I have actually realized that most of my readings (fiction) over the last 6 months or so have only been books with heroes that are not really wanted by the society! From Lee Child's Jack Reacher to many others which are not worth it, I've been sub-consciously picking up these kinds of books! And The Bricklayer is no different in genre!
Noah Boyd is a new author for me, but the one-lined reviews from Fiction Greats like James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell, and my fav Lee Child made this book an automatic choice.
Conceptually, it is evident that The Bricklayer - Steve Vail - would have started by dreaming of becoming something like Jack Reacher, and the author comes pretty close! Though nothing can still touch Reacher (in spite of the line by James Patterson saying Reacher should move over because Steve Vail has arrived), the characterization is quite unique.
The circumstances get such that Vail gets called on for an assignment, and the rest is how he brings his own set of skills to the situation and how (obviously) he comes up trumps.
The funny thing about these books is that we know before we even buy that the plot will make it almost impossible for the protagonist to win, but we also know that he will somehow come out in flying colors - and that is probably why so many thousands of books are written with the same skeleton-plot, and still they are all New York Times Bestsellers!! I know for sure that the first novels I ever get around to writing will be with the same plot again :)
The Bricklayer is immensely readable - especially as a stop gap till the next Lee Child book comes out into the market!
