Okay…so, full disclosure: even though this book was released
by the same publisher that is releasing my novel and was written by a man who
basically owes me his life for teaching him how to properly use his Square
credit card reader despite never using one myself, this is still intended to be
an honest and unbiased review. That being said, if I didn’t legitimately like
the book, I just wouldn’t review it because I wouldn’t want to be a jerk. It’s
kind of an unspoken (until now) policy of mine.
On to the review…
If you’ve ever wanted to read a seamless mash-up of spy
thrillers and supernatural horror, you’re going to want to go ahead and stop
reading this review and pick up Mister White right away. I never wanted to read
something like that, to be perfectly honest. I’m personally not super familiar
with the former genre (certainly not in its literary form), so I was initially
skeptical I’d even enjoy the book when I first heard about it because it was
outside of my usual taste zone. However, I would have been missing out big time.
It’s good to branch out after all, kids.
Though there is a strong focus on the international world of
espionage, the main plot deals with one spy in particular, Lewis Edgar, and the
family he is somewhat estranged from. Sound kinda ho-hum so far? Well, throw in
this mysterious force/demon/creature/supernatural being called Mister White (I
honestly don’t know what the hell he is, but I’ll address that in a minute) who
is out to get Mr. Edgar and his family, and I think you’ll discover something
pretty darned interesting. And frequently terrifying. Like, seriously, can
books have jump scares? Is that even legal? They’re pretty cheap moves in a
filmic format, but pulling off something like that on the page is pretty
amazing.
At times, this book is viscerally violent enough to please
splatter fiends, and Foster pulls no punches in these scenes, but the book
doesn’t rely solely on gore to get by. There are characters here worth caring
about. Why? Because they are flawed and human. They make regretful decisions
and do their best to rectify them (at least some of the time…not every loose
end is neatly tied up, much like real life). However, I think Mister White’s
primary strength is its pacing. That’s probably the first time I’ve ever made a
statement like that about a book. Not because all other books lack pacing, but
because this book would not be the same without its ShKAS speed. Mister White
is a 256-page rollercoaster that delivers almost nonstop action without
sacrificing story and character development. And, realistically, this would
make one hell of a movie. I’m not sure if Foster wrote this book with this in
mind, but I could picture almost every scene as a perfect image on the screen.
Now I must air a couple of grievances, albeit minor ones.
First, the only real problem I had with the book (which may have been the one
drawback of the frenetic pacing) is that I wasn’t always sure where in the
world the characters were (like, literally where
in the world). There seem to be various scenes taking place in various
countries and spies of various nationalities, but at times I lost the sense of
place. Perhaps this is completely normal for international spy thrillers and
this is a case of reader failure. I do not know. Either way, not a huge deal. The
only other thing that bothers me is Mister White is almost too shrouded in mystery. I definitely prefer this approach to the
alternative (overexplaining everything about the character to the point the
reader starts groaning as if they’ve just been taught a lesson they learned
last week), but I would have liked just a few more details about his origins
and intentions. I really want to know: Who is Mister White (I don’t think I’m
supposed to say that…I think there’s some sort of Bloody Mary-type thing going
on there that is also not fully explained). Perhaps there is a sequel in mind,
and Foster is holding off on releasing some of these specifics until then? If
so, I’ll let him slide. This time.
You will not be bored reading this book. The prose is tight,
the pace is quick, the blood is red as an abattoir’s kill floor.
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