I first got interested in Mr. In-Between when I learned Neil Cross is behind the series Luther and used to work on Spooks. While I was expecting it to be a raw story, I'm not sure anything could have prepared me for the thoroughly depressing world of Jon.

As an assassin to The Tattooed Man he kills and maims on order, without ever feeling anything about it. It is not just his job, but everything that seems to have this dark, gruesome and hopeless atmosphere. Even when he meets some people from 'before' and he is said to re-enter the normal world, a feeling left me wondering whether he was being pulled there, or was he not pulling them with him into the darkness.

Nice is not a term to describe a novel like this. I can't even say I enjoyed reading it. But somehow it did have something interesting. However, I bore quickly from lengthy descriptions of torture and I'm not sure I would read more books by Mr. Cross.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Jon Bennet is the perfect employee: systematic, productive, and utterly reliable. He is also completely detached from the world around him and seemingly feels nothing . . . for Jon's life is anything but common. On the tight leash of the Tattooed Man, Jon kills and maims on order. And he's good at it.
But Jon's days of favor are about to end. After bumping into old school friends, he slowly reenters the normal world, where the bonds of friendship, love, and kindness are expected, and he finds himself changing back into the person he once was.
But the Tattooed Man requires total servitude, and his wrath is more fearful than Jon could ever have expected.

Originally released in 1998, this is the debut novel by the creator of Luther.

I have read a few of his later books (Captured, Burial) and quite enjoyed them.

This, on the other hand, is just heavy handed in the violence and a bit light on story. I am not averse to violence and gore in novels, but this felt like it was going for the shock factor, where his later novels really focused on character and plot (also, think of Luther and his characterisations there.)

I am not going to give this book a hard time - I know that the author has improved over the years. I just didn't like this one very much at all.


Paul
ARH

This had an very interesting premise, thus my request for this book. But the characters themselves were unlike able, which isn't usually a bad thing. This time, I could not get into it. The descriptions were harsh. Jon and The Tattoed Man were people I did not care to continue to read about. I don't like feeling angry after reading. And I wasnt' really pleased once I finished, unfortunately.