If you’re itching for a bloody action-packed jailbreak thriller with a protagonist best thought of as an even angrier Jason Statham, The Ascent is a book that needs to be on your watchlist for 2024.
Kurt Argento lived his life as a Detroit cop by the code of protecting innocents from the sick evil deeds mankind is capable of. When he steps in to protect a young girl from unspeakable horror, he goes up against a corrupt police officer in a small Missouri town. For his heroic deeds, he’s put in a maximum-security prison where Julie Wakefield, a grad student who happens to be the governor's daughter, is about to visit for a tour. That’s when a malfunction in the security system releases a horde of prisoners, pitting Argento against a ferocious bunch of intimates if he is to protect the innocents stuck inside hell on Earth.
The Ascent succeeds by a large margin when it comes to creating believable good and shocking evil, starting with the protagonist, Kurt Argento. He’s a bereaved man, running into dangerous situations with little that he has left in the world except for his moral compass that never lets him falter in the face of injustice. It would have been simple for him to become another Reacher-like character but Adam Plantinga imparts his expertise in law enforcement to create a grounded modern cop with a moral conviction to do good despite the enticing wickedness. His distinctively vulnerable badassery makes for a very exciting narrative.
While there’s a good bit of background to develop Argento, we perhaps know most about him during the jaw-dropping super-duper gritty action sequences that really put the hurt in each swing and kick. There’s plentiful action throughout as Argento blazes through the prison by punching, stabbing, and crunching whichever bad guy stands in his way and he does so in a quite believable fashion that by the end, you’re worried if he’ll indeed make it out alive or if it will be his last act of nobility to save the lives of innocents stuck in the mess. Argento fashions anything he gets his hands on into an effective weapon and it’s just too darn awesome to read.
If you’re looking for a righteous action-packed read with compelling characters and disturbing twists, The Ascent is one of the best thrillers you’ll read in 2024, no take backs. Adam Plantinga muscles into the thrillerverse next year with the grand promise of more captivating thrillers to follow after this hard-hitting and grounded narrative.
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