S
andy M’s review of Stay by Victor Gischler
Contemporary Suspense published by Thomas Dunne Books 2 Jun 15
I just happened across this book, stopped to look closer when glancing at the cover. It intrigued me enough to read the blurb. That intrigued me even further. And when I started reading? Good heavens, for a stay-at-home dad, David Sparrow’s life is full of fast-paced suspense and action. He barely leaves a reader the time to breathe between chapters.
David has been placed on leave by the military, telling him he needs rest after his last mission. He’s one of those special ops guys who go into situations that will leave them on their own if things go south. While things haven’t gotten that far for David, it seems he has lost a bit of his edge, at least according to the higher-ups. So he’s now just Dad taking care of the house and the kids while the wife, Amy, works. She’s the new ADA for New York City, which is going to cause huge and dangerous changes in their lives.
The District Attorney’s biggest case is against Dante Payne, an Italian crime boss. Finally, after so many years, they have an informant ready to put the man behind bars for good. But Payne has a long reach, and the murder of this witness just as he’s meeting Amy for the first time – and this after a break-in at their home that is beginning to make more sense – is only the beginning of Payne’s search for critical evidence in Amy’s possession, while vowing to kill anyone and everyone who happens to see it.
Now David is fighting for his family’s life, trying to stay a step ahead of Payne, bring the criminal out in the open to do what needs to be done to insure those he loves live, even at the expense of his own life. Let me tell you, there’s a few times when you think it really is the end for David in his quest to get to Payne. Left and right, he’s dodging or killing bad guys, thinking on his feet most of the time. He may have lost his edge, but he’s still damned good when he needs to be. I like that he definitely sees his edge loss during this difficult and tiring journey- he now longs for those quiet but busy days at home with the kids. He’ll even take the ribbing – when it’s good-natured – from people about allowing his wife to bring home the bacon.
I like that though the enemy does get a tiny step ahead at times and David takes a few hits here and there, the author doesn’t inundate him with things going wrong at every turn. I get very tired of that in books as well as TV shows, making you constantly think, “When are they going to get a break??” David is competent, quick, and, yes, even desperate, but he never loses sight of what’s at stake and he stays the course to the end, no matter the outcome. Mr. Gischler proves you can still have a very suspenseful story without beating your hero to a pulp or making him look out of his league along the way. I also like that David has no qualms about doing everything necessary that needs to be done to make sure his family is safe.
I’m glad to have found Victor Gischler. I’ll be checking out his backlist soon, hopefully to find more gems such as Stay. Highly recommend this book for any and all readers, suspense fans or not.
Grade: A
Summary:
David Sparrow is an awesome stay-at-home dad. He gets his kids ready for school while his wife, Amy, commutes to New York City, where she is an Assistant District Attorney. She just inherited a major case: prosecuting crime lord Dante Payne. Meanwhile, David is content chatting with the moms at school drop-off, and doing housework.
One night, David is awoken by a sound downstairs, and discovers a man in Amy’s office, going through her work documents. Instinctively, David confronts the man and a fight begins. But not a fight between a stay-at-home dad and a common burglar. No, this is a fight out of a Bourne movie and it is intense. David wins, but barely. He tries to explain to the cops that this guy was no ordinary burglar but they mostly ignore him, especially when they find out what he does for a “living.”
We now discover that David is a former Solo Ops officer, a soldier who was routinely dropped in war zones with a specific mission. If he was caught, the US government would disavow all knowledge of him. David was honorably discharged after too many missions and was excited for a quiet, normal life.
However, with Dante Payne now targeting Amy and her family, David decides to reactivate himself and take the fight to the vicious criminal lord. And Dante Payne has no idea who he’s just crossed.
No excerpt available.
