

Superficial

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rucka is awesome. I'm really enjoying these early Kodiak books, even though they don't have nearly the punch of his later work (Queen & Country is aces!)

[Jerry Pinkard · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite Atticus Kodiac novel yet.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The action didn't stop from beginning to end. Very suspenseful.

[Injuneer · Rating 3 out of 5]

one too many depositions for four stars.

[Maddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

RATING: 4.5

[Rod Zemke · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75