My Review of Eric Lahti’s Henchmen
Evil is that thing that we don’t want to happen to us. If it happens to someone else, someone we don’t agree with, though, it’s justice.
Lahti, Eric. Henchmen (p. 183). Kindle Edition.
Having stalked—I mean, followed Eric on Twitter for some time, I’ve had the Henchmen saved on my laptop for what seems like an eternity. I’ve been waiting for some downtime to indulge in this gritty action story. Eric’s writing did not disappoint. As I mentioned on Twitter, the best way to sum up this speculative fiction is if Michael Crichton and Stephen King got together and wrote their own version of Aliens crossed with Oceans 11 crossed with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The difference is that Eric provides enough tech to satisfy the geek in me without devolving into writing a text book like some of Crichton’s work. The toughest part about this review is going to be avoiding spoilers, because this is well worth a read and I don’t want to give away the fun parts.
Their Mission?—All the Wrong Things for the Right Reasons
From the opening page, Eric sucks you into this team’s mission to bring down the government. Eric’s intelligent and sarcastic narrator Steven reminds me of the spy Michael Western from the TV Show Burn Notice. Steven is an ex-government agent who has been burned and is now working for “a seven-foot-tall bombshell.” It’s clear from the start that, Eve, the leader of this ensemble is more than she seems, and Eric does a great job of giving just enough to tantalize, but leaving us with questions about her supernatural origins and her real goals. After a successful heist, they decide to celebrate with some naked sushi. When a gang shows up and threatens their “hostess,” they realize the secret carries may be useful to their cause. From there, the ride down the rabbit hole gets wilder with this crew of misfits. Supernatural creatures, government conspiracies and tentacles start coming out of the woodwork—literally.
The Anti-hero
While anti-heroes have been around for a long time, in recent years, pop culture has seen a surge in popularity in this trope/archetype. In opposition to the squeaky-clean, square-jawed, high moralled characters of the past, the anti-hero is flawed and at times dark. Often times, the anti-hero is more relatable than the perfect hero. The Henchmen does a great job of showing this group of anti-heroes and their motivations for participating in what would be considered treasonous insurrection.
Civil Disobedience
“If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth–certainly the machine will wear out… but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience and Other Essays
One of the deeper themes in Eric’s book revolves around government corruption, control, and blind obedience to law. He isn’t picking on either political party, but calling out the whole system as being no longer for the people. It is a great talking point in these turbulent times when we have people marching in the street. What is true patriotism?
“Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else.”
~ Theodore Roosevelt
Henchmen is very relatable in our current state of affairs in this country. I’m not saying let’s go overthrow the government, but his story brings up some great talking points on blind patriotism. It will totally piss off people on the extremes of either party. It’s definitely not a story for the easily offended or politically correct. But if you are in the mood for a gritty, wild adventure in the desert of New Mexico, then this novel (and series) is for you. I can’t wait to dive into the sequel, Arise.
Thanks for reading. I’ll be off the grid for most of August out at the cabin doing construction. Check out my social media pages for construction updates. Coming soon in the review queue is Willie Handler’s, Loved Mars, Hated the Food; and Salen Valari’s The Darkness Within. For my next news letter I’ll be posting a sneak preview from A Drink of Darkness, my paranormal romance/historical fiction set in Dawson City in 1898.
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