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Robin Parrish always writes stories with interesting premises (though there is one in particular that I did not appreciate), so I was excited to read his latest – Vigilante. Once again, Parrish certainly doesn’t disappointed with a cookie-cutter plot or one that has been rehashed too many times in Christian fiction circles.

Instead he delves straight into the action with a military hero – Nolan Gray – who stages his own death and sets up his own hidden, secret underground lair that he sets out to use to not only enforce his views of justice and righteousness. He also uses this base and his support personnel to wage carefully planned publicity aimed to stir up the general populace to set things aright in a society gone wrong.

With plenty of super-hero action, high-tech gear, and intrigue, Parrish also manages to add just the lightest hint of romantic interest without it being inappropriate or taking over the storyline. While the story may not provide an open and shut case for any specific position, it does encourage readers to ponder questions of justice, revenge, punishment, and others.

Like quite a few of Parrish’s offerings Vigilante makes a great read for men and anyone who enjoys high-action reads. While holding to the clean writing style of Christian fiction and encouraging readers to think about God, it never bogs down in overt sentimentality or the strongly romantic themes that can often be prominent in the Christian marketplace in general.

Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com ( )

Lieutenant Nolan Gray, one of America's greatest war heroes, fakes his own death. He wants to show the people of New York City that there is a better way than all the crime and violence going on. With the help of some high-tech friends, he makes himself into a sort of super-hero. His gadgets allow him to fly through the air and his special suit protects him from gunshots and other weapons. He shows up at a crime scene at the wrong time. Now Yuri Vasko, one of New York's most ruthless criminals, thinks he killed his wife and daughter and is after him. He is also being chased by a hot shot reporter trying to find out his true identity. This book reminds me of a Spiderman story. I really didn't know if he was doing all this for God or himself and overall, I didn't find much about God or faith in the book. Rating 3 —NP ( )

This review first appeared on my blog: http://www.knittingandsundries.com/2012/01/vigilante-by-robin-parrish-book-revie...

Nolan Gray, one man of faith, a national war hero who spent two years in captivity under torture, friend and confidante of the President of the United States, fakes his death and re-emerges incognito as a person dubbed "The Hand" by the media. In a world ruled by crime bosses, he is determined to show people that there is a better way. His companions in this mission are Arjay Thale, a pacifist who is a brilliant engineer and inventor, and Aaron Bradford, Nolan's former commander. They are joined by Alice Regan, a woman Nolan rescues from her abusive police officer husband.

There is a lot of action in this one. Nolan is a well-trained fighter, and Arjay outfits him with wonderful gadgets, including a sort of micro-weave body armor that is impervious to bullets.

When the President pushes a crime bill through Congress that calls for a crackdown on organized crime, an elite team of agents called the OCI (Organized Crime Intelligence) is formed. When the first large-scale mission of this task force goes horribly wrong, some in the government attempt to shift the blame for it to "The Hand", and Nolan finds himself pursued by a crime boss seeking revenge.

This was in interesting look at the universal concept of good vs. evil and the apathy that seems to creep up into the general populace when they feel that there is no hope. With lots of action, this is one that I think would translate well into movie format. There are some instances that particularly stretch the imagination, as well as a mystifying (to me, at least) sudden reversal near the end of the novel that I felt wasn't fully explained or dealt with. As with most thrillers/suspense novels, there isn't a ton of character depth (although I will give props to Parrish for giving us more than most of the genre writers in that area).

This is a "Christian fiction" thriller that does a wonderful job of actually translating well to mainstream. There are mentions of faith, because Nolan is a believer, but they are not heavy-handed, and Nolan is not one to judge someone badly simply because they don't share his faith.

All in all, this makes for an interesting, well-thought-out play on revenge, morality, and shows how far one man will go to make his own suffering count for something.

QUOTES

"He thinks himself righteous enough to influence the behavior of others. Probably believes he is on some kind of divine mission. He thinks the rest of this godforsaken city can be as 'good' as he is. Give him time. He will come to see things differently. 'Good' does not exist here. Not in this world. No merciful creator would cobble together a place so viciously cruel as this. No loving creator would sit by and do nothing while there is pain and suffering."

The fight against crime was bigger than one mistake, and millions of Americans were counting on them to bring an end to the corruption, violence, and death. He had been elected on that very promise. Whoever this Hand guy was, even though he was operating outside of the law, he was doing real good in a part of the nation that needed all the good it could get. He didn't deserve to take the fall for the mistakes of the people in this room.

Writing: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Plot: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Characters: 3 out of 5 stars
Reading Immersion: 4 out 5 stars

BOOK RATING: 3.5 out of 5 stars ( )