Sean Black: Lock Down

In his debut novel, Sean Black looks to what extend a man will go to discover the truth, even it cost him everything.

Christmas eve in New York and still the city is not sleeping and that includes the protesters outside one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the United States and it is Ryan Lock's job to keep the CEO of the company safe. When an assassination goes wrong, and there are innocent bodies littering the street Lock believes this was something more than an assassination attempt. With conflict from both sides, the protesters and the company, Lock forges his own path to find out what is really going on and seek justice for those who were killed that day, he discovers that there are going to be many more dead once the clock strikes midnight on New Years Eve.

I actually thought there was going to be more action in this book based upon the way it started out, which did have me hooked from the start. I like that Black did not overdue the action scenes and he did not make them too unrealistic like many authors in this genre do. I like that this allowed Black to focus more on the plot and not concern himself with making sure that there was nonstop action. There was action where there needed to be and investigative work where there needed to be in order to make the plot and story flow better. I really enjoyed the plot, it had some interesting twist and turns, but there were times that it was predictable and you feel like you are waiting for the main character to get to the conclusion that you have made. 

I think the experimental drug angle was very interesting and having the big corporation vs. the animal activist was very true to real life. I like that Black showed that there is more than one type of activist groups out there, one that believes in peaceful protest and the other that likes to take more direct action. Additionally, i liked how Black showed that there was some similarities between the activist groups and the corporation, manly there are people that will do anything to get what they want. I also liked Black's use and manipulation of the press and the realization that the press have sources every where and I think that it was smart of Black to utilize this resource.

Ryan Lock is body guard but not one of those steroid junkies who are just there to get their picture in the paper or walk to red carpet (his words), he is the real deal. Lock is a good mixture of the boy scout who likes to break the rules, but there were times where I found Lock a little too perfect, he did not have enough grit for me. He was too smooth and seemed to have an answer for everything and was never really challenged by his any of his own moral decisions that he makes. That said I wouldn't mind having Lock be my body guard. I also wish that Black would have expanded more on Lock's past and what he did for the military police, and I hope that this will be discussed in future books.

I really enjoyed Black's writing style and I think that the plot he created was entertaining and smart even though, there were aspect that were a bit predictable. This did detract a little bit from my overall enjoyment of the book, however, I am looking forward to reading the next novel in the Ryan Lock series as i feel like Black has a lot more to tell and explore.

Enjoy!!

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