NOVEMBER 2015 - AudioFile
John Lago is a relentless trained assassin. At least, he was before he married his chief rival, Alice. Narrator Pete Simonelli gives this macho character a gritty, steady voice that is both believable and compelling. His deep, rich baritone drives the story forward and works well for both the action and sex scenes. Listeners are carried along a fast-paced journey of love, betrayal, and violence. Simonelli demonstrates particular versatility in his characterization of Alice, who comes across as reasonable, passionate—and deadly. Her rational likability is a feat for a male narrator. Listeners who enjoy thrillers will find much to enjoy in this tense romantic caper. M.R. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
05/25/2015
When newlywed hit man John Lago and his former nemesis, Alice, cap their bespoke Manhattan nuptials by bumping off their boss at Human Resources Inc.—a boutique contract assassination firm with the genius MO of getting killers close to otherwise inaccessible targets by placing them as interns—the couple expect some blowback. But nothing even their exquisitely twisted imaginations can conjure comes remotely close to the smoke and mirrors scenario that unfolds in this sardonically funny and psychologically astute sequel to Kuhn’s debut, 2014’s The Intern’s Handbook. Nor does anything prepare the sizzling hot duo, now partnering uneasily as co-CEOs of the thriving HR Inc., for the marathon mayhem that ensues once their bone-deep distrust turns them back into each other’s deadliest enemies. Though character soon takes a back seat to the inspired multiplex-ready execution scenarios of the bullet-train plot, readers ready for a cartoonishly enjoyable adventure shouldn’t mind a bit. Agent: Hannah Brown Gordon, Foundry Literary + Media. (July)
From the Publisher
Sardonically funny and psychologically astute.”—Publishers Weekly
“Kuhn's sharp-as-a-blade humor keeps readers, like the bullets, flying through pages. And despite the deadly doings, Hostile is quite romantic, for Lago is hopelessly smitten with Alice, just a boy standing in front of a girl, asking her not to kill him.”—Shelf Awareness
“Far grittier than a Bond film and infused with the mind-bending, identity-shifting elements of, say, “Mission: Impossible,’’ “Hostile Takeover’’ is fun, smart and jam-packed with serious splatter and gore. Lago’s canny shenanigans will keep you riveted, from its taut opening pages to its explosive, cinematic ending.”—Boston Globe
“Suspenseful, bloody, and eminently entertaining. Kuhn can spin a fine phrase (a cold day, he says, is “like Flannery O’Connor’s last breath—raw and as hard as the hammer of divine retribution”), and his smart, witty prose carries the day in this masterfully plotted mayhem with more than a touch of wry.” —Booklist (starred review)
“All of the testosterone-bloated wisdom of Tucker Max mixed with the satire of American Psycho.”—Entertainment Weekly
“Kuhn's sharp-as-a-blade humor keeps readers, like the bullets, flying through pages. And despite the deadly doings, Hostile is quite romantic, for Lago is hopelessly smitten with Alice, just a boy standing in front of a girl, asking her not to kill him.”—Shelf Awareness
“Far grittier than a Bond film and infused with the mind-bending, identity-shifting elements of, say, “Mission: Impossible,’’ “Hostile Takeover’’ is fun, smart and jam-packed with serious splatter and gore. Lago’s canny shenanigans will keep you riveted, from its taut opening pages to its explosive, cinematic ending.”—Boston Globe
NOVEMBER 2015 - AudioFile
John Lago is a relentless trained assassin. At least, he was before he married his chief rival, Alice. Narrator Pete Simonelli gives this macho character a gritty, steady voice that is both believable and compelling. His deep, rich baritone drives the story forward and works well for both the action and sex scenes. Listeners are carried along a fast-paced journey of love, betrayal, and violence. Simonelli demonstrates particular versatility in his characterization of Alice, who comes across as reasonable, passionate—and deadly. Her rational likability is a feat for a male narrator. Listeners who enjoy thrillers will find much to enjoy in this tense romantic caper. M.R. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2015-04-15
The yuppie assassin of The Intern's Handbook (2014) confesses to an FBI interrogator how he battled traitors, government agents, good old boys, and his own smoking-hot wife. John Lago's stint at Human Resources, Inc., which trains young professionals as killers and then embeds them in organizations that need to be destroyed, has ended with a bang. Now that he's been captured, he's being interrogated by FBI Assistant Director Winton Fletcher about his life of comic-book crime. Prodded to a series of extended flashbacks, JL recalls several violent acquaintances from his wonder years, his successful liquidations of hedge-fund partner/heroin trader Kiana Nguyen and online dating guru Dr. Love, and his glorious tenure as co-director of HR, which began when he and his equally lethal love, Alice, celebrated their nuptials by their spectacular murder of Bob II, who'd grabbed the HR reins after JL killed his predecessor, Bob. Months pass in the kind of bliss marked by steamy sex and nonstop assassination contracts, but then those inevitable domestic blues turn JL and Alice against each other as each one seeks to infiltrate Chinese Industrial Solutions, Inc. and neutralize the other. Kuhn works like a beaver to inflate this last score by making a mystery of the real power behind HR, but the whole enterprise is so episodic that it reads like a collection of cheerfully over-the-top short stories capped by a novella in the same key. "I'm not most people," reflects JL. True. His closest fictional counterparts, as he'd be the first to admit, are drawn from movies like Mr. and Mrs. Smith and the Roadrunner cartoons.
