Book review: The Damned by Matt Rogers

The Damned by Matt Rogers is the second in the series featuring former CIA assassin Logan Booth and I just need to say I bloody loved this book. Rogers again gives us a complex and fully formed (albeit slightly flawed) character in Logan along with ex-crack addict Alice (thankfully with new teeth, her old ones ruined by her habit)*. Here Logan travels to Columbia where a former lover has been (briefly) kidnapped. Unfortunately for him, her new boyfriend is connected to a cartel family which now has multiple reasons to hunt him down.

About this book

Retired assassin Logan Booth is ready to settle down after surviving a war that almost destroyed his life – but Jacinta Murphy, the President of the United States, has other ideas.

Paranoid he will expose her past mistakes, the President sets off a chain of events that drive Logan to Colombia and into the middle of an old war.

After colliding with the wrong cartel, Logan finds himself on the run across the mountainous Colombian countryside. His only chance of survival lies with Alice Mason, an unlikely friend and confidant. Desperate to keep her out of harm’s way, Logan refuses to call on her for aid. But what if she turns up unbidden? How can Logan protect her if he can’t even guarantee he’ll make it out of this alive?

My thoughts

While reading this I pondered the genesis of all events here. We (readers) know that – as referenced in the backcover blurb above – the President (with whom he clashes in the first book, The Forsaken), doesn’t believe Logan will keep her secrets so is trying to draw him out… using his old lover as bait. She could not have foreseen all that comes after and I felt a smidge frustrated that Logan is oblivious to the origins of events here. Until we learn he isn’t. (And I apologise unreservedly for underestimating him 🙄 .)

Like another favourite author of mine (Gregg Hurwitz – particularly his Orphan X series) Rogers gets that brilliant balance of backstory, personal stuff and action-packed scenes. Also like Hurwitz, Rogers either knows his ‘stuff’ in terms of styles of fighting, weaponry and the like, or does very good research. I also really enjoyed meeting Alice again and Rogers does a very good job at ensuring we understand she’s there when it counts (for Logan)  but very very real and vulnerable. I like the relationship she has with Logan (and we know that’s not going anywhere romantically) and love that she’s becoming the person she could (and should) have been all along.

Incidentally, in my scrawled notes, I comment on how well Rogers writes his non-English speakers. As someone who lived in other countries and tried to learn other languages I felt Rogers delivered on the complexities that come with working out present/past/future (& transitive?!) tenses of verbs!

This is beautifully paced… the action just keeps coming. It draws you in and before you know it, you’re invested and racing through the pages eager for answers.

The Damned by Matt Rogers will be published by Simon & Schuster in late June 2026.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes. 

*I’m a teeth person… paranoid that mine are no longer as white as they should be (thanks to diet coke and red wine) but also have regular dreams in which my teeth fall out or disintegrate! 🙄