Written by Ryan David Jahn — The Dispatcher is an adrenaline- and fear-fueled adventure of hope and vengeance. It takes the reader on a journey through small towns across the country and into the souls of desperate and driven people. No quarter is given and neither the hunt nor the flight relents. It leaves the reader engrossed and breathless as the pages turn.

The story begins with Ian Hunt receiving a call at the end of his shift as the dispatcher in a small East Texas town. The call is from a girl who is being chased. The girl is his daughter. They had her funeral four months earlier. Ian begins the search, dealing with the politics of the sheriff’s department’s relationship with local police and the loyalties of locals and families in the small town.

When they find the man who took his daughter, the chase begins. A chase that careens across the nation, leaving pain and death in its wake. Ian is driven to rescue his daughter and will spare nothing, not even his own life, to get her back.

The Dispatcher is a violent tale, but not without heart. Ian Hunt is compelled to find the daughter he thought he’d lost, but never stopped hoping to find. His actions are born out of love and guilt. The cost of his guilt is also displayed in the fragile state of the other relationships in his life that have suffered during her absence. While these issues are not fully resolved, you get a glimpse of the man Ian Hunt used to be, and may hope to be again.

This is a book of great adventure, but with a strong central character as well. Ian Hunt is a man worth rooting for, and not just because of his adversary. Any fan of noir or adventure will enjoy this book. It’s a quick read because it grabs you and drags you along.

Macmillan
Print/Kindle/iBook
£4.30

CFL Rating: 5 Stars