Author Rob Hart’s “Assassins Anonymous” is a unique entry in the action-spy-mystery novel universe. On the one hand, it does boast many of the usual exciting action novel features: bloody violence; mano-a-mano combat; powerful heroes and equally powerful villains; clever and deadly spies; hit men (and women) galore; the CIA, of course; and most of all, murders. And murderers, as the title indicates.
But on the other hand, it also features profound thematic elements that are simply not commonly found in most examples of the genre. The two-word title itself offers a subtle, clever hint of what’s to come. The two words are equally important, as is their sum effect. “Assassins” describes the hero and his associates, especially the protagonist himself. One of his names is Mark. His surname is not important. But his other name certainly is. He is well-known in the crime world as the Pale Horse, and he is the deadliest assassin in his world — indestructible and invincible. Also cruel, amoral, vicious, and unthinkably thoughtless. The automatic hitman.
And the first important element of the title’s second word, “Anonymous,” is that he is always and only the Pale Horse, so no enemy can find him, can track him down. He is, for all practical purposes, invisible. But that’s not the most significant fact, in this setting, about “Anonymous.” When Mark decides he has had enough of the world of crime — even though he has worked for the ostensible good guys, the CIA — he is introduced sheerly by coincidence to another universe, the universe of fighting the curse of addiction. While on a murder assignment for the agency, he meets another hitman, a guy named Kenji, who is the leader of a small tribe of assassins who are searching desperately for the road to recovery from their peculiar addiction: the addiction to murder. They are their own special breed of AA: Assassins Anonymous.
A brief summation of the plot will suffice. Pale Horse wants out. He wants to be Mark. But after a meeting of the group, he is viciously attacked by a giant Russian killer type, and by the time their bloody fight is over, Mark has been stabbed, and the Russian has escaped. Mark searches for and finds a woman named Astrid, who has stitched him up before. She successfully binds his wounds, and he is eventually able to begin the search for his attacker, to set out on his quest to find who sent the Russian, and perhaps most importantly, to discover why that person was out to get him. And he must somehow eliminate both of them.
But there’s the rub. He has vowed to practice and stick to the rules of the 12-step program of AA in order to stay on the road to recovery and conquer his addiction to killing. Those rules do not include the necessity of committing murder. So for the rest of the novel, he must find the villains and rid himself of them with one metaphorical hand tied behind his metaphorical back. Without getting himself killed in the process.
All of his physical battles as his struggles continue are described by the author with painful precision and so much gruesome detail that the reader may feel by the end of the novel that he or she will have have gained some expertise in the techniques of the martial arts. It’s an extraordinarily effective presentation of blood and gore and the art of killing. And it’s a classical presentation of many of the tropes of action-spy novels. But here the spy decides that he’s had it with the horrors of the “business.” He escapes to a place of peace. Then some unfortunate circumstances force him back into the game. Now he’s hunted by both the agency and the villains, so he is both hunter and hunted.
But speaking of classical stuff, what makes Hart’s novel and his protagonist unique is the unexpected and very unusual plethora of literary themes the novel presents and projects. There are, for example, many subtle and not-so-subtle religious themes. Mark’s “professional” name, Pale Horse, is a direct reference to the New Testament’s final book, Revelation, wherein Death rides in on a pale horse. And the pale horse itself is a traditional symbol of the pale color — gray. In literary terms, a gray person is often symbolic of the individual who displays both good (the white horse) and evil (the black one) characteristics — all perfectly descriptive of Hart’s main character here: Mark (Dr. Jekyll) and Pale Horse (Mr. Hyde). Then, of course, there is the flawed hero’s first name, his “good guy” name. Mark is the name of the chronologically first gospel, the “Good News” (about 75 C.E.).
Another classical theme in Hart’s novel is “the hero and the journey.” Think Moses to the Promised Land; Jesus to the desert , where he meets the devil and temptation; Odysseus; Huck Finn; Holden Caulfield; James, the title character in Percival Everett’s recent brilliant novel; and many more. The hero’s journey in those literary works, like Mark’s in this novel, is a doubly significant phenomenon. He travels the world — his world, anyway — encountering and coping with dangerous enemies — human, natural, and sometimes monstrous. But even more importantly, he experiences the inner journey, the search for himself, the quest to find out who he really is, what he is really made of. And that double experience precisely defines and describes Mark’s journeys in “Assassins Anonymous.”
The “flawed hero” is also a ubiquitous theme in classical literature and in works that have consistently appeared through the years. In Shakespeare alone, we find Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, King Richard, and more; many more, of course, in fictional works of every era and virtually every style and category.
And finally, we arrive at the theme of addiction, addictive personality syndrome, and the terribly difficult task of overcoming addictions of every variety. It’s an intense struggle for people all over the world and in every kind of society.
“Addictions Anonymous, then, given its clever and twisty plot developments, its head-banging, rollicking action, and its complex compilation of profound literary themes, offers readers plenty of bang for their bucks — actually, in a novel like this one, a whole lot of bangs for their bucks — literally and figuratively. I enthusiastically recommend that you join Mark on that treacherous road. Enjoy the journey!
REVIEWED BY JACK KRAMER
Please note this review is based on the final, hardcover copy provided by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, the publisher, for review purposes.