Sunday, December 09, 2007

"Just Another Job" by Brett Battles

Recently made available on Authorlink free-of-charge, this story from the author of The Cleaner is a prequel to the book's events, showing professional "cleaner" Jonathan Quinn and his mentor Durrie in the aftermath of a deal for software secrets.

As the story opens, the buyer has already been killed by an operations team. Quinn and Durrie's job is to make the scene look as innocent as possible, which includes dousing the blood with paint. Durrie is prepared to kill the seller, too, but Quinn rationalizes that only the buyer had put up a fight, only he deserved to die. With this relative morality, Quinn tries to separate working in the aftermath of violence from the act of violence. This shred of decency distinguishes him from others in the business, making readers care about him.

If you've read The Cleaner as I have, this story is a treat. If you haven't, it's a good introduction to Quinn's world.

1 comment:

Kevin R. Tipple said...

I have read "THE CLEANER" and was very dissappointed after all the hype. Seemed to me an average novel at best that featured cardboard cutout characters, action that served little purpose and a storyline that I became quickly bored with and have read done better elsewhere.

I think this is one of the books that folks either love or hate with no middle ground.

Kevin R. Tipple