NIGHT MAN by Brett Battles – Review

I received this book for free from the Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Night Man by Brett Battles
Published by the Author on February 15 2019
Genres: Adult, Thriller
Pages: 320
Format: ARC
Source: Author
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The nitty-gritty: Tense and exciting, humorous and emotionally satisfying, Night Man is a thriller that has something for everyone.

It’s been several years since I’ve read a book set in Brett Battles’ popular Jonathan Quinn world, but when I heard Brett had written a book centered around Quinn’s partner Nate, I couldn’t wait to check it out. And what fun this was! Night Man wasn’t nearly as violent and bloody as some of Quinn’s adventures, but it had plenty of tension and humor and a style all its own. Nate is quite different from Quinn and a much more relatable character, in my opinion, and I loved getting to know him better. With all the dark SFF I’ve been reading lately, it was a nice change of pace to read a story about a character who just wants to do good. Now don’t get me wrong, Night Man deals with some serious themes, but Nate’s narration keeps the story on the lighter side

Nate is a professional “cleaner,” with the ability to get rid of all evidence at a crime scene when the crime needs to be covered up. He trained under Jonathan Quinn, but after the recent, tragic loss of his girlfriend Liz, the two have drifted apart. Now Nate works alone for the most part, but lately he’s compelled to act as a vigilante, solving crimes on his own outside the system, bringing justice to innocents who might otherwise be overlooked. The kicker is, Nate hears the voice of Liz whispering in his ear, nudging him to help certain individuals. The pain of losing Liz is still fresh, and so he does what any grief-stricken person would do: he listens to the voice.

Liz’s latest “suggestion” involves a hit-and-run accident in Northern California, where a teen girl named Marissa Garza is in a coma after being struck by a car while walking home one night. Nate packs up his bag of tricks and sets out to investigate, integrating himself into the small town of Jenson by getting a job as a busboy at a local restaurant. But when he starts looking into the incident, he uncovers an even bigger mystery that could have far-reaching political implications. Who was driving the car that hit Marissa? What’s really going on at the remote mansion on the edge of town? And how are these two things connected? Nate is going to find out, even if it kills him. And when Marissa dies in the hospital, Nate realizes he’s now trying to solve a murder.

The story is told by Nate himself, and the reader gets a blow-by-blow description of everything he’s doing, which was an interesting narrative choice and one that worked well. It kind of felt like sitting in a coffee shop with a good friend and listening to him tell a riveting story. Nate spends a great deal of time sneaking around and spying on various people connected to the crime, and I loved the way one connection leads to the next. This “down the rabbit hole” style of storytelling is hard to control, but Battles seems to have a firm grasp of all the pieces of his story. The only downside to Nate’s method of relaying his story is that it does lean toward the tedious side at times, since Nate literally tells us step by step everything he’s doing to find Marissa’s killer. Luckily, Nate’s approach to solving crimes involves lots of cool tools of the trade, like tiny bugs and trackers, a drone that can give him an aerial view of the situation, and of course, the inevitable weapons like guns, tasers and even a slingshot.

And for those who don’t know, Nate lost a leg in a previous Jonathan Quinn story and he now has a prosthetic. I’ll admit it was hard at times to believe all the physical stunts he was able to do with a prosthetic leg, but it certainly makes him a more interesting and sympathetic character.

Nate’s pretty savvy when it comes to technology, and in his work with Quinn he’s learned all sorts of handy skills, like picking locks and hacking into social media accounts. But he knows his limits, and so he employs a brilliant woman named Jar to help him with the tougher technological aspects of the job. I absolutely loved Jar, who lives in Thailand and is able to remotely aid in the investigation. It was pretty cool to watch the two of them talk on the phone while Jar, thousands of miles away, breaks into a security camera system in order to help Nate. There’s an underlying tension between the two of them, which makes me wonder what their relationship really is.

By far my favorite element of Night Man was the humor. Nate has a wry, sarcastic way of looking at the world that contrasts well with the serious nature of the crimes he’s uncovered. One of the things I love best about Nate is that he’s a “nice” spy. Despite the heavy armament he carries around, he really doesn’t want to kill anyone. Even when he finds the bad guys, he’s more likely to leave them unconscious than dead, which was a nice change of pace from other thrillers I’ve read. Also, there is a laugh out loud moment at the end where Nate uses a bunch of big red cardboard arrows to lead the police to a certain room in the mansion. It was a brilliant way to solve a particular crime and it summed up Nate’s personality to a tee!

And I can’t end this review without talking about Liz. Nate is questioning his sanity because of Liz’s “presence,” yet he listens to her and follows her lead. Is her ghost actually haunting him, or is he going crazy? Is the voice he’s hearing simply wishful thinking? Battles leaves it up to the reader to decide, as it’s never really resolved. Which is a good thing, because not all mysteries need to be solved. In any case, Liz gives the story an emotional punch that made this story even better.

The ending wraps everything up nicely, and there’s plenty of exciting action in the final scenes to satisfy even the most critical reader. I’m thrilled to have had the chance to read Brett’s latest, and for those who love to support self-published authors, Brett is the real deal. Check him out!

Big thanks to the author for supplying a review copy.