Kelley Armstrong
Sphere Books
November 2013
Wild Justice is a fitting and exciting ending for the Nadia Stafford Trilogy- one that fans of the first two have waited for for years. The book opens with a hit that has gone horribly wrong. Nadia goes into a complete tailspin and Jack (her hit man mentor) goes looking for her. When he finds her, he has a "gift". He has found Drew Aldritch, the man who kidnapped her and her cousin as early adolescents. He raped and murdered her cousin but Nadia escaped and survived. The experience scarred her emotionally, plaguing her with guilt and setting her on the path to life as a vigilante killer for hire.
By the time they pay a visit to Aldritch, someone else has gotten to him by a matter of minutes. Jack and Nadia need to find out who and why. Their journey takes them into the highest reaches of Canadian and American power and prestige in the search for a serial rapist and killer; one who has partnered with Aldritch in the past. Nadia discovers much that her family kept from her and much that she has kept from herself about that awful kidnapping. By the time we get to a very satisfying ending, most of Jack's many secrets are out in the open (finally). This is no hearts and flowers ending but a believable coming together of two very flawed people.
I had a minor quibble about Wild Justice while reading. I thought the bad guy almost a cartoon in his arrogance but upon reflection I thought he was probably just what a true megalomaniac looks like, especially one who is a good actor. Serial killers are usually not high profile types, dwelling in the shadows by inclination and necessity, and that was bothersome until I remembered a case of just such a high profile real-life killer in Canada in recent years.
It's a testament to Kelley Armstrong's writing ability that the reader can come to care about two people who kill for a living. That fact is never far from the mind, but one can almost understand. I highly recommend Wild Justice to thriller/mystery fans and if you haven't read the first two books- then you really should!
4.5 stars
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