YOU NEVER PUT ADDICTION BEHIND YOU: ROB HART'S THE MEDUSA PROTOCOL

Last year, Rob Hart gave us one of my favorite books of 2024, Assassins Anonymous, It followed a former hired killer, Mark, in a twelve step program for others trying to put that life behind them, hopping the globe, trying to figure out who who is sending former associates after him while doing his best not to kill anybody himself.Hart found a way to be over the top in action and satire and human in character and themes. He goes for broke in the sequel The Medusa Protocol.

Much of the story focuses on Astrid, the black market medic with a killer past, who Mark pulled into his problems and fell for in Assassins Anonymous. She's nabbed early on, but gets a chance to tp make a pizza delivery order to clue in Mark as her abductors close in. The pizza gets to Mark as he leads one of the support meetings right before an assault team hits the group. Mark and gang escape, along with the hapless delivery boy. They decide to find out where Astrid is and rescue her. Astrid finds herself in a special private prison (Hart drops a fun in-joke for Oldboy fans), where a skilled interrogator works at breaking her down in getting information from her past.

Hart raises both the physical and emotional stakes. We learn more about Astid's past before she was a healer and the guilt attached to it. She struggles to both survive and escape as well as live up to Marl's standards, wondering how much they are her own. Mark takes his crew and works to keep them on the straight and narrow as they locate and hit the compound. One of the best passages is when they figure out how to gear up with non-lethal weapons.I believe this is the first time Rob has used a team and he has a blast. The action and banter bounce around in style.

Rob Hart pushes Mark and Astrid to the limit in The Medusa Protocol, arguing there are few limits to love. We laugh and thrill to their predicament and feel their need for each other. I hope to spend more time with with this couple who are exactly as lethal as they want to be,

o it.

ory of former