John Rader (John Rader Thrillers, #1) by Ian Quarry

John Rader by Ian Quarry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

He comes to behind the wheel of a wrecked Porsche which is nose down a snowy slope head first against a tree. The blonde woman in the passenger seat is dead from a gunshot wound, and he cannot remember a thing – about himself, about her, about anything. He climbs out of the wreckage and makes his way to a roadway and a truck ride to the address he finds on the ID in his wallet.

And so begins the exciting and desperate story of John Rader. As Rader follows the clues to his identity, familiar places and familiar faces fill in the past he’s lost and gives him a direction to gain justice for the dead woman he left behind in the car.

At first, the story seems clouded with confusion right along with the main character but much of that clears up as John follows his leads, and I felt this really set up an uneasy, and at times, desperate atmosphere. And since John is not quite himself, the bad guys have a difficult time tracking him down to finish the job that began in the Porsche and got Miranda, his companion and love interest, killed. There is a wide cast of characters presented in the book: villains, henchmen, crooked cops, a prostitute with tragic backstory. The reader doesn’t get a full, complete picture of who John Rader is in this first book, but for me, it was enough of a reveal to enjoy it and look forward to the next book in this new thriller series, John Rader Thrillers.

I recommend this book for mystery/thriller readers that don’t mind an overt lack of back story information and those that like stories with an organized crime plot. I liked it!

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