Iron House: A Novel
Two families. Two brothers. One explosive secret.
John Hart has written four New York Times bestsellers and won an unprecedented two back-to-back Edgar Awards. The New York Times labeled his work "Grisham-style intrigue and Turow-style brooding." Now he delivers a gut-wrenching, heart-stopping thriller no reader will soon forget.
There was nothing but time at the Iron Mountain Home for Boys, time for two orphans to learn that life is neither painless nor won without a fight. Julian survives only because his older brother, Michael, is both feared and fiercely protective. When an older boy is brutally killed, Michael makes the ultimate sacrifice to protect his brother: He flees the orphanage and takes the blame with him.
For two decades, Michael thrives on the streets of New York, eventually clawing his way to a world of wealth, fear and respect. But the life he's fought to build unravels when he meets a woman who knows nothing of his past or sins. He wants a fresh start with Elena, the chance to build a family of his own. But a life in organized crime is not so easily abandoned. With a price on his head and everyone he loves at risk, Michael spirits Elena back to North Carolina, to the brother he'd lost and a thicket of intrigue more dense than he could possibly imagine. In a tour de force narrative of violence, hope and redemption, the brothers must return to the Iron House of their childhood, to the place that almost broke them, the place it all began.
Praise for John Hart
"Lean, hard and absolutely riveting, Iron House is a tour de force." -- #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Vince Flynn
"Vividly beautiful, graphic, will make you bleed."— #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Patricia Cornwell
"A magnificent creation, Huck Finn channeled through Lord of the Flies." –Washington Post on The Last Child
"Gripping. A must-read." --Chicago Sun-Times on Down River
"The King of Lies moves and reads like a book on fire." -- Pat Conroy
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Community Reviews
I would have started long ago had I realized that thriller was synonymous with Yeah, sure it looks long, but you are going to be flipping those pages so quickly that there's a real possibility you'll set those pages and your fingers on fire.
If you want to hook me, give me a great character.
Bless your heart, John Hart, for Michael.
Five on one and Michael cleaned the floor with them, as if it didn't matter how much he was hit or how much he bled. Michael fought with a noise in the back of his throat, like an animal in a cage.
Granted this is a description of ten-year-old Michael, so I feel a little bit pervy.
Moving on to Michael Description #2 (as an adult this time):
...Michael's not some random killer. He's elegant, like Mozart would be if playing the piano was killing, like da Vinci if the Mona Lisa was body count. He's a work of art, a genius..."
And then there is this one little line he likes to say to his woman to let her know it's going to be a-ok:
I've got you, baby.
Oh, Michael. If this were the 1800s, I would have spent a good part of the book rushing to get my smelling salts.
Of course, when you have such
Enter
She's Michael's pregnant girlfriend.
She's beautiful, kind, and exotic.
She's
I tried to give her a chance, I truly did. I just couldn't see in her what Michael saw in her. Luckily, Michael keeping her safe/saving her/etc. is not the bulk of the book. There were many other interesting characters to keep Michael - and me! - busy.
Characters, Line Up!
Enter Michael's brother, Julian.
He's frail and sensitive, an artist.
He's physically absent for much of the book, and I wish I could have gotten more of him. Here is a description that Julian gives that makes me think maybe we are soul mates (although I'd be his soul mate that always swooned over his older brother):
You know how a candle starts out all clean and smooth and pretty? How it makes sense when you look at it. Like that's how it should look. But then you light it, and it melts and drips and goes ruined and ugly. Well, sometimes it feels like that when the lights go out. Like everything is wrong.
Enter Abigail.
She's a senator's wife and Julian's adoptive mother.
She's rich and poised and strong and kind.
She's mostly what I like to see in a female character.
Enter Jessup.
He's the driver and bodyguard of Abigail.
He's protective and loyal
He's be played by Robert Redford for sure.
Enter Jimmy.
He's in the mob that Michael has broken free from.
He's a professional who claims he taught Michael everything he knows.
He's pretty damn ruthless and unlikeable.
There are plenty of other memorable characters that deserve to be mentioned, but I'm hungry and want to eat lunch. If that's not a good reason to cut off a character list, I don't know what it.
I was sure that with so many characters, I would be lost and flipping back to see who "so and so" was. This didn't happen even once. Every name was memorable.
Even better - every scene was memorable. The plot was out of this world, fast paced with twists and turns that I didn't see coming (in case you are a "I completely saw it coming" snob, remember that I am just a thriller novice). I won't give any of the plot away; the back of the book will tell you all you need to know ahead of time. I couldn't believe how well written this book was. I had pegged it as an "airplane book" or a "beach read for boys."
I will tell you that I haven't been on an airplane since I was nine. I have never been to a beach, and I am most certainly not a boy. BUT HOT DAMN, I LOVED THIS BOOK. I will be seeking out more John Hart and having more nights of reading late into the night and shushing Jake when he tells me to turn the lamp off.
5 I DIDN'T EXPECT TO LOVE THIS SO MUCH STARS
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