by
Glen Cook
ISBN: 0-451-46192-4 Order from: Amazon.com
Another installment in this hard-boiled noirish mystery pastiche set in a fantasy world, the novel provides colorful and interesting characters, snappy dialogue, solid world, and a good mystery, but appears overlong with subplots and slow action.
Reviewed by David on July 27, 2008 (rev. 1)
Genre: Fantasy (Private Investigator, Mystery, Humor)
Synopsis: In an alternate world shared by elves, dwarves and other magical hybrids, the humans are the most highly organized and best armed of the many races.
A wealthy friend hires Garrett, the private investigator, to get the construction of a new theater back on track. Max Weider, who made his fortune brewing beer, is determined to open The World on schedule, but reports, or perhaps rumors, of giant bugs and ghosts are scaring off the workers.
Full Review: This is the latest in a series of noir-ish hard-boiled detective novels featuring Garrett by Glen Cook. The earlier books were:
This installment features most of the usual characters: the Nero Wolfe-like Dead Man (an ancient and massive telepathic non-human who lives with Garrett), Morley Dotes, a not entirely honest half-elf and a fellow veteran, the prim cook Dean, Garrett's inflammable girlfriend Tinnie and many others.
While it can be read in isolation, the returning characters will be far richer with the experience of at least some of the earlier novels. The mystery itself proves interesting and with plenty of magical and human subplots. Garrett participates in and witnesses plenty of repartee, as well as occasional violence. There is some character development of the major characters, just right for a series of this type—that is neither leaving the cast completely static, nor overwhelming the main plot developments.
While rich with both action and interaction, the plot does seem overly long. Some elements, like Dead Man being smug and coy, and Garrett being confused go on for too long. Some entire subplots take too long to resolve, and slow down the action.
In summary, this is a good and enjoyable mystery set in a colorful and smoothly-constructed world, with plenty of well-integrated humor, with appropriate-to-the-genre mixture of cynicism and romanticism; but one that would have benefitted from being trimmed down to a shorter length.
Overall: 6; Plot: 6; Characters: 6.5; Style: 6.5; World-building: 7; Originality: 7;
Copyright date 2002, Penguin Group (Roc), May 2008, Mass-market, 364 pages
ISBN: 0-451-46192-4 Order from: Amazon.com