MONDAYS BOOK TALK - Wanted

Written by Ben Kesp

Wanted by Nick Stephenson 

A Leopold Blake Thriller

I signed up for a promotional offer and in return received a free e-book called Wanted by Nick Stephenson. It is the first book in the Leopold Blake thriller series. 

Stephenson was born in Cambridge, England and is a mystery fiction author and novelist. His approach to writing is as he states on his website; to hit hard, hit fast and leave as few spelling mistakes as possible. In addition to the Leopold Blake thrillers he writes mystery and suspense novels. 

Wanted revolves around Leopold Blake who lives off his inheritance from his parents who were mysteriously killed. He has been sent to Paris to investigate the security of the Louvre following the disappearance of a priceless work of art. From here the story takes off with Blake having to go on the run from the French Police and for his life from a trained assassin. He is joined by his friend Mary, a police woman from New York and Sophie a new acquaintance he meets on his investigation of the Louvre. The reader is left guessing as to what history the characters have prior to be introduced in book 1 of the series including much of the other characters that appear within the story. I did not find any real character development and the main protagonist of Leopold Blake is quite cold and two dimensional. 

The plot of the story itself perhaps is liked by certain readers but I did not find it strong with many parts very predictable. For me Wanted seemed to have all the ingredients of what should make up a mystery thriller but perhaps not enough of each ingredient was used to flesh out the story and its characters. However on stating all of that the story moves at a fast pace with much action. 

I am unsure if I will read a further of the Leopold Blake series, instead I would invest time in reading another of Stephenson’s mystery suspense novels. If suspense thrillers are your genre with plenty of action, then this could be the book for you.