Rob Hart (1) (1982–)

I have to confess that I have issues with most time travel stories—it seems to me they rarely get the issues right (e.g., don’t address possible time paradoxes, chaos theory and the butterfly effect) and often just use time travel as a gimmick to permit some anachronism that’s wanted for the plot. Paradox Hotel, despite its name, pays lip service to the issues but doesn’t really give a good technical resolution (“the timeline heals itself!”). I thought the tone was uneven: The protagonist is a wise-cracking, tough, often plain mean former time agent turned hotel security, but toward the end things tried to get deep and got surprisingly sentimental. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrator was just right for the first-person protagonist, but was just horrible at the accents of some of the other characters.… (more)

In Assassins Anonymous, by Rob Hart, Mark has stopped being an assassin for almost a year now. He attends a recovery group that similar to Alcoholics Anonymous, which is working to rehabilitate people who have spent their lives as some sort of killer and don't wish to to so any more. At the end of the meeting one day a large unknown man appears and attacks Mark. Mark does everything he can to survive and not kill the man and barely escapes with his life. As he searches for the man and why he attacked Mark, a larger plan is revealed and Mark has been pinpointed as the key to it being successful. Maybe with some help, Mark can thwart this plot and survive at least until he reaches a year without killing.
Hart has knack for writing characters with dry wit and lots of sarcasm. The reader sees Mark's constant struggle to make the right choices and can't help but pull for him because everyone is trying to be a better person. The colorful array of supporting characters that surround Mark are wonderfully unique and keep Mark guessing whose side each of them are on. The reader is pleasantly lost as to who to trust the whole way through the book. The action sequences are particularly fun, not just because they are well written, but because the reader looks forward to how Mark is going to get away/survive without killing anyone. The ending shocked me and I didn't see it coming, but at the same time it was totally believable.
Exciting, funny and enthralling from beginning to end, I recommend ASSASSINS ANONYMOUS to any reader who wants a fast read that is full excitement and surprises the whole way through.
Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam/G.P Putnam's Sons, Rob Hart, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!… (more)