Hunt You Down: An unstoppable, edge-of-your-seat thriller Paperback

love his works

could not wait to start reading this new John Smith book, never seen the title before. But it's word for word the same as Flashmob title. what? Am returning it. I've never seen an author release exact book under two names.

Product arrived in timely manner and was as described.

I must admit I’m not usually one for reading books with elements of supernatural or paranormal or the unexplainable, so I was really surprised to find that I enjoyed this one as much as I did. John Smith is a private contractor, formerly a CIA operative and the product of a years-old government experiment/project to develop ESP powers in a cadre of agents. Smith’s ability is the power to read minds. Hunt You Down is the second book in the Smith series after Killfile, so the back drop to his time as an agent and his training isn’t really explored here which isn’t that important. Smith’s use of his ability - which also includes being able to implant thoughts into someone’s head - has a consequence in that he absorbs and suffers some of the pain from the people whose minds he reads. In Farnsworth’s hands the ability and the limits of Smith’s powers and the subsequent downside sound plausible and I was readily convinced.As an opener, Smith is body guarding a rich Russian kid when the pair get caught off guard and are briefly held captive. Smith does his thing and all his right with the world again. Moving on, we have an invite to a celebrity wedding. A reality TV star, who Smith rescued (probably first book) is getting married. The wedding doesn’t go to plan as a gang of armed men attack the party. Our man manages to limit the consequences of the sneak attack and is soon re-employed by the bride’s father to bring the attackers to justice. A fragmented mind-snatch thought offers up the word – Downvote - something which means nothing to our man.Before long, we discover what Downvote is, where it originated from, how it has been corrupted and Smith has a new mission (tied up with his old one), and a new partner and a new target. Our target, also happens to have his own special weapon, a Chinese agent with abilities comparable to Smith’s. And an agenda.The rest of our fast-paced tale is a bit of a globe-trotting manhunt. Trying to bring down Downvote and the brains behind it, all the while out-foxing a foe who is our equal in every way. Hunt You Down is a thriller, as opposed to my usual crime fiction reading.Verdict – I really liked this one and a fair bit more than I was expecting to. The action and events are fast-moving. The plot was believable. Smith’s abilities were convincingly explained and with my doubts and scepticism parked at the front page, I was happy to go with the flow. There’s a fair bit of fun to be had when a protagonist can read an assailant’s mind and can anticipate his next move all the while accessing his not so secret thoughts. Farnsworth serves up a decent conclusion and overall lots here to like. If my TBR pile wasn’t so daunting, I’d happily back track and read the first John Smith book.4.5 from 5Read in November, 2017Published – 2017Page count – 368Source – review copy from publisher, Bonnier ZaffreFormat - Paperback

Christopher Farnsworth is one of the Authors that I look out for, because you know anything he writes is going to be good. I really enjoyed the first story in this series ‘Kill File’, and this one was just as good. I really enjoyed the plot, however it’s the main character John Smith with his incredible ESP abilities that make this such an incredible book.John Smith was one of very few people in the world with ESP powers that gave him very special abilities. Trained by the CIA, he now worked for himself where he mainly contracted himself out to the very wealthy around the world. He was mainly a bodyguard, but sometimes the job would lead him in other directions like rescuing Kira, a rich young lady that had been previously kidnapped. Now he had been invited to her wedding. Hopefully that would go off without a hitch. Seriously great entertainment from start to finish. Easily worth the 5 Star rating.

This is just my impression - others will disagree. The book is poorly written and poorly thought out. It's written in the first person, which gets boring. The author relies on "deus ex machina" frequently. The book is lame. It makes his Vampire novels look like Tolstoy.

Zaffre Books and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Hunt You Down. I voluntarily chose to review this book and my opinion is freely given.John Smith is no ordinary bodyguard, as he has otherworldly abilities. Using the power of his mind to uncover the truth is not the only gift that John has, which is evident by the psychic pain that he can leave behind. When the wedding of a previous client ends abruptly in gunfire, John soon realizes that a larger plot is at play. Will John be able to use his substantial gifts to eliminate the danger, or will they cause even more issues?The paranormal element does add a bit of interest to the plot, which could have been a little too ordinary without it. I like John, especially as he decides the acceptable risk to his own self when using his gifts. The author did not capitalize on the success of the first book, in my opinion, as Hunt You Down really did not move the character forward in any meaningful way.Overall, I liked the pacing of the novel and I would be interesting in reading more by author Christopher Farnsworth in the future.

This is the second book I have read about the character John Smith created by Christopher Farnsworth. Begrudgingly, he is fast becoming my new favorite character as well. Nathaniel Cade from Farnsworth's the President's Vampire series still holds the top spot, yes, but John Smith, especially after the adventure which is HUNT YOU DOWN, is seriously giving him a run for his money. It means I highly recommend this book. It means you should go forth, seek out, purchase and enjoy. And not just this badboy either, but the aforementioned Vampire (no sparkles here rest assured) series as well as Killfile, John Smith's first adventure. Seriously, Farnsworth doesn't steer you wrong. If anything, he continues to bring you back for more.

I wish this author could write as fast as I read!!! I've loved all his books and this one does not disappoint.

I haven't really been taken with Mr Farnsworth's other work (must revisit it) but I do like his John Smith novels - first Kill File and now Hunt You Down. His latest novel is definitely a thriller for the paranoid generation and not so far from a developing Internet reality (remember the crazed gun-toting fantasist shooting up a Washington pizza parlour because some alt-right site claimed it housed a child sex ring run by Hilary Clinton?). Mr Farnsworth has dug deep into some very dark recesses to power his plot, including the infamous MK-Ultra project, the pizzagate story, flash mobs and 'nudge' social engineering. The novel's (anti) hero John Smith is a former government-trained special ops soldier - so far so conventional - with the special twist that he has telepathic powers which proved more than useful during interrogations and black ops. He starts investigating after a Dark Net website begins targeting celebrities, politicians, reality-TV stars - in fact, anyone with a high public profile. The site encourages vengeance against anyone who is deemed worthy of retribution. One of Smith's former clients is on the hit list after her scripted bad-girl reality-TV persona strikes a nerve with some internet stalker types. Smith's former client revels in her fake TV bad-girl character but reality for these guys is whatever you make it. She has to die, especially if the sentence can be carried out during her high profile, televised (naturally), wedding. Smith is on-hand as a guest and his special talents gives him a few seconds edge before the shooting starts. He stops the bad guys but not before his former client is badly injured. Time for a little revenge and Smith's travels take him to a reclusive internet tycoon who may be the source of the code that powers the site - the more times a celebrity is mentioned the more times the algorithm brings up negative stories about them, driving them to the top of the hate list. It's social engineering at its finest, manipulating the mob via the instant access of the Internet. The tycoon is an unwitting pawn and Smith, plus the tycoon's attractive (of course) female bodyguard start looking for the real bad guy. Given that the internet is everywhere and nowhere, the plot takes you from the US to Romania to Iceland to Hong Kong to Laos before a denouement involving Chinese assassins (with the same powers Smith has); his former CIA bosses, international politics and a few drone missiles. It's quite a ride and subtle it ain't. It is expertly done, well written and I like the downbeat, melancholy, cynical feel that surrounds Smith - he's socially isolated by his cursed gift and every time he uses it there's a physical price to pay. OK, some of the mob manipulation scenes might be a little far fetched, but not by much. And with corporations and governments greedily sucking up data on everyone maybe paranoia is simply self-preservation in these last few years/months/days before the full flowering of the Internet-Of-Things. Excuse me now - got to go and prepare my tin foil hat.

Brilliant read

first book was much superior.