Mark Dawson, The Cleaner

The Cleaner is the first in a series of self-published thrillers by Mark Dawson. His protagonist, John Milton, is an assassin, the number one hit man in his assassin collective, the man Britain goes to when problems need solving.

But Milton's had enough. He announces that he wants out, and he spends his first days of retirement trying to help a new acquaintance's son, who's on the brink of becoming fully immersed in a gang.

The book is not what most of us are probably expecting going in. We're looking for Jack Reacher or Orphan X, but what we get is a lot about gang life in the projects outside London. Not really my cup of tea.

Still, the book is entertaining, a good page turner, and I'll probably read more in the series. But there are problems. Milton, for all his lauded prowess, is just not that impressive. He's often not very smart about things, and he winds up getting people killed.

Which leads to my second major problem—spoiler alert: The people Milton sets out to help in this story would arguably have been better off if they'd never met him. People wind up dead or injured, and in the end the boy is left without the positive role models that might have helped him stay out of the gang. So what's the point? Is Milton going to wander around England ruining people's lives in these books? Is that the story we want to read?

One other mild irritant: Does everyone in England use “younger” as a noun to mean, I guess, young man? Does anyone? Every appearance of the word grated, and believe me, it appeared a lot.