The Assassin was my intro to the fictional worlds created by Jay Deb. Approached by the author to review his book, I went to Amazon's site to learn more about it - namely the book description. It intrigued me but I noticed the low star ratings.

Preferring to leave only 4 or 5 star reviews, fearing I might not be able to leave such a high star rating for The Assassin, I mentioned my concerns to Mr. Deb. A few weeks later, he informed me that revisions had been made to correct the issues some people had with the initial version. I bought the book and am happy I did.

The Assassin is a real page-turner, a book which should not be opened unless you have several hours at your disposal to do nothing except read.

Introduced to many characters from various walks of life, I noticed that most of them had some type of criminal background - whether they were criminals or people trying to fight the criminals.

Sometimes it was hard to discern the good from the bad. After all, who sends a man out to hunt and kill another? Can such behavior be justified, even if it's in the name of an entity of the government? Is it right to destroy one in the hopes of saving another? Is it right or wrong, or filled with shades of gray?

The Assassin has made me wonder about reality and whether some of the situations occurring in the world really happen as they are reported or whether there are hidden stories surrounding the events. 

The story definitely made me think and carried me from one part of the world to another. Even at the end, I still had questions about whether there was a cover up - whether Max was used, believing he was doing something of national importance when, perhaps, one agency had their own agenda.

There is one aspect of the story I would have liked to see developed a little more, however, and it involves the death of Max's son and his reaction to it. It seems that he can push his grief aside when working on an assignment - until he hits American soil and his son's face is the first thing he sees.

Granted, there were better glimpes of his grief at some points - especially the anger he feels towards his son's murderer and his need to seek revenge. However, it would have been nice had he even sat down once or twice and just reminisced about his son, sharing a memory or two with the reader.

All in all, though, I was impressed with the telling of the story and am looking forward to reading the next Max Doerr thriller. I hope I don't have to wait long to find out what happens next.

If you would like to learn more about this story, feel free to visit its page on Amazon.