The Detonator by Vincent Zandri

The Detonator Reviews

• 
  Bandit

  This was meant to be something of a palate cleanser and it worked as such, a mindless by the numbers thriller that goes boom boom, literally. At one instance the main protagonist’s wife says something like High explosive entertainment, sounds like a cheesy B movie tagline. Well, that’s exactly right, so at least there’s so level of self awareness involved, maybe. This is very much a book equivalent of a B movie, a revenge story that utilizes various (old school and futuristic) explosives. The main character is a master blaster professionally and passionately, also a devoted family man, whose one momentarily lapse of judgement some 16 years in the past comes back to terrorize him with a vengeance in the shape of a daughter of his former business partner, who at 25 is not only an associate professor specializing in next generation explosives, but also something of a psycho, owning to her traumatic childhood. So it’s a very straight forward sort of a story, no twists, no turns, just one action sequence after another until the predictable ending. Zandri is a best selling author, this reads like a best selling fiction, in that supermarket sort of way, the sort of book you’d pick up on the go, read on a trip, leave once done and forget about almost immediately. The man is responsible for 30 books at least, that sort of prolificacy seldom denotes quality. But it’s perfectly readable and occasionally kinda fun. I prefer thrillers with murder and suspense added in. Not quite dynamite, although for all the obvious reasons it would be the way one would market it. Like Publishers Weekly did, way to go with the most obvious choice there. With expectations sufficiently adjusted, it’ll do to pass the time. Thanks Netgalley.
• 
  Dawn

  This book was a solid read! It kept you glued to the pages, your heart in your throat and I simply didn't want to put it down. Great characters! It would have been prefect for me had it not ended the way it did. I needed closure and it was left open and as far as I can tell this is not going to be a series.
  
  I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Cheryl

  In regards, to a shorter novel from this author, I did like this book. It was a quick read. Yet, it had a good storyline, engaging characters, and moved at a fast pace.
  
  You might want to hate Ike. Even say that he brought the trouble to his doorstep but as I got to know him and see how much he really cared and loved his family; I could not hate or blame him. In fact, you could say he was one of those men that were changed once he had a child. Henry is a bright spot in this book. Allison is definitely a scorned woman. She brings a whole new level to "crazy".
  
  The most action is in the last third of the story. It is where Ike's skills as a bomb expert is tested by Allison's bomb expertise. There are some intense moments. Which, the story is wrapped up nicely by the end. I did enjoy this book.
• 
  Bookreporter.com Mystery & Thriller

  THE DETONATOR had me at the jump, and not simply because it is written by veteran word scribe Vincent Zandri. This explosive stand-alone work from the author of the Jack Marconi series (among others) begins with a five-word sentence that sinks and pulls the hook. It then introduces a basically decent but humanly imperfect protagonist whose understandable but nonetheless very wrong shortcoming indirectly leads to a tragedy. That implausibly propels the balance of the novel at breakneck speed without an ounce of waste. Please believe me when I tell you that it really doesn’t get any better than this.
  
  Let’s go from the general to the specific. THE DETONATOR begins in October 1999 with Ike Singer experiencing one of the most important moments of his life. His company, Master Blasters Inc., is about to implode a 15-story warehouse in lower Manhattan. Things go horribly wrong, though, resulting in Ike being injured and his partner and co-owner, Brian Darling, dying. The catastrophe is indirectly related to a major indiscretion that Ike made a few months previously. What we gradually learn as the first-person narrative shifts to the present is that, in the aftermath, Ike lost his company and his demolition license.
  
  Ike, his wife Ellen and their son Henry (who is afflicted with progeria) are now living in Albany, New York, where Ike assists the police department’s bomb squad. While on a family vacation, however, his past collides unexpectedly with his present when the secret he has kept hidden from his wife for almost 20 years is threatened to be revealed. Even worse, he learns that there were consequences to his mistake --- of which he had been unaware --- resulting in the creation of a deadly, angry and brilliant enemy who has decided to take vengeance on everything Ike cares about. The revenge begins slowly, but over the course of a very long 24 hours, Ike’s entire life and world will be turned upside down in the worst ways possible as he and the city of Albany bear the full brunt of a rage that has festered for almost a lifetime.
  
  Zandri’s prose reads as if he was typing with one hand and holding a stopwatch with the other. THE DETONATOR moves at warp speed. There is no good place to stop, so plan on setting aside a few hours to read it all in one gulp, as it goes down best that way. And let me pause for just one minute and tell you why I am in awe of Zandri and his latest work. One thing that put the book over the top for me was that the motivating factor of the antagonist is a deep-seated, long-festering revenge, which is a familiar plot element in thrillers. A bothersome issue that it often raises is “Why satisfy the revenge now?” That is not the case here. Zandri asks that question --- out loud --- and answers it near the conclusion, in case the reader hasn’t figured it out by then. He also name-drops a classic film that comes to mind during the first third or so of the book, so I won’t do it here.
  
  Speaking of movies, someone needs to adapt this novel to video, and soon. Zandri’s cinematic writing style should make it easy, and while the film could never be as good as the book, the right person with the right budget has a chance of coming close. Don’t wait, though. Read THE DETONATOR now.
  
  Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
• 
  John McKenna

  The Detonator
  Mysterious Book Report No. 335
  by John Dwaine McKenna
  
  Psychological thrillers are among the most popular of modern crime fiction works, because they give readers a long and hard look into the hearts and minds and motives of people who are far outside of the usual norms of society. The Irish and Brits call them nutters . . . while we Americans simply call them what they are . . . crazy. We’re fascinated and fearful, all at the same time, and that makes them irresistible to us, for humans are curious by nature. It takes a masterful writer however, to look into that kind of a heart of darkness and create artful entertainment from such bleak material.
  The Detonator, (Polis Books, $25.99, 287 pages, ISBN 978-1-943818-88-4) by Vincent Zandri is an electrifying psychological thriller involving a demolitions expert named Ike Singer. He’s a man whose job was Master Blaster, the guy who blows those obsolete old multi-story buildings to smithereens, so that new ones can be put up in their place. He was at the top of his profession fifteen years ago when a personal indiscretion resulted in an attempted murder and suicide. It meant the death of his business partner and college best friend . . . and the loss of his license to practice the trade he loved so well . . . the occupation Ike Singer spent his whole life learning. He’s been trying to make up for it ever since. The father of a child named Henry—who suffers from a rare premature aging disease which has made him an old man with a terminal life expectancy of just twenty statue years—Ike and his wife Ellen are doing their best to make Henry’s last weeks and days of life as happy as possible. Ike, having found satisfaction as a bomb disposal expert with the Albany, New York Police Department, has put the past behind, moved on with his life and kept his marriage intact. He’s found peace. But that peace is based on lies. Lies which threaten to come to the surface when he and his family become the targets of a brilliant psychopath with a PhD in Super Nano-Thermite Explosives . . . she’s the daughter of his old partner . . . who wants to extract revenge for her family’s troubles by blowing up the Singer family and the City of Albany too. The tension and suspense ratchets up with each page in this exciting, fast-paced and propulsive thriller that’s a blast, (Sorry, I can’t help myself sometimes . . .) from start to finish. It’s a dynamite read all the way. Enjoy!
  
• 
  Rosemary

  The Detonator - a review by Rosemary Kenny
  
  Wow oh wow!! This unbelievably amazing story from Master of the Psychological Thriller, Vincent Zandri, deserves at least 10 out of 5 possible stars on any book appreciation/review site you care to name! I was totally blown away, (mentally and emotionally) by the expertly-written, flowing, easy to read, engagingly mesmerizing characters and the fast paced plotline of the best thriller I've read all year so far!
  
  Ike (Iqbal) Singer and his wife Ellen have only one child, Henry, a seriously handicapped/limited life-expectancy son; whose condition brings issues to the fore in the Singers' marriage and triggers events that will have more serious consequences than either of them could possibly have foretold in a million years.
  Ike's partner in their aptly named demolition business, Master Blasters, is Brian Darling, who's like a brother to Ike, until Brian discovers his wife Patty and his best friend Ike have had an 'affair' - a one night stand that changes six people's lives forever.
  
  What deadly action does Brian take as a result of his discovery? When did Patty discover she was pregnant? How did Ike react?
  Does Ellen know about the infidelity? What will her reaction be if she does? Where does Patty and Brian's daughter meet up with the Singer family?
  What is her job? How has she taken advantage of her education and previous life experience with explosives? How does Alison interact with the family next?
  Why doesn't Ike take the family home? How does Ellen's career lead to a deadly trap? Who kidnaps Henry and how do his parents rescue him?
  
  With breath-taking, explosive action and thrills all the way you won't want to miss a single moment of this psychological thriller, that will leave you wondering about how relationships work, how science is changing our world and how good and evil can be only a heartbeat apart? I loved it and you will too...get your copy now!
  
• 
  Ben

  Ike Singer, bomb squad officer of the Albany , NY PD is on a beach vacation with his wife and son. On the last day, as they lay on the sand, an attractive young woman strolls by and stops to chat. Her name is Allison, She is personable and quickly bonds with Ike's wife and son.
  She is also a killer and her target is in her sights; Ike and his family.
  The reason is that her father was Ike's partner in a construction demolition business, I,e., the demolition of large buildings. The reason is that her father was killed in one of the firm's contracts. There is more behind the story line than this brief synopsis, to be sure, but this will do and not ruin the story with spoilers.
  With that set up , Mr. Zandri takes the reader off on a wild ride where the killer's weapon of choice is a super-bomb and her ultimate target in the unsuspecting family.
  
  I usually like Mr. Zandri's thriller and crime novels , but in this one the writing is a bit over the top . Still, if the reader suspends credulity, he or she will get a lot of action, hair-raising chases, fantastic escapes and an explosive (pun obvious) ending. It is destined for the screen as a Vin Diesel type character blasts through multiple SFX thrills.
  Give it a high-level two stars.
  
  
• 
  Diana

  This book is a pure popcorn novel. It's over-the-top on a Die Hard level. It's a high octane thrill ride. And it's a hell of a lot of fun to read! It's cinematic in scope. It would make a great movie.
• 
  Nick Kmita

  A well-written story
  
  I enjoyed this book and felt like I was there watching everything through the eyes of each of the main characters.
• 
  Ann Keeran

  Wow!! This book is one in a million. Exciting, thrilling, breath taking and a novel that should be read by every adult. In one word - wonderful!