Book Review : Ghostman by Roger Hobbs

The opening chapter of Ghostman , describes a bloody casino armoured car robbery in Atlantic City   which goes tits up in every way imaginable.  One robber is killed by a sniper from a concealed vantage point. The other is mortally wounded. Despite this, the second man escapes with the loot and effectively disappears – so completely that even the mastermind in Seattle who orchestrated the job can’t find him.

The narrator of this Ghostman is "Jack Delton" a ghost man - someone whose job it is to be forgettable, to disappear or to help other criminals disappear. It has to be said that Delton is very much a Jack Reacher type i.e. Highly observant, capable, keeps to himself and not afraid of kicking 50 shades of shit out of people.

Jack is called out of semi-retirement by a criminal associate who has every reason to kill him: the Ghostman was a member of an armed robbery team that robbed an ultramodern bank in Kuala Lumpur of millions of dollars, but a cock up on Jacks part resulted in most members of the crew being arrested and the stolen money ending up tantalizingly out of reach.

He is told he can make up for botching the Malaysian heist by recovering the loot stolen in Atlanta. However, to do so, he will not only have to track down the robber who remains alive, but also avoid the casino city’s crime boss, a sadistic fellow called The Wolf who also is looking for the stolen cash.

As a further complication, Jack will also have to avoid being arrested by pesky female FBI agent  Rebecca Blacker who spots him as a bad guy the minute he lands in New Jersey has his face on wanted posters all over the shop.

I have to admit that when a book is as hyped as this one with even Lee Child recommending it, I was left both incredibly curious as well as just a little concerned that it might not live up to expectations.  I