SPB Agent Troy Holloway from Morbid Justice by Rob Arnis isn’t your typical dystopian action hero. He’s not just carrying scars from battles; he’s carrying multiple versions of himself, each with a mind, motive, and voice of their own.
In Morbid Justice, Arnis doesn’t give us a man on a mission. He gives us a man fractured by it. And that’s exactly what makes Holloway compelling. His alters are vying for control, as the Nomad persona likes to kill, while the Jacob persona wants to commit suicide, sick of all the killing. Holloway struggles to survive as his other personalities have become highly dangerous.
More Than One Man in the Mirror
From the very first scene, Holloway’s internal world is louder than the firefights he walks into. We meet not just him but also Nomad and Jacob—his darker alters. Nomad is the trigger-happy executioner who lives for the kill, and Jacob is the haunted soul who can’t stop seeing ghosts and has become suicidal. Holloway? He’s stuck in the middle, desperately trying to keep his identity from crumbling under the weight of their extremes.
This isn’t some gimmicky portrayal of dissociative identity disorder. Arnis lets you feel the war within. You’re not watching Holloway switch personas; you’re trapped with him as he argues, resists, and pleads with them, sometimes mid-mission, sometimes mid-breakdown. The result is a raw, dizzying ride through a man who knows he might be his own worst enemy.
Morbid Justice, Inner Conflict
In 2065, in New York, the Societal Purification Bureau (SPB) agents are sent to assassinate the most wanted terrorists, murderers, and criminals. Here, a lethal environment of criminals vs. purifiers is created. And for Nomad, it’s art; he sees beauty in death, destruction, and dismemberment. The way he prepares for an op: polishing weapons, smoothing his perfect hair, reveling in chaos, he’s both terrifying and fascinating. Nomad’s love for destruction isn’t just about the mission. It’s a ritual, a release. He doesn’t just kill. He relishes it.
Then there’s Jacob, the reluctant conscience. The one who vomits at the sight of gore. Who mourns every death, even the criminals. He’s the one who holds the gun to his own head out of utter exhaustion from witnessing too much.
And Holloway? He doesn’t want to kill. He doesn’t want to die. He just wants to live. But can he, with both a killer and a ghost-ridden soul clawing for control?
The Hero Who Can’t Save Himself
What makes Holloway so interesting isn’t that he’s a successful purifier. It’s that he knows he’s breaking. His visit to Dr. Goodwin is a moment of painful clarity. Holloway strips down—literally and emotionally—just to whisper, “I think they’ll get me killed.” You can feel his fear, his desperation. He isn’t afraid of enemies. He’s afraid of the other parts of himself.
It’s a moment rarely afforded to action heroes: a vulnerability that isn’t dramatized but deeply human. That tension between trying to be the man society depends on and fighting the war inside is what elevates Holloway beyond the trope of a tough, gun-toting protagonist. He’s trying to survive more than just the battlefield of the streets.
A Hero for a Broken Future
In the world of Morbid Justice, everything is broken. The streets. The justice system. The people. And Holloway? He’s broken in a way that’s deeply personal.
The emotional weight he carries and the personalities that weigh him down make his every decision fraught with risk. Will Nomad pull the trigger too soon? Will Jacob freeze when it matters most? Will Holloway vanish in the chaos? Every page teeters on that edge.
Why We Can’t Look Away
Troy Holloway is a contradiction we can’t turn from. He’s a killer who wants peace. A protector who’s scared of his own reflection. And maybe that’s the point; heroes don’t have to be whole. In fact, sometimes the most compelling ones are the ones who are trying, piece by piece, to become human again.
In a genre flooded with super soldiers and one-dimensional vigilantes, Morbid Justice offers something rare: a man split three ways and still fighting—not to win but to be.
Grab your copy today.
