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Reviewed by Asher Syed for Readers' Favorite
The Marksman by Robin G. Mercier revolves around Jim Hanson, a struggling ex-Marine rancher on the Arizona-Mexico border, who is devastated by his wife's cancer battle, leaving him financially and emotionally drained. When he encounters Miguel and his mother fleeing a vicious drug cartel, Jim calls the Border Patrol. However, the cartel confronts him, demanding the boy and his mother. Jim refuses, triggering a shootout. Escaping with Miguel and the dying mother's last request to take the boy to his relatives in Chicago, Jim becomes Miguel's sole protector. Pursued by the relentless cartel assassin and Border Patrol agents, they embark on a desperate race from Arizona to Chicago, forming an unlikely bond while fighting for survival and healing from horrific losses.
Apparently, this book has been made into a major motion picture with an A-list star, but being a complete and unabashedly happy book nerd, I only know this wonderfully written novel as The Marksman by Robin G. Mercier. Everyone else in the book is as I pictured them in my head and was able to do so because Mercier is exceptional at developing characters. Jim is so sad and so hardened, I could actually feel how tired he was oozing off the page. That soft spot will make a reader root for him, which means a lot when the protagonist's most engaged and engaging character is a child. The action scenes are so well executed and the balance between ultra fierce chases, running, shooting, and all other manner of awesomeness, and the sheer heartbreak and emotional investment that carries every page of the book is what makes it special. And it is very special. Very highly recommended.
