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The Protocol (A Thyme Amaretto Kill)
By Tyree Campbell (Hiraeth Books)
Review By Alan Ira Gordon
The Protocol is the first installment by author Tyree Campbell in his “Thyme Amaretto Kill” series. The setting is present-day Washington, D.C. While the city’s name is never stated, from it’s geographic location and description of various locations within the city, it’s clearly our nation’s capitol, albeit with a mix of dystopian elements and echoes of our real world. The title character of Thyme Amaretto is a contract killer hitwoman who works for a shadowy federal government agency only known as The Protocol. The twist is that in this deteriorating society, contract killing is legal and Amaretto is the best of the legal hitman/hitwoman bunch.
The plot begins with a focus on City Police Detective Kallia Gibson, who is investigating various sudden appearances of pools of blood in public locations throughout the city. She soon comes into unintended contact with Amaretto, which triggers a cascade of simultaneous and interconnected events. The first result is the shadowy higher-ups in The Protocol feeling threatened by the situation and thereby putting out a hit on Amaretto. Competing hitmen take-up the challenge of killing Amaretto for the notoriety of knocking-off the best legal hitwoman in the business.
The novel’s plot is layered with suspenseful cat-and-mouse scenes as the thrown-together-by-events duo of Kallia and Thyme struggle to evade an ever-tightening noose of pursuers. Tension is relieved by timely action as the duo work to save themselves while simultaneously working to solve mystery elements regarding the nature and identity of the upper echelon players of The Protocol. And as if this danger isn’t enough, mid-way through the plot a sub-plot emerges of an immediate, massive and deadly terrorism threat which our duo must prevent on a parallel track with their fight to stay alive.
There are several elements to this novel that result in an absorbing, well-written and entertaining read. First-off is the multiple-genre issue. The foundation of the storyline is action-adventure-thriller. But right from Chapter 1, author Campbell weaves-in basic science fiction, fantasy and magical realism elements. I really don’t want to provide any specific plot spoilers to illustrate, suffice to say that Thyme has magical abilities and that alien elements are built into Thyme’s personal backstory as well as operating in the present-day of the plot.
Secondly, there’s a subtlety here regarding the science fiction and magical elements that’s intriguing. Author Campbell never brings these elements to the forefront of this first novel in the Thyme Amaretto Kill series. Instead, we see tantalizing and very small glimpses of sci-fi, aliens, magic in practice here and there in the story, serving a tidbit clues to the bigger picture of what’s going-on with the main adventure thriller plot elements. This storytelling approach works very well to entertain the reader as well as whet the reader’s appetite toward wanting to read future installments of the series.
Third, I was very impressed with Campbell’s inclusion of a wide-ranging number of additional story characters. He skillfully fleshes-out a large number of players including Protocol figures, city police force members, street urchins, hitmen and local media folk: the list goes on and on. Kudos to Campbell for taking the storytelling time and having the writing skill to make this work. Not to be overly dramatic or to take literary pretensions, but as this large cast of players take their turn center stage throughout this action-adventure, I was reminded of Charles Dicken’s similar skill in unveiling an operatic cast of players within his novels (A Tale Of Two Cities comes immediately to mind).
And finally, perhaps most importantly as well as most entertainingly, there’s the relationship between Thyme and Kallia. Unintentionally thrown-together by thriller story events, there’s an initial hint of personal attraction that evolves into a full-blown eroticism between the two. And then, their personal relationship takes a very unexpected and somewhat shocking turn in the final scene of the novel. Again, I don’t want to provide any spoilers here. But I will say hats-off to Campbell for providing a unique and unexpected turn in the duo’s personal relationship. I sure didn’t see it coming at all, and actually re-read it three times late in the evening of finishing the book’s read, it stunned me that much. It’s beautifully written, heartbreaking and serves as a wonderful and worthwhile bridge to the next novel in this book series that Campbell is scheduled to pen.
Tyree Campbell himself refers to this novel as something a little different from his usual novel’s plotlines. And I agree. This is a very well-written and engrossing genre-related thriller that’s well-worth the read, both in-and-of-itself and as something different from the author’s usual science fiction storytelling approach. So get yourself a copy of The Protocol and enjoy!