Review – Vigilante

“Just do it!” insisted elite super-soldier, Nolan Gray.

Nolan’s former commander and best friend counted to three, aimed the silenced P226 SIG pistol and fired—twice at close range—and “Nolan Grey was no more.”

Thus begins Robin Parrish’s new release, Vigilante, an epic tale of good and evil where Nolan, America’s national hero, fakes his own death and masquerades as a vigilante whom the public calls—The Hand. It’s a one-man battle against “immorality, pain, cruelty, suffering and apathy…” on the violent, crime-ridden streets of New York City.

Nolan, a trained super-soldier, skilled in “nine forms of martial arts” and proficient in all weapons of war was captured behind enemy lines with his men during a covert operation. After years of torture, unspeakable atrocities and abuse, only Nolan and Thornton Hastings remained. Nolan’s faith and their joint vow to fix what was broken in the world if they survived carried them through those dark, desperate days.

Nolan did return home, his laser-like focus and clarity of purpose intact, to show New York City “…a better way,” a way of hope, while Thornton returned to become president of the United States.

Add vicious crime boss, Yuri Vasko bent on revenge for his wife and daughter’s murder; Alice, a ministering angel rescued from an abusive husband; Arjay, a passive techno-geek designer of sophisticated high-tech gadgets and Nolan’s former commander Branford. These are “The Hand’s” support team who join with Nolan to keep his identity secret, restore order and help him become “a symbol of hope” in a city under assault with rape, robberies and murder.

Newspaper clips and transcripts of radio and television conversations raise serious ethical questions, an unusual aspect that’s incorporated throughout a story that entertains as well as makes readers think. Parrish argues from both the Old Testament and the New, from an “eye for an eye” (OT) or “turning the other check” (NT) stance and leaves it up to readers to decide what’s right.

Parrish’s cinematic, visual writing has again produced an action packed movie in book form with strong similarities to comic book superheroes. His characters show great depth as they struggle with moral and ethical issues that could be torn from today’s headlines. Although Vigilante is quite different from Dominion Trilogy, Relentless, Nightmare and his other releases, strong characterizations and insightful writing make it not one to miss.