Review: The Lawless Kind by Matt Hilton

Wednesday 4 February 2015
Title: The Lawless Kind (Joe Hunter, #9)
Author: Matt Hilton
Publisher: Hodder
Publication Date: 31st July 2014
Pages: 336
ISBN: 9781444728781
Rating: 4.5/5
Purchase: Amazon
Ex-counterterrorist soldier Joe Hunter has been called to Mexico to bring an end to a cartel that preys on the people they smuggle across the US border. Once the mission's ended, however, Joe's mission leader and mentor, CIA Black Ops director Walter Hayes Conrad, confesses that the bloody mission is not the real reason Joe has been summoned south of the border.

For years, Walter has kept the details of his private life - especially his family - secret from everyone, even his closest friends. But disaster has struck: his great-grandson Benjamin has been abducted, kidnapped by Walter's sworn enemy, the leader of one of Mexico's largest drug cartels. Walter will do whatever it takes to get the boy back. And he know Hunter is the man for the job.

But there's one complication -- the drug boss just happens to be Benjamin's father.


Matt Hilton's Joe Hunter series is one of the best thriller series currently being written, along with Sean Black's Ryan Lock series. If Matt and Sean ever teamed up to write a novel, it would be off the scale. I feel though that Matt is massively underrated, as whenever I ask thriller fans if they have read his books, the answer is almost always no which baffles me. Matt's books read like an action movie script, and play out in my head like a Hollywood blockbuster. The excitement I feel at starting one of Matt's books is immeasurable as I know that I'm in for one hell of a ride, and The Lawless Kind was definitely that.

The Lawless Kind is the ninth Hunter novel and whilst it could be read as a standalone, this series is so good you really should go back to where it all began with Dead Men's Dust. In The Lawless Kind, Hunter's mentor Walter Hayes Conrad has once again called upon him for help, his great-grandson Benjamin has been abducted by Walter's sworn enemy, the leader of one of Mexico's largest drug cartels, a man that Walter is determined to take down. Not only that but the drug boss just so happens to be Benjamin's father. If anybody can get the boy back, it's Hunter, but at what cost? And just how much can Hunter trust Walter? Hunter works with a partner, Rink. Rink isn't Walter's biggest fan, having still not forgiven him for past events so the book starts with a little bit of tension.

This time around and we see Hunter really questioning the man he is becoming, questioning his actions and his behaviour. No stranger to death, or murder, he feels very uncomfortable with what is being asked of him by Walter. Hunter is a killer, but there's almost always a justification behind the murders that he carries out. Underneath it all he's a good person, and he's definitely somebody I would want on my side. Rink says that Hunter has a St George complex, one that drives him to seek out and slay the dragons of the world which I think describes him perfectly. The relationship he has with Rink is very believable, and I love their friendship. Together they are pretty much unstoppable, and with this being the ninth book, are their nine lives about to run out?

As with all of Matt's books, I pretty much knew I was in for a late night once I started reading this book. After a little bit of scene setting in the beginning, it wasn't long before the action started and the book became very exciting indeed. All the old cliches apply here, but in a completely positive way. Relentless is probably the best way to describe it, I could almost hear my heart beating in my chest. Hunter always manages to find himself up against some nasty individuals, and how he is still alive I don't know. Realism is perhaps stretched with these books, but isn't that where the enjoyment comes from? Hunter's next adventure is out very soon, hard to believe it's going to be book ten but I really hope Matt has no plans to retire Joe just yet, after the events of this book there's still so much to explore with this character and so many places he could go. Fans of Lee Child yet to read Matt Hilton, what are you waiting for?

4.5/5

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