Review of “Running on Broken Bones” by W.A. Pepper

Score: 93+/100 (9.3+ out of 10)

In 2013, Edward Snowden shocked the United States (and the world) with the news that the NSA had been illegally and unconstitutionally spying on people. In being a whistleblower, he became a hero to some and a villain to others—a wanted man, a hunted man, a criminal on the run. He fled to Russia, America's old rival, where he was used for his knowledge of US intelligence and his advanced IT skills.

The Tanto Thriller series by W.A. Pepper seems to draw heavy inspiration from this pivotal moment in history and its repercussions pertaining to such things as digital communication, privacy, security, technology, and the freedom of information.

Running on Broken Bones by W.A. Pepper is the second installment in the series, continuing to follow the eccentric yet determined hacker and escaped convict, Tanto, as he finds himself on the run from authorities and in the middle of a grand conspiracy. Of course, this grand conspiracy involves the three things that make the world go 'round: power, money, and control. The Federal Government works hand-in-hand with powerful and unscrupulous organizations like the Mercator Agency and Poseidon United to secure the key to power, money, and control: information. The Feds force hackers like Tanto to work for them under the guise of national security in stopping supposed bad actors, many of whom aren't much different than heroes like Tanto, DoGoodR, Lance-A-Little, and Quidlee. Many of these people aren't evil or even bad. Some are well-meaning, virtuous, or—as in the case of DooGoodR—trying to find their “place in the sun.”

In this second book in the series, Tanto finds himself on the run from authorities after escaping Hackers' Haven, which ironically proved to be a hellish place for hackers like Tanto as they were controlled, surveilled, brutalized, and tortured by the likes of the warden, Cyfib, and fearsome top-dog in the prison (and Tanto's arch-nemesis), Barca.

Tanto escaped, but far from unscathed. He is quite literally on his last leg and his good friend (Quidlee) has been tragically killed. To make matter worse, he has seemingly lost the ability to speak and is experiencing seizures that may be a part of Hackers' Haven's fail-safe program for escaped prisoners. So, the deck seems to be stacked against our hero.

His objective after giving the Goggleman the slip is to find allies who can possibly give him safe-haven. To that end, and for sentimental reasons, he seeks out Penny, the beloved sister of Quidlee, his late friend. He believes that Penny herself may be in danger and may be pursued by the evil agencies as collateral for her brother.

Now, Penny is both very hot and very much a badass. In fact, she kicks so much ass in so little time that Tanto begins to realize that maybe she doesn't need help or saving after all. In typical, flowery W.A. Pepper speech, Penny is about as vulnerable as Superman is while sitting on the surface of the sun.

Penny has keen street smarts, akin to someone like—ironically—Penny from The Big Bang Theory. However, she's actually a bit more like Penny from Inspector Gadget, who might actually be the inspiration behind her name. Like Penny from Inspector Gadget, she seems to be the intelligent one who is two to five steps ahead of everyone else while the male hero wanders like chicken without a head, supposedly saving the day.

And that last bit might be the most frustrating thing about the character of Tanto and this particular book. It seems unfocused, stretched-out, and bloated at times. There are over a hundred chapters in this otherwise normal-sized book, which is usually an indication that there's a whole lot going on, some much more consequential than others. Usually, as an author, you create a new chapter when you're going forward in time (like with a day change), going back in time (as in a flashback), changing perspectives, changing focus, changing to a different scene, or changing to a different location. You need to be mindful about doing this too often as the narrative can start to become choppy and disjointed. Also, for the most part, we are still following the same character (Tanto) from the same perspective, so why stop and go so often? It's like being on a car driving down the road at 45 MPH and the driver keeps pumping the brakes every mile. It kinda felt like this book got stuck in the middle and couldn't move forward. It's like it got stuck in one gear or one of the tires blew out, which is a bizarrely fitting analogy considering Tanto's health.

There's a real stop and go, squeaky, choppy feel to the pacing and flow of this book.

One minute, Tanto is fleeing from the Goggleman. The next minute, Tanto is trying to connect with Penny and getting blown off because of her hurt feelings. The next minute, he's aligning himself with a secret-agent-criminal-janitor named Judson working for his secret-agent-criminal-wife (Cher) who is physically fragile and falling apart (and probably believes in life after love).

The next minute, he's meeting some Russian guy aptly-nicknamed Moscow for some unscrupulous, criminal/pseudo-criminal business dealings. The next minute, we're in a flashback about Tanto learning about the Bushido code and trying to protect his kinda-step-mother's property rights from a bicycle-riding slum lord. This somehow leads to all his chickens dying in a fire. Yes, really.

The next minute, he's with Judson trying to make a deal with the Russian with a fake/front taco business to advance their master plan, which we assume has something to do with stopping Poseidon and Mercator (and, thus, the main plot). The next minute, we're in a flashback in which he's with Mrs. Lin, his kinda-step-mother, trying to beat the slum lord, Mr. Jedediah McIntosh, in an auction. The next minute, Tanto is in a battle for his life, health, and ability to speak again as he desperately seeks someone who can perform the life-changing surgery that can get him functional.

But, wait, there's more! Tanto has PTSD and is constantly hallucinating and having nightmares about Barca watching and assaulting him.

But, wait, there's more! Not all the agents are evil or bad. Some of the agents trying to arrest Tanto have their own backstories or alternate motivations. Some are even likable (and hot). So, Tanto is torn about whether or not to tell them the truth about what happened, help them, or just to bide his time.

That's... a bit much for one book, don't you think? Especially in a series in which some of these things could've been spaced out so it didn't come across as so clunky.

The other source of our contention with this book is the main character, Tanto himself. You'll either love him or you're going to hate him, there's no in between.

At least Tanto is a character rather than a blank-slate or a flat person with no personality. Tanto has a ton of personality. It can be charming and funny or it can be grating and annoying. Tanto's defining characteristic is his devotion to the Bushido code, the code followed by the samurai. Now, this is admittedly unique, albeit a bit strange. It almost comes across more like a delusion than anything else. Tanto almost seems like one of those guys who dresses up like a super hero (mask, cape, mantle, and all), then goes out on the actual streets attempting to fight actual crime like a vigilante. It's like that guy who insists that he's a “knight” or a “ninja.”

Now, people like that actually exist, but they're far and in between. There are some examples from reality and from fiction. Phoenix Jones from Seattle, Washington was one such guy who dressed up like a super hero and actually tried to fight crime like he was the kid from Kickass. Seifer Almasy from Final Fantasy VIII constantly talked about his “romantic dream” to be a “sorcerer's knight”--something which ultimately caused him to pursue the dark side by serving the evil sorceresses of the game.

All of these people and Tanto have two things in common: they're cool and they're crazy.

It doesn't help that Tanto doesn't shut up or stop thinking about Bushido and calling himself a “Bushi” like he's an actual samurai who actually lived pre-1868. Tanto even acknowledges that he has “too many bullshit thoughts running through [his] noggin'.”

He also calls Judson his “daimyo” over and over again. This is the equivalent of calling a bossy person, “my liege.” Now, at first we thought he was just being coy, snarky, and sarcastic.

Tanto is, indeed, a coy, snarky, and sarcastic person, which is part of the appeal (or annoying things) about his character.

However, part of us felt like: this dude is SERIOUS, isn't he?

Some parts of the narrative support this such as when Tanto says he can't serve more than one master and that his duty is to his daimyo.

The other thing we kept thinking was: is all of Tanto's Bushido talk actually advancing the plot or is it just more filler that's slowing it down? Like, you could argue that his sense of honor is what's driving him to be heroic, but... It doesn't take a sense of honor for a good person to do the right thing. You don't have to be a Christian to do good. You don't have to be a samurai or a knight to be noble and honorable. It's a somewhat interesting aspect of his character, yes, but there are times when it just feels bloated, tacked on, and unnecessary. Sometimes, we just wish Tanto would see a situation, analyze it like a normal, relatable person, and say, I'm going to do the right thing because it's the right thing to do or I'm gong to do the logical thing because it's the logical thing to do rather than repeatedly telling us stories about what guys like Miyamoto Musashi would do. Like, we get that he's a bit of a genius with a mind that kinda works like a computer, but c'mon man! Common sense would tell you that when a bad guy is coming for you with better weapons and resources than you, you run and hide! You don't look back with regrets and say, Ugghh... I fled from an unwinnable situation! I've damaged my honor! I've lost myself! I'm disgraced. I can no longer call myself a Silly Caucasian Samurai.

Tanto is a hacker and an ex-con. He really should be focused on his skills as a hacker and his plight as an ex-con. All this other stuff just seems extraneous, almost like window dressing.

Now, Tanto does have some appealing things about his character, most of all it's his sass. Like we said, Tanto is very sarcastic. He loves to think about and view things in a teasing, mocking, belittling way. For example, he often nicknames people he doesn't like, doesn't trust, or is afraid of “assholes.” Apparently, this is something he did throughout his life since he also gave Mr. McIntosh this moniker. He comes up with other such nicknames for people such as Goggleman and Moscow. He even calls God the “sky daddy” at one point.

Probably his funniest sass line is when he says, “Maybe getting shipped to Guantanamo Bay won’t be that bad. And maybe a cayenne pepper enema is a pleasant experience.”

He also loves to use the word apparently, which can also be humorous.

One thing that's appealing about Tanto and this book is how inspired they seem. By that we mean that the author clearly drew inspiration from multiple other works of fiction, often paying homage to them. This whole series seems partly inspired by Prison Break, an extraordinary TV show. Tanto fits the role of Michael Scofield. DoGoodR fits the role of Lincoln. Quinlee fits the role of Tweener. Lance-A-Little fits the role of Charles Westmoreland/D.B. Cooper (or the Priest from Count of Monte Cristo). Warden CyFib was a lot like Brad Bellick. Barca was a lot like the crime bosses John Abruzzi or Lachero. Poseidon United and Mercator were kinda like The Company. In fact—this can't be a coincidence—the secret villain of the final season of Prison Break happens to be named Poseidon.

There are definitely other inspirations for this book, many of which are directly or indirectly referenced. Some of the more obvious references are to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Forest Gump, Looney Tunes, 007: Casino Royale, Pokemon, Akira Kurosawa films, Dilbert, Breaking Bad, and Darkman.

There's even a blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to the movie Nightcrawler:

“Yeah, and maybe you can win the lottery without buying a ticket.”

There is a part of us that thinks about this the way that some people view Tarantino: a bit too many homages, references, and general nerdom rather than just relishing in the creator's own originality. Also, like Tarantino, the author seems to have their characters blabber too much rather than getting to the point.

Now, going back to the references/homages... some of these make sense and help the narrative. Others don't. For example, where was the author going with the Dilbert references? Was that really necessary to the plot? On the other hand, the Darkman reference makes perfect sense because Tanto draws some comfort from Liam Neeson's character in that movie. Like Neeson, Tanto's body is all but destroyed by evildoers, and he has to make a comeback to right the wrongs that have been done to him and those he loves. Also, the brief Jesse Pinkman/Breaking Bad reference makes some sense in the plot because, like Jesse and Walter White, Tanto is also technically a criminal, albeit one who believes he is doing the right thing.

Other references, like that of Wile E. Coyote/Looney Tunes, help us to understand the physical dilemma that the character is in at the time.

One thing that W.A. Pepper always demonstrates is his excellence in writing and crafting detailed passages. Some might call it flowery, others might call it visceral. Undoubtedly, he's one of the better pure writers to come our way. Here are some of our favorite passages:

“...besides, a hack isn't about talking! it is about taking."

“After all, we were tools, and tools without functionality are discarded.”

“It is amazing how much more work someone will do when you give them a green rectangular piece of paper with Andrew Jackson on it.”

There are also visceral lines like: “As I try to speak, my throat feels like I just swallowed a handful of nails.”

Excellent writing and eloquent prose are a staple of W.A. Pepper books, and this is no exception! This almost made us think that maybe Pepper has the potential to be a highly-paid, elite ghost writer. His writing is always top-notch. A lot of the times, what he really seems to wrestle with is taking all of his big, grand ideas and putting them together in a coherent, well-paced narrative that flows naturally and organically from one scene to the next.

This series is clearly inspired by great things. It is full of great ideas, interesting characters, and one of the best writers on the market at the helm.

Check it out on Amazon!