Book review: The Broken Room by Peter Clines (reviewed by Lukasz Przywoski & Mihir Wanchoo)

Official Author Website 
Order The Broken Room HERE 
Read Fantasy Book Critic Interview with Peter Clines 
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of Ex-Heroes 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Ex-Patriots 
Read Fantasy Book Critic’s review of Ex-Communication 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Ex-Purgatory
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of Ex-Isle
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Junkie Quatrain 
Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of 14 

Read Fantasy Book Critic's review of The Fold                                                              Read Fantasy Book Critic’s second interview with Peter Clines                                    Read I See Dead People by Peter Clines (Guest Post) 

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing (March 2022) Page Count: 248

AUTHOR INFO: Peter Clines is the toy-collecting, movie-loving, New York Times bestselling author of Paradox Bound, Terminus, The Fold, 14, the Ex-Heroes series, a pair of short-story collections, a classical mash-up novel, some unproduced screenplays, and countless articles about the film and television industry. He currently lives and writes somewhere in Southern California.

Official Book Blurb: You can still owe the dead.

Hector was the best of the best. A government operative who could bring armies to a halt and nations to their knees. But when his own country betrayed him, he dropped off the grid and picked up the first of many bottles.

Natalie can’t remember much of her life before her family brought her to the US, but she remembers the cages. And getting taken away to the Project with dozens of other young children to become part of their nightmarish experiments. That’s how she ended up with the ghost of a dead secret agent stuck in her head.

And Hector owes Natalie’s ghost a big favor.

Now Hector and Natalie are on the run from an army of killers sent to retrieve her. Because the people behind the Project are willing to risk almost anything to get Natalie back and complete their experiments.

CLASSIFICATION: Logan meets Jason Bourne in this fast paced thriller is a fascinating new direction for the author as he mixes his characteristic writing style with the thriller genre & manages to still keep it fun. 

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS (Lukasz): The Broken Room isn’t deep. Instead, it’s engrossing, entertaining, and fast-paced. If you like Clines’ writing style, you’ll have a great time reading it. 

Hector was once a top special operative, but it’s already history. He feels betrayed by his country and drowns his sorrows in booze. In the opening chapters, he’s killing another bottle when a young girl, Natalie, asks him for help. Why would he? Well, there’s a dead guy Hector owes a favor to, and he’s stuck in Natalie’s head. 

The Broken Room opens with action and rarely slows down. It offers vignettes from Natalie’s past: cages, nightmarish experiments, other children/subjects, and the titular Broken Room. Outside of these vignettes, it’s a breakneck race as Hector and Natalie are on the run from killers.

I love competence porn, and Clines got it just right with his portrayal of the highly skilled and dangerous Hector. I loved watching him map every situation and use his extraordinary skills to fight, help Natalie, and survive. On top of this, he’s nicely fleshed out and likable. He’s ready to fight for a stranger and risk his life to make things right. The menace is convincing, as is Hector and Natalie’s dynamics.

At first, the story reads like a thriller, but toward the middle, Clines introduces horror elements. The closer we get to the end, the more disturbing things become. Maybe there’s no rescue for Natalie? And maybe it would be best to close The Broken Room for good. Anyway, prepare for a solid dose of cosmic horror and gallons of cold mucus exploding from throats.

There's a little bit of social commentary, too. Both leads are Latinos and they have to deal with unfair social judgment and stereotypes. I appreciate Clines mentioning this and seamlessly integrating it into the story.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS (Mihir): This was an exciting new direction for Peter Clines. After the release of Terminus in 2020 which is set in his Threshold series. The Broken Room starts out immediately on a banger and the pace doesn't stop all the way till its climax. For fans looking to get a feel for Clines' work, this would be an excellent place to begin.

The story's start is very much akin to a action thriller, where one of our protagonists (Natalie Gamma Sixteen) meets the other protagonist (Hector Ramirez) in a bar and things just escalate wildly from there. Now if this set up sounds hokey or you are wondering if this is like an action movie from the 80-90s, then you will be wrong and very much so.

I trust Peter Clines to write entertaining stories while also giving richly-etched characters. He has amply proven this with his Ex-Heroes books and Threshold standalones. With The Broken Room, he stretches his mental muscles in a different direction than his past books. This action thriller has cosmic horror & SF sides mixed in superbly and it is unpredictable all the way till the end. 

Firstly kudos to the author for making this insane idea work and work really well. The characterization is of the brilliant kind as Peter brilliantly gives us Hector and Natalie. Our protagonists who are both traumatized and yet resilient. Hector is special ops warrior who has resigned to booze-filled future. Natalie is searching for Hector to reclaim a past debt (but one that's not hers). Both of these characters are etched wonderfully with pathos and strength. Hector is an incredible warrior (think both Logan & Jason Bourne) and the way his analytical mind works is a sight to behold. Natalie is a survivor and trying her best to cope with how the Broken Room has made her.  

The story's pace and action sequences are a fantastic highlight as the story never slacks and we get introduced to some wildly dangerous characters including one really dangerous assassin (think someone who always covers their eyes & who we have seen in some short stories and other books of Peter Clines). All in all this was a story that I had no complaints about and absolutely enjoyed it all the way till its terrific climax.

Peter Clines also slips in some terrific commentary about child detention centers on the border, racism and class issues and more. But none of it appears to be the elitist kind and its very applicably mentioned as both the protagonists are brown skinned Latinos (one a US citizen & the other an El Salvadorian immigrant). I don't think readers should find fault at these observations and if someone does, well they would reveal what they really think. 

This story reads richly like a standalone and the way the book ends, I really hope we get to see some of the surviving characters in another story. As for me, I can't wait to see what new wild story that Peter imagines up next.

CONCLUSION (Lukasz): Clines is a master of suspense. Once I started this book, I couldn’t put it down. It’s an excellent, adrenaline-filled blend of thriller, action, and horror. Highly recommended for anyone looking for their next crazy adventure.