Chris Hauty brings back Hayley Chill in a vulnerable fashion that has our kickass protagonist grappling with the weighty demons of her past endeavors, from the dark secrets of her family to her recent near-death experiences in combat.
The murder of a Supreme Court Justice by one of the police officers assigned to protect him stuns the entire nation with no plausible motive behind the barbaric act. When Hayley Chill’s superiors detect a hint of something sinister happening behind the scenes, they assign her to protect another Justice in Maui where incidentally a group of school kids is kidnapped by highly trained mercenaries. Not one to believe in coincidences, Hayley is tasked with rescuing the kids and protecting her charge before the nefarious plot by secret moneymen reaches its final stage.
Hauty keeps fans of the series on their toes as he shakes things up to shine the light on a new side to Hayley Chill. While she retains her powerful presence, there’s a broken quality to her that leaves her vulnerable on mission, both physically and mentally. There’s a sense of impending failure where readers can no longer be sure if Hayley Chill will in fact save the day. This reticence brings a fresh change of pace for thriller readers to devour and appreciate. It also allows for new characters to shine in the series that match Hayley Chill and sometimes even go beyond her efforts to get the job done.
In addition to the barebones thriller material, Hauty very cleverly weaves together elements that tinker on the line between grounded and supernatural. With Hayley constantly hallucinating her friend April after her demise, Hayley seemingly gets to learn about things from her dead friend. However, there are enough breadcrumbs to possibly dispel a total supernatural mystique as we see April’s astral form as simply a way for Hayley’s intelligent and inquisitive line of thought to break through her drunken stupor and clouded judgements, making for quite a lot of “oh damn” moments throughout the narrative. It can still be quite scary at times if you’re reading at night however.
The Devil You Know reads fast and furious with a timely narrative and a realistic threat for badass protagonist Hayley Chill. It works marvelously as a stepping stone in Chill’s progress back to her top form after learning from her mishaps.
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Purchase The Devil You Know
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