3 out of 4 stars
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Killer Competition by Tom Kranz is a thriller revolving around Bordon Remmick. Bordon (or ‘Bud' as used mostly in the book) is an ex-con who served a four-year-term for killing his boss. Getting out of jail Bud soon realises that he would now have to live on life’s terms – society isn’t too forgiving.
One thing led to another and Bud lands a job at his old workplace, Channel 7, as news director. The story picks up pace as barely two weeks after Bud resumes work, it begins to dawn on the news house that they may have been paying for videos recorded by a freelancer who committed the same crimes he videoed. These turn of events put Channel 7 on the news. Soon the Governor of Pennsylvania, Franklin Thomas, begins to wonder how Margaret Remmick, Bud’s wife, became executive director at Livingston County Department of Senior Services. In his opinion, the wife of an ex-con has no business occupying such a position. He vows to replace her with his own chosen ‘worthy’ candidate. That meant finding a way to justify removing her from her position, through whatsoever means possible.
Killer Competition is classified as a fiction in its description. Reading through, I realised that while that may be true, the book still held a strong semblance to reality. The characters are relatable everyday people whose feelings and views I mostly shared. The story was also well organised and progressed at a pace that just suited the plot. Divided into small chapters, Killer Competition by Tom Kranz touched themes such as redemption, forgiveness, loyalty, political tyranny and acceptance. The author's masterful use of words and description really helped make this an engaging story. It wasn’t difficult to see the world through Bud's eyes. I was let into his challenges and fears, even though he always put on a brave front.
There were, however, certain aspects I wasn’t quite satisfied with. Firstly, very few conversations took place without the use of foul language. The author's goal may have been to lend the book an air of realism, but to me, it was off-putting and completely unnecessary. The question of why Klemmer got paid $200 while other freelancers earned $100 was not answered, the author just sort of abandoned the issue. Maggie and Marjorie’s relationship wasn’t well defined. Perhaps the author plans to throw more light on that in a sequel.
Regarding grammar and punctuation, I did notice a few errors but they weren’t enough to detract from the flow of reading. In fact, I only noticed the few I did because I was searching, which means the book has been professionally edited. Another thing I noted is that the title and description of the book didn’t really match the story, they promised a fierceness that the book lacked.
Putting all these into consideration, Killer Competition is a well-written engaging book. Even though I was a little underwhelmed after reading it, it was a good book. Therefore, I rate Killer Competition by Tom Kranz as 3 out of 4 stars. The author deserves commendation on the amount of research that went into writing this book, like how emergency medical technicians work and dissociative identity disorder. It was enlightening.
I would recommend this book to lovers of crime thrillers and politics. Because of the author's use of strong language, I wouldn’t recommend this book to readers below 18.
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Killer Competition
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