Whistler's Angel Review

At age 34, Adam Whistler wants out.
But the service he performed for his government
is not the kind they let you walk away from.To ensure his continued good health, Whistler has "borrowed" important documents from his boss, Felix Aubrey, a dangerous "rogue" and a very bad man to cross. But so is Adam Whistler, who learned the killing craft well under the tutelage of his father. Now, with a ticking time bomb in his hands, Whistler has been cast into a maelstrom of death and chaos. His continued existence may well depend upon a group of retired assassins once linked to the legendary Paul Bannerman, as well as a special "guardian angel." For his gentle and beautiful lover, Claudia -- who barely survived an assassination attempt by Aubrey's hired guns -- has returned to consciousness changed in extraordinary ways. And now she's much more than Whistler's soulmate -- she's a fellow soldier.

Adam Whistler can't remember how many people he's killed, but he's such a nice young man the reader isn't troubled by his murky past. Besides, the killings were legal, sort of. They were sanctioned by the federal drug czar and his minions, especially Adam's boss, Felix Aubrey, who turned the government's anti-drug forfeiture laws into a honey pot that sweetened his own bank account and those of his prominent friends, including many in the radical wing of the religious right. But as John R. Maxim's satirical mystery opens, Adam's fallen in love, and his deepening affair with Claudia, a young woman whose near-death experience convinced her she's been appointed his guardian angel, becomes the fulcrum of this taut, funny offshoot of Maxim's popular Bannerman series.

Adam's father wants him to come into the family firm as a go-between lurking in the shadows of multinational business. But first he has to get Adam out from under his enemies, especially Aubrey, whose ledger (containing the records of his illegal search-and-seizure scam) Adam sequestered as insurance when he quit Aubrey's employ. The elder Whistler sends Adam and Claudia on a year-long sailing sabbatical to hide him from Aubrey's gang. But an assassination plot hatched by the Reconstructionists, a gang of religious zealots controlled by Aubrey, brings Adam and Claudia back into the eye of the storm. Adam has a couple of powerful weapons on his side: Claudia, who may not be an angel but definitely has acquired some heavenly powers since her brush with death, and the Bannerman operatives, whose skills and strategies will be familiar to Maxim's fans. The author's tongue is so firmly planted in his cheek that the satire may be lost on some readers, but they'll find plenty of action, superb pacing, and picaresque characters to keep them enthralled. --Jane Adams

He's Done It Again!

By A20GT69D19R4ND on 2001-03-08

Characters return from earlier novels initially giving you the thought that the "old" JRM was back but then revealing a "new" JRM with a cast of background players reflecting a little age, a little mellowness but the same "help out a friend or family" attitude so well done in his Bannerman series. Those readers enamored of Carla Benedict and Molly Farrell from earlier yarns will have a difficult time putting Whistler's Angel down.

JRM again brings his characters to Hilton Head, South Carolina where they mix with the local population and cause you to wish you lived down the street or around the corner. The marina, complete with local watering hole called Jump & Phil's and a bartender named Leslie will remind readers of another place and time and cause them to wonder if there really is such a place and person(s) on Hilton Head?

The dialog in his latest novel reflects Maxim's tremendous sense of humor and will keep you enthralled from chapter to chapter. His extraordinary narrative skill will cause the fan to go back and read JRM's other offerings and the first time Maxim reader to haunt the bookstores. A great example is his conversation between Whistler's father and Claudia's mother, the single parents of his main characters:

"Want to marry me, Kate?" "Ask me again in two years. That's if I haven't murdered you first." "Fair enough." "Will you let me redecorate? Add some tuches of my own?" "Ask me again in two years."

I'll have a hard time waiting for the further adventures of Whistler and his Angel.

Exciting espionafe thriller

By AFVQZQ8PW0L on 2001-02-16

However, in the middle of his protective documents, Adam finds himself holding something more damning and dangerous than just a bit of minor blackmailing fluff he planned to use to keep his own life safe. He turns to his legendary dad who sends him to Claudia Geller for help. Aubrey begins a deadly game to regain the document, leaving Adam and company turning to the great Bannerman and his cohorts as allies in a war between covert professionals.

Best selling author John R. Maxim stretches the maximum acceptance levels of a daring plot by his readers and somehow his talent turns it into a fast-paced story line. The plot never slows down as Adam tries to expedite himself from the business only to land deeper inside its darkest cesspool. Felix seems too nasty to be human yet his machinations make the novel spin forward so that the reader does not care. Throw in Bannerman's return even if he is not the star in this action-packed novel, thereby insuring that WHISTLER'S ANGEL is espionage at its thrilling best.

Harriet Klausner

Whistler's Angel Reviews

He's Done It Again!

Maximum intrigue, people are dying!!

Exciting espionafe thriller

WOW!!!!!

gray area morality with a added twist of mirth