The Contract by D.E McCluskey and C. William Giles

MAN, THE CLIFFHANGER

Alright, now that the shouting is out of the way, The Contract is a 3.5 star for me. I really wanted to give this a 4, but there was one thing that stopped me: the presentation of women.

Throughout the book, our slightly out-of-depth FBI agent pair runs into various women from stewardesses, hotel managers and workers, officers, and fellow FBI agents. Almost every single woman throws herself at the feet of Agent Symes, throwing out any and all professionalism and good sense. They are all reduced to notches on Agent Symes’ bedpost, and most are angry or ashamed after the deed is done.

There is something later on (see the shouting above) that maybe goes a long way in explaining why this happens, but I’d definitely like to see better representation for women in the next one. We’re more than just swooning at the feet of some guy, position of power or no, and I hope to see that better in the next one.

Character-wise, I really liked Agent Cox and was happily in his corner throughout the book. I think this was also the first time in any of Dave’s books that I was absolutely rooting for the “bad guy,” so that was a new perspective!

The amount of gore and dramatic death helped to balance out some more tedious parts of the book, but the investigation aspect seemed to fall a little on the wayside in favour of bouncing from one crime scene to the next. I will give some fun props to Dave for some of the more creative deaths in here, too!

I’m looking forward to the next book and seeing what happens with Agent Cox! He’s really in the thick of it now!