The Perfect Assassin

Ward Larsen
Oceanview Publishing (April 2006)
ISBN 1933515015
Reviewed by William Phenn for Reader Views (1/06)

If anyone would know about The Perfect Assassin, Ward Larsen should. Having been a medal winning Fighter Pilot for the USAF he flew his own rendition of the perfect killing machine. So when I say this book has the technical aspects down pat, I mean it. Ward keeps the technical jargon to a minimum, but still managed to give me an insight into the type of boat or aircraft by name or model. This added a pleasant depth to the book that some authors tend to neglect.

From the beginning, I was drawn to the realization that this book was not going to be boring. The fast pace of events kept me glued to page after page of intrigue. Suspense, Murder, Drama, they were all here within the first few pages. Larsen didn’t waste any time letting the reader know that the Heroine of the book was in for trouble. From the time she rescued the stranger from the freezing waters of the Atlantic, till the harrowing experiences in England, poor Christine is on the verge of death.

As I read The Perfect Assassin, I couldn’t help but think that this book would make a very good Screen Play. The action is fast paced, the scenes short and at every bend in the road, there is danger. As a book, two scene changes per chapter for twenty seven chapters was a bit much. I would have preferred the author add fifty to a hundred pages to the book, extend each scene to where I could have gotten more out of it. I no sooner began to read a scene and started to get into it, when it ends and another is presented. Larsen explains in an interview how he, “Worked a lot to cut down and simplify”.I think he should put back what he cut out; it would probably make for a more pleasurable read.

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