Book review: Ghostman, by Roger Hobbs
Roger Hobbs makes a promising start, literally, in his debut novel, Ghostman, an American-set thriller littered with bodies, bloody gun battles and a few twists and turns.
by Roger Hobbs
Doubleday
A seemingly straightforward robbery of US$1.2 million as an armoured truck delivers money to a casino goes wrong. Four men are killed, another is wounded - but the bag of money has disappeared.
Gangster Marcus Hayes, who organised the heist, needs to find the haul to finance a drug deal - but quickly. The money will become worthless after 48 hours: the money is packed alongside blue-dye security charges, which are rigged to explode after two days, or earlier if someone tries to opens the bag.
The FBI and a rival gang are hunting for the money, too, so Hayes calls in a "ghostman" - an expert thief he knows by the alias of Jack Delton - to find the money.
So far, so good.
Hobbs, still only 24, wrote an early draft of this story while at university. He has freshened up the "lone tough-guy" thriller genre, by making his hero a crook.
Delton, our narrator, tells us that he is the best in the business at disappearing. He has helped hundreds of thieves - and their ill-gotten gains - vanish. Using disguises, fake passports and "limitless confidence" in the way he acts, talks and behaves, he has repeatedly avoided detection. "People see what you tell them to see," Delton says.
Hobbs has researched how thieves operate, and provides a few gritty scenes and frequent bloody killings. However, his novel is let down by the poor, paper-thin characterisation; his "ghostman" never comes to life. The narrative also starts to run out of steam.
In the back story we learn little of Delton's past: he fell into crime aged 14, never takes drugs, relaxes by translating the classics, and quotes Latin. So far, so pretentious.
We are told Delton's mentor taught him to become an expert "ghostman", yet Hobbs offers no sharp details to make him feel genuine. Delton merely comes across sounding hollow.
Apparently, using only his limitless confidence, a bit of make-up and hair dye, a stoop and by lowering or raising his voice, Delton can gain or lose 30 years. Heap on the usual clichés, too: he's a crack shot, as tough as nails, an expert driver and easily leaves the attractive FBI agent trailing in his wake. Delton is too smug and clever to be credible, or even likeable: he never breaks into a sweat or fears for his life, even in fights to the death, or the ridiculous confrontation with a fellow criminal, "Wolf". Delton's so good and - worse - he knows it.
The book's not a total loss: some readers will enjoy the bloody action ride. But by the time it ends - a disappointing, self-satisfied outcome that was never in any doubt - it's hard to care.
Any emotional bond that readers might have developed with the "ghostman" will have been scared away long before.
