G941 Book Review of Hollow man by Mark Pryor
Author: Mark Pryor
ISBN: 978-1-63388-086-3
Publisher: Seventh Street Books
Part of a Series: Hollow Man
Type of book: Sociopath/Psychopath, legal, prosecutor, Austin, Texas, anti-hero, murder, mystery, covering up tracks, twists, relationship
Year it was published: 2015
Summary:
Dominic is a prosecutor, a musician, and an Englishman living in Texas. He's also a psychopath. His main goal is to hide his condition and lead a seemingly normal life in hopes to pay off his debts and become a full-time musician in Austin's club scene. But on one lousy day his carefully-controlled world starts to shatter: he's demoted at work and accused of stealing a fellow musician's song.
He also meets a beautiful woman in a lime green dress--perhaps the biggest threat to his safety of all. At her urging, Dominic hatches a plan to steal a van he knows will be filled with cash. He picks two friends as accomplices, insisting on no guns and no violence. But a security guard catches them in the act and simple theft turns into capital murder.
Cracks start to show in the conspiracy and, with no allegiance to anyone but himself, Dominic has to decide whether to stick by his partners in crime, or let his true nature come out to play.
Characters:
The characters are certainly fascinating in my opinion; first there is Dominic, transplanted from United Kingdom to Austin, Texas. He is best described as emotionless, a liar and someone who is good at mimicry. He is also a part-time musician, which is an odd combo in my opinion because music manipulates emotions and he literally cannot feel emotions. There is also the girl with the green dress (her real name not given) who has a younger teenage brother Bobby who is also a psychopath and who seems to become Dominic's girlfriend of sorts. There is also the IT roommate Tristan who has his own secret addiction as well as out of work cop named Otto, and Dominic's musician "friend" who gives him the idea for the robbery. Interestingly enough, we see little of the characters' personalities and just see the events.
Theme:
Two things I learned from the book; one is that some people aren't as good as we want them to be (anyone else wanted to believe the best of Dominic despite him literally denying he his good?) and double question what is going on.
Plot:
The story is in first person narrative from Dominic's point of view. The author is good at keeping the suspense going, and playing with people's emotions. I also liked the fact that the mystery is different in that the heroes are bad guys and not good ones. I honestly didn't see the ending coming and I was left with my mouth hanging open.
Author Information:
(From the book)
Mark Pryor is the author of the Hugo Marston novels The Bookseller, The Crypt Thief, THe Blood Promise, The Button Man, and The Reluctant Matador, and the true-crime book As She Lay Sleeping. A native Hertfordshire, England, he is an assistant district attorney in Austin, Texas where he lives with his wife and three children.
Opinion:
Tired of reading mysteries where the good guy always triumphs? Looking for something unique and different? Then look no further than Mark Pryor's Hollow Man, which follows a pyschopathic/sociopathic British prosecutor residing in Austin Texas who makes a choice to be part of a robbery that goes wrong. Its a bit hard to describe the next part without the spoiling the story, but all I want to say is to pay attention to the way Dominic describes himself in beginning, something I haven't really experienced since, well, a college class. Also, there will be consequences of the botched robbery, but can those in the know hold it together, or will one of them break down? An exciting and different mystery that I haven't read like this before.
This was given to me for an honest review
4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
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