The Medusa Protocol

by Rob Hart ★★★★☆

Like with previous reviews of books in a series, I will start with a warning:

If you have not yet read Assassin's Anonymous, STOP READING THIS NOW! 

My review below is of its sequel, The Medusa Protocol, which will contain some mild spoilers for Assassin's Anonymous, but not for this book. And if you've never heard of Assassin's Anonymous and are intrigued, my review of that first book in the series is here—it's good! A high 4-star read...

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It's been a six months since the twisty events of Assassin's Anonymous. Mark is still sober—meaning he still hasn't killed anyone since he's been in recovery— and he is now sponsoring Astrid, who is struggling to open up during group sessions but is maintaining her own sobriety. When Astrid stops showing up for meetings, Mark is worried. His calls go to voicemail, and when eventually her phone is disconnected, Mark fears the worst. "It was only a matter of time, I suppose. It sounded like the period on the end of a sentence. Confirmation she was back in the game, or dead."

The meetings continue, in the basement at St. Dymphna's. The same cast of characters we were introduced to in Assassin's Anonymous are back—Ms. Nguyen, Booker, Valencia—plus the newest addition, Valencia's three-week-old daughter, Lucia, who the reformed assassins have come to all love as their own. "She bound us tighter, giving us someone to love together," Mark narrates. "I will do whatever it takes to make sure this kid grows up safe and loved."

Part of that commitment to Lucia's safety included purchasing St. Dymphna's and outfitting it with a state-of-the-art security system and escape routes. Those modifications soon prove prescient, when shortly after the start of the meeting alarms blare and security feeds show hordes of black-clad attackers descending on St. Dymphna's. Just before that, however, the group received a coded message in the most random way possible—a pizza was delivered to the AA meeting, with toppings (black olives) that no one but Astrid would ever order. It was a sign: she's alive, and it was time to find out where she was.

The novel traces the journey the group takes to locate Astrid and their attempt to extract her from her captivity. Like most sequels, it carries forward many of the things that made the preceding book(s) a success. But it also deals with the challenge of a novel idea no longer feeling new. In Assassin's Anonymous, you initially think the whole "twelve steps to avoid killing" is sort of a tongue-in-cheek joke. But author Rob Hart takes a faithful look at recovery programs and applies those principles—along with the conviction required to stay sober—to his characters. In The Medusa Protocol, that conviction is amped up to even higher levels, with multiple characters going to tremendous lengths to avoid killing, even if it puts their own life in great peril.

Overall, it's a faithful continuation of the series more than an elevation of what was started. It feels at times a bit forced, as if this was more of a contracted follow-on rather than a story that was aching to spill out of Hart. It's missing the novelty of the original, of course, but it's also missing most of the misdirection and intricate plotting that helped make that first novel so strong. The result is a pretty straightforward locate-and-extract mission, that explores how a small team would do that when the most important component of the mission was ensuring they kill no one. It's still more good than bad, but it's a step back—albeit a small one—from Assassin's Anonymous.