In Savage Son, Jack Carr does it again. He taps into everything I wanted in a book. By this point, we’ve seen Reece deconstructed in The Terminal List, through what happened to his family and his campaign of vengeance. We’ve then seen him rebuild and rehabilitate his core, through his journey in True Believer. Here in Savage Son, Reece is on a journey to find his purpose once more.

Spoilers ahead…

The central theme of this book is family. Reece lost his family in The Terminal List. In Savage Son he finds a new family in the Hastings, his best friend Raife, and what was until now a slow burning romantic interest in the journalist Katie.

Carr’s decision to go deeper with Reece’s connection to the Hasting’s family is masterful. There is so much depth there to explore. An immediate cast of characters with such a rich history. Characters like Jonathan and Caroline bring a richness rooted in the Rhodesian Bush Wars that gives Reece a home to protect, both literally and figuratively. Reece is a family man without a family and this connection provides him with a sense of purpose. Everything we learned about him early on in The Terminal List was about him being a loving husband and father, and that he fought for his country to provide for his family, and to keep them and his nation safe. Being taken in by the Hastings gives him that again. And of course, he literally ends up fighting to protect the Hastings family. The attack on the Hastings family and the way everyone responded, it was brilliant. Chef’s kiss. I want to sign up for a family that comes together like that in an emergency.

The development of the relationship with Katie in Savage Son is great. The fact that it has taken place over three books is much appreciated. Too often in thriller books we see a male protagonist paired up with a female side kick that serves as little more than a love interest or sexual conquest. But here, this is a slow burn, over three books, to give the development of the relationship what it needs for it to be truly genuine, to a depth that fits with Reece’s character. I also appreciate the depth that has been given to Katie herself over all three books. She’s a smart, accomplished journalist, and in many counterbalancing ways an equal to Reece. If it weren’t for her smarts and talent, Reece’s journey to this point would have been very different.

I particularly enjoyed the resolution for Katie regarding Reece having shot Ben while he had a thumb on a deadman’s switch connected to det cord around her neck. There was a hefty and satisfying amount of emotion wound up in that resolution.

Carr delivers a plot that seamlessly continues on from everything he built in the last two books, yet has a fresh aspect. This time there is a savage son, Aleksandr Zharkov, the son of a Bratva leader, who likes to hunt humans for sport. This is as savage as it sounds. It serves as a chilling modern tribute to Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game.

Read my deep dive on this shocking pursuit: The Anatomy of the Human Hunt: Robert Hansen and Aleksandr Zharkov

This savage element is then also brilliantly connected to the history of the CIA traitor Oliver Grey, the man responsible for the death of Reece’s father, and whom Reece is still hunting (is this the most dangerous game?).

The Siberian location is great, as is how Reece and his team inserted and fought to rescue Raif and his sister. My singular disappointment was that going into that op, as the reader, I knew Hanna was already dead. While the motivation is still there to see Reece rescue Raife, I think it would have been much more climatic to have not already known about her death from the prologue.

The subsequent six month journey by Reece, across the frozen tundra of Siberia, to the final conclusion of the book is also masterful. While little detail is given for that period, it quickly adds significant weight to the skills and determination of Reece’s character. We learn he’s much more capable than we ever imagined. Carr has stated he may return to this period and flesh it out into a book or novella. There’s certainly a lot to work with there, even just considering the journey. However, I’m sure a story of epic proportions will be woven in.

The icing on the cake of this book is the way Carr ends it. Carr has a knack for weaving a historical depth and linkages into his novels, but here, the end felt more like a beginning. Reece discovering a storage container of his father’s, still being paid for fifteen years after his death. Inside, his old vehicle, shotgun, a safety deposit box key and a letter. And it’s the letter, content unknown to the reader, that finally settles Reece’s decision to sign on with the CIA, a purpose found.

I was in awe of the ending. What is in the letter? What could be so big that Reece becomes so decisive about a decision he’s been hesitating about for the best part of two books? And just how does this connect to his father? And why did his father leave it to be discovered like that?