Justice begins where the law ends. Perhaps this sentence best describes the roller coaster of events you’ll find yourself breathlessly enjoying in Out of the Blue. M.M Harrold introduces a peculiar world that seems familiar yet comes with its weird quirks that augment the Neo-noir storytelling experience with gritty action and well-handled humor.
Former Atlanta cop, Dan Stock, is in search of a quiet and tranquil lifestyle in a small town in rural Mississippi. The headlines are rocked with the murder of the paster at the local Baptist church supposedly committed by his wife. When allegations of a sadistic cult arise from the investigation, the going gets tough for the controversial attorney assigned to defend the wife. Dan Stock is pulled into the storm when Cherry is murdered shortly after Dan and Cherry become a couple. Short of the military, Dan is pressured and threatened by all sorts of forces from gangs to corrupt police officials to let sleeping dogs lie. However, Stock isn’t one to submit. Thankfully so because his dogged determination and quest for justice leads to some pulpy and badass action sequences that engage all sensory inputs and keep you on the edge of your seats throughout the narrative.
M.M Harrold takes a new spin on the sort of characters that take inspiration from Lee Child’s Jack Reacher. While there are some similarities in the way both protagonists keep an unwavering moral compass in the face of evil, Dan Stock is vastly distinctive in his paradoxical cynicism and actions that readers can not only relate to but aspire to in realistic fashion. His witty and dark sense of humor will have you giggling even in situations that don’t normally call for giggles. M.M Harrold’s irrefutably extensive research into the police procedurals and inner workings lend Stock a strong foundation in his experiences and his motivations that readers will easily get behind.
When Stock isn’t sleuthing, he’s shooting it out with bad guys. The shootouts carry a sense of vivid cinematic quality thanks to the gritty details of weaponry and the chaos of urban combat. These action sequences feel akin to reading The Punisher go to town on the bad guys, screaming bloody murder from town to town with a clear mission to bring the culprits to justice, minus the handcuffs and jail.
Out of the Blue is a splendid hard-noir styled thriller to lose yourself in with gripping characters and frequent shootouts. It’s hard to believe this is M.M Harrold’s debut with the way he has established this new protagonist with a balance of hard-hitting gravitas and a charismatic pulpy sense of fiction.
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