‘The Man Who Hunted Himself’ by Lex Lander

The Man Who Hunted Himself

Former Secret Service operative, André Warner, faces a challenge of a different kind when he’s offered a contract by an American racketeer. Trouble is, the job is to kill the assassin who knocked-off the gangster’s own brother. While Andre might have few qualms about taking out a fellow hitman, the job becomes more dangerous when he discovers the identity of his target.

Unable to turn the job down, Warner sets out to gather information from the dead man’s widow and finds himself drawn to her in more ways than one. But as their relationships develops, the stakes grow ever higher and the chances of getting out of the assignment alive begin to look decidedly dodgy.

In the third volume of Lex Lander’s ‘André Warner, Manhunter’ series, our hero takes on his biggest challenge yet – one that might result in a change of direction for him. Lander skilfully slides his characters into a messy knot of danger and intrigue that pushes his protagonist into several corners at once. As always, the geographical locations are beautifully described and the characters never fall into the two-dimensional outlines so common in this genre.

After reading the first two books in the series (End as an Assassin and I Kill), I did start to wonder if Andre Warner would continue his career as a hired gun or put an end to it all in favour of a safer, more sedate lifestyle. In The Man Who Hunted Himself, such a scenario may well be on the cards, but as usual, Mr Lander gives no quarter. The denouement is such that we are left with a teasing what-if? scenario – one that could well continue this particular storyline into the next volume.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – Lex Lander writes about killing people like he really knows what he’s talking about. Scary man, brilliant books.