I’m back with another book review, and this time I’m looking at “The Professionals” by Owen Laukkaunen! Here’s a summary so we know what it’s about:
“Four friends, recent college graduates, caught in a terrible job market, joke about turning to kidnapping to survive. And then, suddenly, it’s no joke. For two years, the strategy they devise-quick, efficient, low risk-works like a charm. Until they kidnap the wrong man.
Now two groups they’ve very much wanted to avoid are after them-the law, in the form of veteran state investigator Kirk Stevens and hotshot young FBI agent Carla Windermere, and an organized-crime outfit looking for payback. As they all crisscross the country in deadly pursuit and a series of increasingly explosive confrontations, each of them is ultimately forced to recognize the truth: The true professionals, cop or criminal, are those who are willing to sacrifice . . . everything.”
I thought that the plot was relatively solid and made sense for the most part. Though the plot is overall understandable, however, there were no particular sections that jumped out as me as ‘amazing’ or ‘interesting’ despite the concept expressed in the summary. I also think that the plot was almost too understandable to the point of it being mostly predictable all the way through.
The deaths did not feel too unexpected, save for D’Antonio’s death about midway-to-seventy-five-percent through the book. I do think the plot’s pacing was overall slow in the beginning, though it sped up to a better pace by mid-book. Unfortunately, the ending was rather anticlimatic and acted as too much of a summary of the aftermath of the story’s climax.
None of the characters were wholly memorable to me except for Haley, Tiffany and D’Antonio. The other main and supporting characters lacked development overall, stay stagnant all the way through the book, and it was tiring to read their interactions with each other rather quickly. Stevenson and Windermere were not that interesting to read, either, save for Stevenson interacting with his wife which gave a few moments that made me want to go “aww, that’s cute.”
Overall, I’m rating this book 2.5 out of 5 stars.