Blackbird - Michael Fiegel

Fiction/Thriller

Rating: 8.5/10

With an opening scene that has a sociopathic assassin kidnapping an eight-year-old, no one would hold it against you if you had concerns about where the story might go. And while this darkly comic thriller does have unsettling material, the bond between these two individuals has surprising depth. The book is strangely hopeful in bringing two lonely souls together at the same time as one tasks himself in apprenticing the other in the art of killing.

From the beginning you will know that the characters are standing on the brink of something from which there will be no return. From the moment their relationship started it was always ending. It’s the journey the tale takes that will be anything but ordinary.

A truly unique blend of savagery and tenderness. An unexpected delight of a book from a debut author!

Footnote: The writing and characterization had a Mr. Robot vibe…shrewd, unconventional and at times unrepentedly vicious and vile.