The Professionals

The premise of The Professionals really intrigued me. A group of friends who are graduating from college in an economy where they are unlikely to find high-paying jobs jokes about turning to kidnapping to make a living. The more they think about it, the more they think that they just need to go out and try it to see if they can pull it off. One kidnapping turns into many, each carefully plotted to stay under the radar of law enforcement. The targets are carefully studied, ransoms are kept low and spouses are scared into not reporting the crime for fear of future retaliation. Everything is on track until a kidnapping goes bad. They are forced to scramble for another target and that replacement target changes everything.

I thought the book show more was well written and quite suspenseful. I found it interesting how the author wrote both the kidnappers and law enforcement as sympathetic characters. You could understand both sides. There were some great plot twists and I did not want to put the book down. I wanted to know what was going to happen next to the characters. It is one of those plots that seemed like once things were set in motion, nothing could be done except to see it through to it's conclusion and yet I was surprised along the way by several unforseen twists. I would recommend The Professionals to anyone who likes a nicely paced, suspense-filled thriller. Very good first effort by Owen Laukkanen.

(Review based on complimentary Advance Reader copy.) show less

This is a fun and fast read that left me rooting for the "good" guys and "good" guys. Laukkanen creates ordinary likable characters with ordinary unlikable traits and cleverly parallels the agents Windmere and Stevens with the gang of recent college graduate kidnappers. The kidnappers and the agents find themselves in an unordinary chase that comes to a predicatable but satisfying end. Think of Thelma and Louise stopped in the canyon and then the car accelerates from there--the same inevitable momentum carries this story from page one to the final pages where you are still hoping everything will turn out okay--for everyone. The narrative flows as if made for the movie screen and a cast of attractive young hollywood actors waiting for show more their break out and I will be there, even if the book is always better than the movie. Windmere and Stevens will be back in Laukkanen's next work, and I will be there, too. show less

The blurbers on the front could not have read this book and still described it as “spectacular”, “top-notch”, “brutally beautiful”, “really terrific” or even “satisfying”, but that’s what they all did. Now I KNOW blurbers are paid to say nice things, but come on, if you’re going to slap your name on a product, don’t you think you should know if it’s crap or not? Oy vey. Same with the folks giving this book 4 and 5 stars...I wonder if we read the same book.

The premise was pretty interesting. If it wasn’t I wouldn’t have picked this as an ARC, but by the third paragraph, which is just one, big awful sentence, I knew things were going to go downhill. Don’t believe me? Behold -

“It was dusk by the time he show more stepped onto the platform, the crisp October air and the chill wind off Lake Michigan already hinting at the long winter ahead, and Warner shivered involuntarily and pulled his coat close around him as he joined the rest of the Highland Park commuters, a uniform crush of tailored suits and tasteful ties and thousand-collar briefcases, a collective desire to get home, get warm, get fed.”

Here are my notes as I read -

Staccato style is overly done. The whole thing seems like dialogue. No one should write narrative like dialogue. Can’t anyone create with language anymore?

Clunky sentences, weird word usage.

Having read all the Prey novels, reading about the BCA from someone else was weird. I mean there are 20 or so Prey books and what, 6 Flowers books, can’t someone come up with something new?

SAC @ the BCA (Lesley?) = caricature local angry cop.

Aren’t there any normal women? Why does Windermere HAVE to be beautiful? Hello wish fulfillment.

Stevens has to be afraid to fly...that’s so original. Well at least he’s not an alcoholic, too. Oh and why doesn’t he look like George Clooney?

OMG stop calling Sawyer big guy, ok?!!!

oh and now Stevens is big guy, too.

and now some thugs who are also big guys. Are we up the beanstalk?

Juvenile dialogue, everyone talks like they’re 15.

Boss? Really? Sawyer calls Pender boss? OMG. All I could picture was Tattoo from Fantasy Island after a while, but then I remembered that Sawyer was a big guy.

Too stagy and scene-driven. Every chapter is 4 pages long.

How is a desk jockey with no big cases behind her and no clout suddenly a big shot?

Face his team?? Pender’s team???!! Oy vey.

Lunkhead? Dangerous cats? Cats?? Who talks like this?? The slang was a weird combination of Gilligan’s Island and Shaft.

The “team” was alternately believable then asininely stupid or insightful the next. They blundered into stupid situations and got out of them with a lot of luck. Up against people with years more experience, craftiness and understanding, they somehow manage to take them down. Witness the totally off the charts scene in the old train yard...there is NO WAY they’d prevail in that situation, yet they do. But then right after they make rookie mistakes like they’re supposed to. I wish the author would have stuck with one track - either these “kids” (who are almost 30, btw) are inexperienced and can only handle the mildest of cluster fucks, or they’re the professionals of the title and never make those mistakes and take out folks who should by all rights hand them their punk asses. Not both. And Tiffany’s involvement was just stupid. Stupid.

The fake sexual tension between Windermere and Stevens was eye-rollingly bad. Ditto for Stevens’s home life which was overly sympathetic, touchy-feely, sexy and perfect. Toward the end I really disliked Windermere. I found her caustic, blinkered and trying way too hard to prove herself. A boor. Stevens had a bit more credibility, but there isn’t enough that is interesting about him to make me want to spend anymore time with him. Rumor has it that there will be more books featuring this duo. Ugh. Sorry Mr. Laukkanen, you may have gotten others to fall for it, but not this little gray duck. show less

Four recent college grads have useless degrees in a terrible job market. What starts out as a joke turns into four professional kidnappers. They have been at it for two years and have a near perfect system. They find a rich man with available cash. They snatch him up, have him call his wife and give a ransom of 50 to 100 thousand dollars, even though the marks are worth much more. They want to make it quick and easy for the wife to get the cash by the next day. The kidnappers get the money, drop off the guy, trade in vehicles and move on to another city and start all over again. these kidnappers are Marie and Pender who are a couple, Sawyer, and Mouse the computer whiz. Pender is the brains and he figures they have 2 more years of this show more before they can retire.
But then they make 2 crucial mistakes. Their marks don't call the police because they can afford the financial loss and the kidnappers threaten to return if they do. But one man decides he's going to call. This brings in Agent Stevens from the BCA in Minnesota.
Their second mistake- they kidnap a man whose wife is mob-connected and is not going to pay the ransom but instead hunt them down. The group decides to cut their losses but things go bad quick.

They decide to take a break and lay low but they have the mob and now the feds on their tail.

I was intrigued by the concept of this novel and was hooked right from the beginning. I liked Marie, Pender, Sawyer, and Mouse and cold not help but root for them. On the other hand, the feds are fairly likeable and just out to do their job, catch the kidnappers before the mob gets to them. Of course, the mafia guys are creeps, so no love lost for them.

Despite being an action packed novel, it had good character development. I didn't want to put this down to go to work and if i could have, I would have read it straight through. This is an excellent novel and I highly recommend it! show less

[The Professionals] by Owen Laukkanen
Windermere and Stevens series Book #1
5★'s

From The Book:
Four friends, caught in a terrible job market, joke about turning to kidnapping to survive. And then, suddenly, it’s no joke. For two years, the strategy they devise works like a charm—until they kidnap the wrong man.
Now two groups are after them—the law, in the form of veteran state investigator Kirk Stevens and hotshot young FBI agent Carla Windermere, and an organized crime outfit looking for payback. As they crisscross the country in a series of increasingly explosive confrontations, each of them is ultimately forced to recognize the truth: The real professionals, cop or criminal, are those who are willing to sacrifice everything.

My show more Thoughts:
A really great new author for me that was recommended as my Blind Date With A Book. This whole endeavor started for these four young friends as a game that not one of them took seriously until they just tried it once and found that it worked better than they ever imagined. They were selective...they never asked for huge amounts of ransom...they always released their victim unharmed immediately after the ransom was dropped...they moved from state to state never staying in one place very long...and they didn't even have guns. All went smoothly until it didn't. Luck was always on their side and then it went horribly wrong and from there continued to spin faster and faster out of control taking them on a ride with catastrophic consequences.

The strange thing the author makes you like these kids. You find yourself wanting them to come out ahead even though you know everything is headed south. The FBI agent, Windermere and the Minnesota detective, Stevens are both dedicated cops that just won't give up. Owen Laukkanen has produced a 5 star first book in this series. I have already asked the library for the other 3 and I hope he is busy writing number 5. show less

The Professionals is a very accomplished first novel from Owen Laukkanen. It reminded me of a cross between John Sandford and Don Winslow.

The Professionals is the story of a small group of college friends who, faced with a dismal job market, decide to go into kidnapping instead. They are careful to do their research and keep the ransoms small, to stay under the radar. A mistake leads them to show up on the radar not only of law enforcement, but the mob as well. What follows is a race between the kidnappers, the mob and the FBI with the outcome in doubt all the way to the end.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were fresh and likeable and the rotating viewpoints between kidnappers, mob and law enforcement kept the mood tense and show more exciting. Laukkanen does a good job of showing how one little decision can start a cascade of events leading far away from initial plans. This is true for both the pursuers and the pursued.

The action speeds back and forth across the country and the pages keep flying by as you try to keep up. The suspense continues to build as the noose around the kidnappers tighten. I wasn’t sure who I was rooting for all the way up to the end. That’s a testament to how well written and sympathetic the characters are.

While there is a good deal of time spent with the law enforcement agents, Windermere and Stevens, there is a good deal more to explore with them. If Laukkanen’s writing gets even better with future effort, he’s going to be a big name in crime fiction. Highly recommended. show less

Though I finished this book and enjoyed it to some extent, it took me quite a while to get over the fact that the book was NOTHING like I’d expected.

Given what I read on the back, I thought this would be a fascinating book about how seemingly normal college kids turn to crime because of desperation over the horrible economy & bleak job prospects. I expected to read about how young adults who were on the usual path to a successful future tried everything they could before they became criminals. Instead, the reader is given the following to explain this inexplicable choice:

“I say we do it,” said Mouse. “We’re smart enough. We can pull this thing off.” Pender hesitated a moment. Then he nodded. “Let’s try it,” he said. show more “Just to see if we can.”

And with that, these friends start kidnapping other human beings. Not stealing, not fraud, but kidnapping and threatening other human beings. That short moment of hesitation is all the reader sees and is then forced to believe that there were no second, third, fourth thoughts. After that, I still expected to be given some back story – the details on the first kidnapping – maybe some fear or change of heart – something so I could buy this premise. Nope. These college students made the decision to become kidnappers with about as much thought as one might give to what to order at dinner.

Which meant that I did not like them – they were completely unsympathetic and unbelievable characters. Thank goodness the reader does meet some seemingly normal characters in the agents tasked with tracking them down.

But then, I started to get an unpleasant feeling about what the real message of the book was. Instead of what I thought I would be reading about: “How the current economic situation is so bad that our young people are forced to try anything”, turns out the message is instead: “Young people feel so entitled and are so amoral that they will do anything.”

“It was about cheating the system and not getting caught. It was about some crazy Robin Hood thing, this gang of broke kids outsmarting the rich, redistributing the wealth, and proving that yeah, crime could pay, and a hell of a lot more than some useless college degree besides.”

That phrase “redistribution of wealth” pops up again as Pender is talking to the FBI as to why they did it, and then I just got mad. I can see one college kid turning to kidnapping, but the idea that four did so, with no internal struggle, no real regrets (unless it comes to getting caught) even when the crimes turn to murder is just not believable to me.

If this is some sort of nasty political commentary on recent events, then I regret reading this book. If this is just a book that needs work to make the characters believable, then I will give the author the benefit of the doubt. show less