Title: The Hitman and the Thief

Author: Richard Dee

Published: 1. September 2020

Genre: Sci-Fi

Part of a series: No

Rating: 🐝🐝🐝

( Bee’s Rating System: 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 This is an extraordinary read;
🐝🐝🐝🐝 I love it; 🐝🐝🐝 It was ok; 🐝🐝 There were a lot of problems; 🐝 I could not read it)

In one sentence: An exciting journey through a crazy world but not quite my thing

From the blurb of “The Hitman and the Thief”:

Assassination can be a messy business, especially if you’re having a bad day. Dan Jones is the ultimate problem solver, the hitman for crime boss Fliss Bauer.
Fliss has a rival, Kalindra Dallin. She runs a particularly unpleasant planet. Dan is told to arrange her demise. It’s just another job; until a random event means that it all goes horribly wrong.
To save his skin, Dan is forced to try again, only this time he has to work with a partner. He doesn’t want to but it’s the only chance he’s going to get; if he wants to put things right.
Can the hitman and the thief get the job done, more importantly, can they keep each other alive?

My Review: You probably should not take on a book review just when you start chemotherapy. It’s a long journey to health, and the chemicals bugger more with your mind than you anticipate. Well, at least I didn’t expect mind fog on a big scale. 

On the other hand, it is such a wonderful thing to escape your exhausting reality into a faraway world where two strong females fight for supremacy over their planets. Struck between are Dan the hitman & Lydia the thief. Not by choice, of course, which gives their interactions so often enticing tensions while figuring out how to finish their job.

These tensions kept me reading even though I could not entirely sympathise with either character. They are well-drawn but aren’t the sort of character’s I love to follow. Too business-like and sleek, I guess. They kept my interest well enough because I really wanted to know if they’ll be a couple or if Dan stays with Hesta Fliss’s right-hand woman. Sorry, for this romantic streak. 

Richard Dee is brilliant in his world-building and bringing in a technical reality that makes you feel like you are right there. You can smell the fumes and feel the cold wind blow over an industrial planet lead like a dictatorship. However, I enjoy reading about the psychological development of characters. 

Where do they come from? Why do they act the way they do? And while “The Hitman and the Thief” tells enough about the character’s pasts I couldn’t quite feel their realities. I feel though that is simply a question of preference.

The fast-paste twists and turns in this story are exciting and make you want to read all night long. The characters carry the story wonderfully, and I really didn’t expect the end. So, all in all, it was a good reading experience but just not quite my thing. 

If you like to read sci-fi brimming with action and worlds that make you want to go and explore then this book is for you. Richard Dee has written many books, and I am going to explore more of his work once I feel better. 

Beta Readers comments:
“Richard’s latest book, The Hitman and the Thief, takes the reader on a twisting journey through different worlds. The action moves swiftly, with unexpected twists and turns. As usual, Richard’s excellent technical knowledge conveys a gritty reality with ease. This is a fun read, hard to put down and I sure hope there is a sequel in the making.

Purchase Links.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53350972-the-hitman-and-the-thief
 http://mybook.to/Hitman-and-the-Thief

Author Bio –
Richard Dee is from Brixham in Devon. Leaving school at 16 he briefly worked in a supermarket, then he went to sea and travelled the world in the Merchant Navy, qualifying as a Master Mariner in 1986.
He has also worked as an Insurance Surveyor, Lockmaster, Harbourmaster and Ships Pilot, taking over 3,500 vessels up and down the Thames, passing through the estuary, the Thames Barrier and Tower Bridge.
Since the publication of his first Science Fiction novel, Freefall, in 2013, Richard has written another twelve novels, a textbook and a selection of short stories. He has been featured in several anthologies, including 1066 Turned Upside Down and Tales from Deepest Darkest Devon.
He writes Science Fiction and Steampunk adventures and also chronicles the exploits of reluctant amateur detective Andorra Pett.
Richard is married with three adult children and three grandchildren.

Social Media Links –
If you’d like to know more about my writing, my website is richarddeescifi.co.uk. Head over there to see what I get up to, click the FREE STUFF tab or the My Novels and Short Stories tab to get all the details about my work and pick up a free short story. Why not join my newsletter and get a free short story, unavailable anywhere else.

I’m on Facebook at RichardDeeAuthor and Twitter at Richard Dee Sci-Fi

My Amazon author page is here.
My Goodreads page is here.

This review is part of a book tour by Rachel’s Random Resources. Please check her page out for new books, author promotion- and review-opportunities.

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