Author George Nagle’s mystery novel has all of the elements of a typical crime/mystery novel. James and his assorted band of crime-fighting teammates all possess incredible drive and skills. In this adventure James not only makes strides towards bringing down a drug ring but also goes behind his supervisor’s head to single-handedly organize the takedown of a child trafficking organization he accidentally discovered. There is a constant stream of new characters of varying ages and statuses, as well as a wealth of information and backstory thrown at the reader. Nagle has even attempted to slip in a bit of romance. THE LIFE WE LEAD ASCENDING has the makings of a great mystery but requires some polishing and both the characters and the finale come across as too perfect.
The character Nagle has created in James appears to have no real flaws aside from earned cockiness. He sees things that no real person would see and thinks more quickly on his feet than is possible. He comes across as the type of man who would not have many friends in the real world due to a tangible sense of superiority. Being inside his head and seeing the way he assumes other people think can at times be almost insulting. Due to his superior intellect James is incredibly hard to relate to. It is not so much that he needs to be dumbed down as much as the character needs to show a little more compassion or confusion. The fact that James is so perfect is in many ways the root of all of the novel’s issues. There never seems to be any real risk as there’s a sense that James can do no wrong – all of the kids will be fine, James is on it. The novel might actually benefit from a mission not going well. Seeing James cope with a real failure might humanize him.
The other main issue to be found with the novel is the romance James forms early on and maintains with the Scottish girl, Carissa. While the novel does bounce around the globe almost maddeningly often, it makes very little sense for James to take up with a girl in Scotland who knows neither his real name nor his occupation. Their interactions feel forced and unnecessary. She has absolutely no role in the case he is working on, but the reader spends the entire novel waiting for her connection to drug trafficking or child selling to be revealed. Carissa is superfluous in terms of the real plot of the story. Perhaps in a later novel in the series it will be revealed that she is also a super spy, but until then she feels unnecessary.
Though the characters are sometimes hard to relate to, THE LIFE WE LEAD ASCENDING has an interesting plot and interesting backstories for its characters.
~IndieReader.