The Lonely Impulse

Jim Cort

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

Costigan is a loner by choice because he can't escape his violent past in the Provos - or the memory of the betrayal by his best friend. When a woman, who seems to know too much about him, tries to hire him to recover some property stolen from her employer and kill the man who stole it, he refuses. Then she plays a tape-recorded phone message of the thief's ransom demand, and Costigan hears the voice of the man whom he has vowed to kill on sight if they ever meet again - the man he once called his friend.

But once again, Costogam is caught in a high-stakes game as dangerous and deadly as the past he has tried to flee.

Review by Molly Martin (260104) Rating (8/10)

Review by Molly Martin
Rating 8/10
The man known as Milo Costigan sat in a black bar in Newark when Julia Malcom, special assistant for security for Ackerdyne Industries enlists him to recover something stolen out at Black River nuclear power plant. Julia’s boss, Jason Ackerdyne, owns the plant. As a rule whites only came to the bar by accident. JoMack the bartender has known Costigan for a while. William Dowd of the Provisional Irish Republic Army is the thief. Costigan was a member under another name when he left Dowd and the IRA back in 1979. Bukka, the shoeshine man down at Penn Station, Cletis Watkins a gun salesman, and Terry Reid who works at the power plant all figure in the tale. Explosives expert Dowd has a bone to pick with Ackerdyne. Dowd is aware that Ackerdyne is storing nuclear waste illegally and is willing to kill to protect that secret. Julia persuades Costigan to track down Dowd and his cohorts. Costigan has his own score to settle and is more than willing to accept the assignment.

Panic, treachery and carnage, in addition to nuclear extortion are all offered in this well written work by Jim Cort. The Lonely Impulse is the perfect publication for the reader who seeks a compelling account presenting a fierce remorseless breakout from day to day concerns. The cleverly interwoven story line comprising this perilous plot is filled with twists, rugged motivations, disingenuousness, perfidy and machination. Cort’s The Lonely Impulse bridles with enigmatic portrayals and unremitting purgative intensity in a convoluted tale moving at a ferocious pace between the past and the present.

Writer Cort has done his homework; he describes weapons with knowledgeable singularity. His grasp of detail is excellent. Noteworthy scenes, sounds, aromas and flavours are all described in breathtaking detail to tantalize our senses. Cort displays a shrewd adroitness for the language; he paints a keenly focused account sure to keep the reader turning the page and on the edge of the seat.

The Lonely Impulse leaves the reader hoping there is a second Milo Costigan manuscript in the works. Costigan is not a hero in the sense of ‘good guy’ however he is an interesting character, fleshed out with many of the same defects, imperfections and frailties as beset most of us.

A good book for a long quiet winter evening when the storm rages outdoors and TV is the last thing you want to endure. Enjoyed the read, happy to recommend.
Molly Martin (26th January 2004)