Book Review: Slay Ride by Chris Grabenstein (Christopher Miller Holiday Thriller #1)

Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: Fast paced story, strong characters

Cons: Language, Gore, Villain

The Bottom Line:

Serious content

But plot keeps pages turning

A Christmas thriller

You'd Better Watch Out

Scott Wilkinson has a business meeting right before Christmas. His firm has hired him a driver for the trip to the airport, and he is not happy when his driver is late. He expected his ride three minutes ago. When the driver finally shows up, the ride is a wild one, weaving in and out of traffic, speeding, tailgating, the works. Scott is thrilled to arrive safely. He immediately calls the driving service and complains about his driver.

That was a huge mistake.

Nicolai Kyznetsoff is former KGB and pure evil. When he is fired as a result of Scott's phone call, Nicolai immediately begins plotting his revenge. He is well trained. He is patient. When he strikes, Scott may not survive.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Christopher Miller has been benched. In his glory days, he was one of the agency's top agents. Now, as the result of an off duty investigation, he's stuck behind a desk doing paperwork. He's dragged back into the field when a routine looking robbery begins to involve more.

Yes, these two plots intersect. But I'll leave it for you to discover how if you read the book.

This is the third book by author Chris Grabenstein I've read this year. I enjoyed those other books, but didn't really enjoy this one.

Don't get me wrong; the plot is wonderful. Even when I had the next plot point figured out, I was still hooked. I raced through the story to make sure I was right about what was happening and how it would all play out.

The story is populated with very real characters. A few of the minor ones come off as stereotypes, but the main characters are very real. Scott, who seems pushy at first, is actually very likeable. Chris is a hero in every sense of the word. It's easy to root for them to make it through the story unharmed.

The problem is Nicolai. When I said he was pure evil, I meant it. This guy kills often, brutally, and without remorse. I could barely stomach some of his scenes. While all of the characters use more foul language then I would like, he goes overboard. At times, he can't finish a sentence without a swear word. I can deal with the occasional bad word, but this was way too much.

On top of that, the violence is pretty graphic. I like my violence hinted at, not gory.

The book is very well written, however. By the time I realized what I had gotten myself into, it was too late. I was hooked. The book is made up of many short chapters, making it a breeze to read. Each chapter is from a different character's viewpoint, making the plot all the more exciting since we have the entire picture long before the characters do.

I've got to give Slay Ride credit for hooking me and entertaining me even when I wasn't enjoying all of it. This is supposed to be the first in a new series, but I think I'll stick with the author's original series in the future.