Blood and Ashes by Matt Hilton

There are three things you can depend on in life – Death, Taxes and increasing petrol prices! Following Matt Hilton’s fifth Joe Hunter instalment (Blood and Ashes) you can most certainly add a fourth! Hunter is back and someone will pay – you can take that to the bank!

When we first meet Joe Hunter in Blood and Ashes, our hero is coming to terms with his near fatal injuries sustained at the end of his exploits with Luke Rickard in “Cut and Run”. Shot and stabbed in his right leg he still, despite three months of intensive therapy, walks with a limp and together with a hand recovering from micro surgery, Hunter is a bruised man.

This is a very different Hunter. Insecure and fallible he questions himself throughout – is he doing the right thing, can he justify the deaths and will he hold himself accountable following its dénouement? With so much running through his mind, concentration doesn’t come easy for Joe and he has to remind himself of a mantra a training officer once told him:

“Stay in the Red Zone, Hunter, or you may as well give up now. Anything else and you’re a dead man. Got it?”

Driving along a deserted road near Bedford Well, Brook Reynolds is frantic with worry. Her concerns are justified when a Black SUV hurriedly approaches, overtakes her and disappears around the bend. She takes a breath, relaxes only to round the bend and find the unknown driver has blocked her path. The car accident doesn’t kill her – the stranger does.

Don Griffiths, a doting father and grandfather disagrees with police reports – convinced his daughter was killed, disagreeing with a police investigation that the car wreck was an accident he calls in Joe Hunter to find the people responsible for her untimely death.

Available to buy from The Book Depository (free p&p) and Amazon.

Unconvinced, until he is himself attacked by two men, Hunter struggles to shake off his past and help Don, a man who had betrayed him in the past. However with a family in danger, Hunter does what he knows best and agrees to protect the family to his best abilities but with our hero questioning his every move, the journey is fraught with danger.

Comparing Hilton’s previous novels it’s fairly obvious Matt has changed his delivery and style. Blood and Ashes is a deeper, reflective novel and with the aid of his leading character, Hilton has matured. In past novels Hunter has been driven by anger but this time around he questions himself on numerous occasions, his weaknesses and inadequacies making our hero human – more realistic.

I really enjoyed this fallibility, Hunter just seemed a little more real to me. Sure the cheesy Americanisms are there, the one-liners and Hilton’s subtle humour effortlessly comes through – it wouldn’t be a Hunter story without them.

“Port Authority officials were as numerous as fleas on a junkyard dog here”

“Rink was as serious as an April Fools prank”

The characters are strong and we have a plethora of bad guys this time around but I’m not going to spoil it for you! Rink joins Hunter for yet another adventure – the ever reliant friend and colleague. I also enjoyed references to characters from Elvis Presley’s King Creole (one of his stronger performances) and Jailhouse Rock films – Vince Everett (JR) and Danny Fisher (KC) – it’s not often you get a reference to Elvis in the modern action film and very welcome one at that as far as I’m concerned!

White supremacists, murder, betrayal and racism blend to deliver a high octane action thriller and Hilton, with five novels under his belt, has certainly found his comfort zone with a deeper and more reflective encounter.  Hunter par excellence!

Published by Hodder “Blood and Ashes” is available to buy from The Book Depository (free p&p) and Amazon.