We Know - Gregg Hurwitz
Publisher: Sphere
Paperback
August 21, 2008
Gregg Hurwitz, following the success of last year’s I See You
– shortlisted for this year’s CWA Daggers – should have
few worries. Despite the a great deal of expectation placed on an author’s
second publication, We Know starts off at a cracking pace that
only intensifies as the story unfurls, with tight dialogue, a tremendous
sense of place and intrigue infiltrating every page.
Nick Horrigan is a regular, everyday nice guy; a local charity worker who looks out for the old lady living in the apartment next door. Only when a highly trained SWAT team break into his apartment in the early hours and whisk him off in a Blackhawk helicopter at the demand of a seemingly deranged terrorist holding a nuclear power plant under siege with a bomb, do things crystallise and cast doubts over the common definition of “regular”.
The characters – especially Nick’s stepfather / presidential bodyguard, Frank Durant, who oozes paranoia from each and every pore like sweat – are so intense, so credible, that they become three dimensional in a way that is almost spooky.
Set within a scenario that is times both deeply disturbing and, at others, outlandish, We Know is much darker than I See You. The trick of writing a thriller that is so engaging lies in the author’s ability to get the protagonists into and out of situations and Gregg Hurwitz has this skill off to a tee so that no matter how bizarre those situations might be, there is never a moment when the reader says “get outta here”, mainly because Nick Horrigan is an ordinary bloke in extraordinary circumstances from the off; a well-drawn, eminently likeable bloke at that.
This is an excellent read and shows that Gregg Hurwitz is quickly growing into a force to be reckoned with.
break the rules as I see fit.” - Chris High 2003.