The Recruiter Book Review

Today we will be reviewing The Recruiter by Gregg Podolski, a debut thriller that follows a recruiter who gets caught up something huge and has to make amends. Keep reading to find out what we thought of this novel and If you should read it next!

The Recruiter Summary

Rick Carter is a criminal recruiter and he has just confirmed the most recent kill in the newspaper. That is when he receives a call that will change the course of his life. He is forced to take a job that he normally wouldn’t take. So, Rick does what he does best even if he has to break his own rules and finds the best criminals for the job.

Things aren’t how they seem however when Rick gets a call from one of the people he recruited. Rick finds out that the job they were hired to do is a little different than Rick was told to believe and that Rick’s family that he left behind are in danger. Now, Rick has to figure out who are the people that hired him and what do they want with Rick and his family and just how far will they go to complete their mission.

It has been a long time since Rick has left his family behind in the United States. But now, he has to do whatever he possibly can to protect them. Rick has to dig deep and find the right skills and friends to fight a powerful organization and the criminals that he initially recruited before it is too late.

Commentary

The Recruiter is a fun thriller novel that has a lot of dad humor. The jokes won’t make you laugh but some will make you smile. There’s a lot to like about this novel and the action is spontaneous and always around the corner. And once the action picks up, you will be hooked.

After Podolski sets up the scene, the novel picks up pace and feels like an action movie. You will end up finishing the book, reading late into the night like me. Rick is an interesting character but unfortunately, not a memorable one. The good thing about his character is that he calls out his flaws but it doesn’t change the fact that he isn’t the best protagonist, or even a good guy.

The plot twists are fun and you don’t see them coming. Some of them left me surprised and I had to appreciate how Podolski pulls them off without spoiling them. The novel does tackle heavy subjects but avoids going deeper into them. And considering Rick’s job as a criminal recruiter, it is hard not to think about the moral code of our protagonist and the hypocrisy of it all.  

Conclusion

As a thriller novel, this is a great read, especially for a debut novel. The dad humor wasn’t it for me and if Podolski can refine that going forward, then this series will be one that I would enjoy in the long run. I do think the protagonist’s morality is ambiguous at best and makes him the least likely candidate to be the one trying to do what’s right.

Podolski does point it out but that doesn’t solve the problem. Rick’s job is to find people to kill people, normally ones that are not good people. He destroys families all the time and when the flip is scripted onto him, there isn’t much of a defense besides having to protect his family. Morality questions aside, this was a great read and has all the elements of what a fantastic thriller should and it is a novel that I recommend.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook