{"id":6107,"date":"2026-04-17T12:28:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T12:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6107"},"modified":"2026-04-17T12:28:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T12:28:00","slug":"the-dissolution-protocol-by-leon-dermot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=6107","title":{"rendered":"The Dissolution Protocol by Leon Dermot"},"content":{"rendered":"

An intelligent psychological thriller on vigilante justice told from the opposing perspectives of two powerful protagonists<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Leon Dermot\u2019s Dissolution Protocol<\/em> is a character-driven thriller whose propulsive drive comes from two diametrically opposed protagonists\u2014Dr. Caroline Aldridge, an intellectually disciplined psychiatrist, and Detective Maria Radik, her compellingly messy foil. Dissolution Protocol<\/em> could be called a cat-and-mouse thriller, but it\u2019s also something infinitely more interesting\u2014an oppositional examination of these two powerful women engaging the idea of justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The novel opens with Caroline preparing for a court-mandated session with Martin, a sociopathic narcissist. \u201cKnowing this is going to be a particularly difficult session, I retire to a narrow alcove in my office where I remove and hang my suit trousers before settling on the spike mat.\u201d<\/em><\/strong> We know exactly who Caroline is by the end of the first page. Then, by the end of the first chapter, she has manipulated Martin into committing suicide and we get introduced to her methods\u2014the dissolution protocol.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is not a who-dunnit but a how-dunnit, so we are allowed to watch Caroline use variants of her protocol on two more abusers over the course of the novel. Caroline\u2019s process, from its Buddhist framework to the way she chooses victims, drives her half of the narrative with terrific intellectual force.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dermot introduces Maria in alternate chapters, providing a hot-blooded foil to Caroline\u2019s cold methodology. Maria is a hard-drinking powder keg, and Dermot shows her as clearly as Caroline on that spike mat. When the man Maria spent the night with tries to force her to stay, she punches him in the windpipe, \u201ca controlled ten-inch punch that lands with satisfying precision and snap.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>Her boundary setting is impulsive, yet controlled, and we are shown that she and Caroline have an intriguing overlap in their Venn diagram.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While Caroline spends the novel trying to make her subjects transcend before she kills them peacefully, Maria contends with an internal investigation into her use of excessive force with a child predator. Unlike Caroline\u2019s protocol, Maria is all determined impulse, so when Maria is assigned, a case involving certain missing men, the threads lead to Caroline, and their implied opposition comes to life. When Caroline and Maria finally share the page, their dynamic is all power negotiation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis could be about justice. Or at least this person\u2019s idea of it. I understand trauma responses. Victims of prolonged abuse often fantasize about accountability when the system \u2013 or life \u2013 fails them.\u201d Her eyes find mine. \u201cIt\u2019s not uncommon.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dissolution Protocol <\/em>is a well-calibrated moral and intellectual thriller, effective because it\u2019s also a genuinely thrilling read thanks to its powerhouse protagonists. Caroline is chillingly compelling and Maria viscerally sympathetic. The novel plays a great game of tug-of-war with their perspectives before ultimately landing on an elegantly inevitable resolution. It\u2019s beyond satisfying to watch their dynamic reconcile in this balanced, unexpected way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The post The Dissolution Protocol by Leon Dermot<\/a> appeared first on Independent Book Review<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An intelligent psychological thriller on vigilante justice told from the opposing perspectives of two powerful protagonists Leon Dermot\u2019s Dissolution Protocol is a character-driven thriller whose propulsive drive comes from two diametrically opposed protagonists\u2014Dr. Caroline Aldridge, an intellectually disciplined psychiatrist, and Detective Maria Radik, her compellingly messy foil. Dissolution Protocol could be called a cat-and-mouse thriller, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6107"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}