She had the physique of a long-distance runner and looked twice as miserable.

There are certainly reasons to dislike M. W. Craven’s Ben Koenig books – I’ll mention one in this review. But one thing you won’t have to worry about is finding yourself in the hands of an amateur storyteller. This guy knows his business (he even knows how to use the word “myriad”).

Ben Koenig, our hero, is (as you may recall from yesterday’s review) a former US Marshal with specialized combat training. He lives off the grid and on the run (there are reasons), but he’s nevertheless on call for special assignments from the US government. He is, incidentally, incapable of fear due to a brain anomaly, which can be good or bad depending on the situation.

The problem in Nobody’s Hero begins with a series of murders staged as accidents. The victims are unlikely choices – upper level (but not top) functionaries and experts in fields as diverse as waste treatment and cultural anthropology. Then one day an elderly Englishwoman is abducted in a park. Investigators find a letter in her safe, with a list of names on it. Most of the people listed there are dead, but the one still alive is Ben Koenig. Soon he finds himself on a plane to London, accompanied – again – by fellow agent Jen Draper, with whom he has a hostile but respectful relationship. Their investigation will lead them to one plot twist after another, many surprises, and lots and lots of violence.

The action in Nobody’s Hero is implausible in the style of today’s action movies, but it goes beyond anything you’re even likely to see there. I have to give author Craven full marks for creativity – his villains are idiosyncratic, and the Big Threat is one you’ll never see coming.

You should be warned, however, that the final showdown gets very, very grotesque. This book is not for the faint of heart.

It’s very well done, but it’s not for everyone.