The Outside Man

January 11, 2021
Bentley’s disappointing sequel to 2020’s Without Sanction pits former Defense Intelligence Agency operative Matt Drake, who’s living with his wife in Austin, Tex., against an old nemesis known as the Devil, a ruthless crime lord profiting from the chaos in Syria and Iraq. After an assassination attempt in broad daylight on the streets of Austin, Drake—still suffering from PTSD and struggling to find a sense of normalcy in his life—attempts to locate the Devil to enact vengeance. In his search, he stumbles across a sex trafficking operation run by the Middle Eastern crime boss and vows to kill him and free the enslaved women. Drake embarks on a predictable mission filled with nonstop action replete with techno jargon and an irritatingly machismo fueled POV. The casual xenophobia (“Time to fuck up some Iranians”) and stereotypical treatment of most of the female characters (the female Air Force pilot’s call sign is “Pom Pom”) will strike some readers as outdated and cliché. Still, action thriller fans may want to check this one out. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Agency.

February 1, 2021
Matt Drake is driving along a street in Austin when a hit man comes for him. What happens next is chapter-length and violent, a way of assuring the reader that this actioner won't lack action, and it serves as an introduction to Drake for readers who didn't encounter him in last year's Without Sanction. He's a former Army Ranger and current intelligence operative with the Department of Defense. ""A spy!"" he will cheerfully tell you. When he sees a connection between the hit man and a Syrian gang he disabled years ago, he's off to the Middle East to kill anyone who wants to kill him. Like the spy in Anthony Burgess' Tremor of Intent, Drake seems ""a dark sack crammed with skills"": we don't get to know him because there's no one to know. One humongous battle scene follows another, and some may begin to feel as battered as the hero. Others, devoted action fans, will be right at home. All can benefit from Drake's insider tips: get military pepper spray if you can; the commercial stuff is a powder puff.

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