Nearly 15 years after The Dispatcher, Ryan David Jahn returns to the world of Ian Hunt with The Strangers, a crime mystery that sees the return of a few familiar faces, introduces us to a couple new people, and has you guessing from start to finish.
Since rescuing his abducted daughter, Maggie, Chief Ian Hunt has carved out a quiet life in Bulls Mouth, Texas. Maggie is healing. Ian is finally breathing again. And his bond with Sally De Santo–the town’s dangerously alluring gun shop owner–has grown into something worth holding on to.
But all it takes is one phone call. One gunshot. One assassin who never misses.
The hit on Sally explodes Ian’s world, leaving her in a coma and entangling him in a deadly conspiracy of gun trafficking and blood money. As Ian pulls at the threads of Sally’s shady dealings, he finds himself colliding with Agent Abigail Tate of the ATF, who has been hunting a Mexican cartel’s weapons dealer for years. Together, they face a grim reality: Sally’s secrets have made her a target, and the people coming for her don’t stop until their enemies are buried.
When Sally wakes, survival takes a terrifying twist–she remembers everything but no longer recognizes a single face. Allies and enemies blur together, and one wrong move could be her last. Now, Ian must deliver her to safety while facing a ruthless enemy who thrives in the shadows, a killer who knows how to hide in plain sight.
A continuation to Jahn’s Ian Hunt series, The Strangers brings back a few familiar faces from The Dispatcher and until the events of this latest novel, things are going well for Hunt, his daughter and those around him. It wasn’t until most of the way through the book before I actually felt like this needed to be an Ian Hunt story. While reading The Dispatcher helps deepen some characters and gives a bit more to their backstories, you don’t need to have read it to understand the events of The Strangers. So, for the most part this could’ve been a straight standalone tale without Ian Hunt. But still a fun addition to the series and has me wondering if Jahn has more in store for the character.
The Strangers was a fresh and unique mystery that uses a wide range of character to pull you in. You feel for Hunt as he gets closer to Sally who has a unknown shady past, but you also feel for said person as they get shot…even if their past isn’t the best and put herself in the line of fire. It takes some good writing to make you care for someone you have every right not to. As for locations, Jahn continued to make Bulls Mouth, Texas a place that is somewhere I would never want to visit.
There are twists, turns, and surprises throughout The Strangers that kept you guessing and looking forward to some sort of positive resolution. Along with the action-packed scenes and the emotional moments, Jahn was able to keep things exciting along the way. The Strangers if fast-paced and doesn’t let up, but at the same time doesn’t really pull you fully in.
The Strangers is a fast-paced return to the life of Ian Hunt, delivering on plenty of twists, action, and even emotional moments, even if it didn’t completely grab me. Ryan David Jahn juggles a wide cast of characters, making you care about those whose pasts don’t exactly make them easy to root for. The Strangers is a mystery that had me guessing till the end.
The Strangers is available at bookstores everywhere from Blackstone Publishing. The audiobook, narrated by Jeff Harding, is available via Libro.fm!
