The Henchmen's Book Club

The Henchmen's Book Club by Danny King
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Goodreads Summary:

Mark Jones is a henchman for hire. He guards bunkers, patrols perimeters and stands around in a boiler suit waiting to get knocked out by Ninjas. This is his job.

In his time he’s worked for some of the most notorious super villains the world has ever known – Doctor Thalassocrat, Victor Soliman, Polonius Crump; Mark was with each of them when they met their makers at the hands of British Secret Service super-spy, Jack Tempest and lived to tell the tale – if not pay the bills.

Still for every hour under gunfire there are weeks if not months of sitting around on monorails so Jones starts a book club with his fellow henchmen to help pass the time.

It was only meant to be a bit of fun.

It was never meant to save the world

I bought this book for free on Amazon. The book is being currently offered for $2.99 (7/23/13) or free for Amazon Prime members to borrow.

My Thoughts:
The main character is Mark Jones, a henchmen for hire, never goon. Although he works for evil geniuses, Mark himself is neither good or bad, he just wants to pay the mortgage. Because of the job though, he often finds himself in the line of fire...and unafraid to fight back. But there is another side to the hired henchmen: the book club side.

This novel was new, original, and thus quite refreshing. Danny King is British so you can imagine it is quite full of that dry, sarcastic humor. I think the book, being a henchmen's behind the scenes view of villains and heroes, would fail without that humor.

The over characterizations of Jack Temptest as a James Bond and Rip Dunbar as a Bruce Willis on steroids, are spot on and hilarious. Perhaps the heroes are not always in the right. King has us questioning why the heroes can kill so easily in defense of friends, but the henchmen can't. The injustice.

It took the novel quite awhile to reach the Final Big Conflict, but thats not to say the ride is boring along the way. Each event is important and lends a piece to the final puzzle.

Lastly, I want to note that this book has a lot of inappropriate language. It is an action book so there is violence and some gore.

I gave it 4 stars on my Goodreads page, but because of the language, am still considering if I will read any more of King's 14 novels. I recommend it for an original, sarcastic good time!