'The Terror of Living' by Urban Waite - Book Review

The Terror of Living is a decent first attempt at a thriller for new novelist Urban Waite. The story is well spun, the characters locked, stocked and ready to run and Waite doesn’t let any unnecessary tangents or emotions distract from moving the characters to their western standoff ending.

Phil Hunt, an ex-convict living in the state of Washington, and his wife, Nora, are striving to live a quiet life on a humble horse farm. But to make ends meet, Hunt supplements their small income with some drug smuggling.

At the beginning of Living, the horse farmer has been partnered with a teenager to transport a drop of drugs. The drop is seen by a deputy marshal, Bobby Drake, whose father had his own past in the drug-smuggling business. When Hunt and Drake’s paths collide, they set off a string of events that will leave them bloodied, and many others dead. In a chase that carries them from the mountains to Seattle and back again, Hunt and Drake encounter heroin-stuffed girls, Vietnamese drug smugglers, a nasty hit man with a penchant for using carving knives and Drake’s battle to silence the memories of a criminal father by helping a man who is very much like the older Drake.

Despite all these elements, The Terror of Living is neither terrifying nor terrific. It’s a straightforward thriller that often feels like a retread of some of the story elements that made No Country for Old Men so blood-curdling. However, Urban Waite has neither the stylistic panache nor the strength of dialogue or character study to make running through his first novel as gripping as surviving Cormac McCarthy’s western noir. But Living’s narrative does keep a pretty brisk pace and the ending feels right, so Waite’s instincts for story are there. He just needs to enrich his use of themes, dialogue and description to truly make his mark.