The longer we live in what is proving to be the worst
recession since the Big One of the 1930s, it gets easier and easier to feel
this might just be the new normal – that this is as good as it is ever going to
get. Especially hard hit, are the young
people coming out of universities with no prospect of making a decent living
for themselves. Their study choices have
not prepared them for today’s feeble job market, and now they face the prospect
of moving back in with their usually less-than-thrilled parents. Might a short-term career as a professional
criminal be the answer? Can they bank
enough quick cash to last them far into the future, if not for the rest of
their lives? This is the premise of Owen
Laukkanen’s debut novel, a fast paced crime thriller entitled The Professionals.
Pender (the group’s de facto leader), Marie, Sawyer, and
Mouse have been best friends for a long time.
University graduation, for them, is as scary as it is exciting because only
one of the four has any idea what to do next, and he is not thrilled about
doing it. When, during a post graduation
celebration, Marie jokingly mentions that they should turn to kidnapping for a
living, she is surprised that the others are so willing to take her idea and
run with it – and run with it they do.
By keeping their ransom demands at the $60,000 level,
carefully choosing their targets, and confining their crimes completely to the
borders of their victims’ home states the four manage to stay well below the
radar of the FBI and any other big-time crime investigators. For two years, things go so well for the four
that they hope to retire on their savings within another three years. Then they make their fatal mistake by
kidnapping a Detroit businessman whose wife has personal ties to the mob - and
now it seems that everyone is after them: state cops, the FBI, and even more terrifying,
the mob. They learn within hours that
they will not be allowed to walk away from this one because, even if they evade
the law, professional hit men are already closing in on them.
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| Owen Laukkanen |
Laukkanen creates quite a dilemma for his readers. On the one hand, one recognizes that the good
guys (who will, in fact, team up in subsequent books) are the female FBI agent
and the state cop working with her. On
the other, the young kidnappers are all highly sympathetic characters who do
not see themselves as real “criminals,” and it is easy to root for them. Right up to the end of this wild ride, it is
difficult not to hope for an ending that will somehow satisfy both sides.
The Professionals
is not a perfect crime thriller, but it is first rate. Perhaps readers will have to suspend their
disbelief a little more than they like to (especially when the mobsters and
kidnappers clash directly), but it is worth it.
Laukkanen has shown a whole lot of promise with this first novel, and it
will be interesting to see what the rest of the series offers.
Rated at: 4.0
As a former desperate young grad myself, I think this would hit a bit close to home, although I, at least, didn't consider a life of crime. It's understandable, though, considering the amount of debt a college degree or two can saddle you with - not only do you have to find a job in order to pay for the ability to exist outside your parents' home, you also have to earn enough to pay for student loans that can be as big as a rent payment. It sounds like an interesting book. I imagine I, too, would find myself rooting for a decent ending for all.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely an interesting concept, Library Girl, and I easily got into rooting for the "bad guys" as they tried to find a way out of the corner they had painted themselves into. At least two of the kidnappers are actually more sympathetic than the the cops chasing them.
ReplyDeleteI have struggled with rooting for the bad guys since I watched "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", as a girl. Interesting premise, I will have to check it out.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed in many, many books I have read that the authors like to make people pay for their crimes in one way or other. I noticed this also pretty young, my Mom read Sidney Sheldon and would pass them on to me, and I picked up on the fact that his characters, no matter how sympathetic,, always paid for their sins.
That's a great example, Susan. I think that movie had 100% of its viewers rooting for the bad guys...even pinning the "bad guy" label on them now is not easy to do for most people, I'll bet.
ReplyDeleteI finished it this evening and enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see that you enjoyed "The Professionals," Teena. I'm still waiting to see what comes up next from Owen Laukkanen.
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