Scan barcode
eastofthesunwestofthemoon's review
3.0
I'm probably being overly generous to give it 3 stars, but hey, I'm nostalgic about the series. This book did not hold up as well upon rereading as the rest of the Garrett, P.I. series has so far. It's simply got too many characters to keep anyone straight, and the plot is something of a muddle as well. It seems to drag on too long, and by the end I cared more about just finishing the darn thing than I did about who did what. I certainly didn't care anything about the cast of thousands (half of whom aren't who they are supposed to be anyhow), with the exception of Pular Singe, who has a lot of potential. The main advantage to reading this book is that it moves a few things in the overall story arc along and catches up with some of the usual Garrett suspects.
hollydoesstuff's review
Officially give up. Maybe someday I'll try to finish the series... but it isn't likely. These last couple books really lost the magic that was in the earlier books.
peapod_boston's review
4.0
Cook comes back to form in this outing in his Garrett series. Where the last few have felt a bit muddled--although still full of fun, this one is dark, bloody, and complex. Cook brings together many of the elements he has been building in the last few books, including the Human Rights movement, Glory Mooncalled, and the social instability in Tun Faire. He also introduces us to the Weider brewing family, which has kept Garrett on stipend for low these nine books. All the other usual players show up--Morley, Winger, Saucerhead, etc.--and there's enough magic and general creepiness. All in all, delivers a superior Garrett tale, and if those are the kind of thing you enjoy, you'll enjoy this one.
sbaar's review
5.0
The best one so far. Multiple plots are going on from the get go and Garrett knows he's being played. But now he has as many pieces on the board for himself. Tinnie is back, the weiders who trust him, vets in an old folks home, the police and (secret) police, the mob thinks he's an alright kind of guy, and his reputation as a (human). Finally his own resources are at an even match against the returned human rightists and whoever is messing with the weiders, the retainer we've only heard about for seven books.
We learn some about one of the races in TunFaire while surprisingly never learning much about another that turns up to make trouble, and some old threads come back to close, but so much is accomplished and moved forward interpersonally that Cook's habit of leaving things in the dark is not at all annoying.
We learn some about one of the races in TunFaire while surprisingly never learning much about another that turns up to make trouble, and some old threads come back to close, but so much is accomplished and moved forward interpersonally that Cook's habit of leaving things in the dark is not at all annoying.
nghia's review
2.0
Maybe the Garrett series is just played out for me? Maybe this is an especially weak entry? This book felt like it had all the weaknesses of the series and few of the strengths.
The good parts: unlike a lot of series of the trashy reading sort Garrett's world is actually changing (the war is over, etc). And unlike most entries in the hard-boiled P.I. genre, Garrett is actually a major player in these events. We see things like the final resolution of the long-running Crask and Sadler sideshow, a big part for the much talked about Weider's, and an apparent wrapping up of Glory Mooncalled's troublemaking.
The bad parts: The plot felt a little more frenetic and chaotic than standard even for Garrett. Seemingly every character ever introduced makes an appearance. (At one point someone even says, "Garrett, everyone you know is at this party.")
The series has always been almost comical in the number of women so gorgeous that they cause traffic accidents but this one takes that to a new height: Tinnie, Alyx, Nicks, Belinda, Tama, and even Linda Lee makes a cameo. Suprisingly for a Garrett book, he doesn't actually sleep with all of them while trying to solve the case.
Cook continues the trend of marginalizing the Dead Man. Maybe he realized that that deus ex machina made it damn hard to write a decent mystery; we're treated to another not very believable reason for why he won't help Garrett out. (Seriously, why does Garrett keep him around at this point?)
The amount of "detection" in this book is shockingly low even for Garrett standards. His primary M.O. seems to be to gather all the suspects in a room Agatha Christie style and hope something interesting happens and the villain will reveal themselves. Stupid and boring.
I have been less and less excited by each of the last Garrett books. Maybe the novelty has worn off for me? Despite the changing external world, Garrett's internal world is pretty much the same from when the series started. Maybe that's part of my problem? The way things currently stand I'm not sure I'm sufficiently interested to read any more books in the series.
The good parts: unlike a lot of series of the trashy reading sort Garrett's world is actually changing (the war is over, etc). And unlike most entries in the hard-boiled P.I. genre, Garrett is actually a major player in these events. We see things like the final resolution of the long-running Crask and Sadler sideshow, a big part for the much talked about Weider's, and an apparent wrapping up of Glory Mooncalled's troublemaking.
The bad parts: The plot felt a little more frenetic and chaotic than standard even for Garrett. Seemingly every character ever introduced makes an appearance. (At one point someone even says, "Garrett, everyone you know is at this party.")
The series has always been almost comical in the number of women so gorgeous that they cause traffic accidents but this one takes that to a new height: Tinnie, Alyx, Nicks, Belinda, Tama, and even Linda Lee makes a cameo. Suprisingly for a Garrett book, he doesn't actually sleep with all of them while trying to solve the case.
Cook continues the trend of marginalizing the Dead Man. Maybe he realized that that deus ex machina made it damn hard to write a decent mystery; we're treated to another not very believable reason for why he won't help Garrett out. (Seriously, why does Garrett keep him around at this point?)
The amount of "detection" in this book is shockingly low even for Garrett standards. His primary M.O. seems to be to gather all the suspects in a room Agatha Christie style and hope something interesting happens and the villain will reveal themselves. Stupid and boring.
I have been less and less excited by each of the last Garrett books. Maybe the novelty has worn off for me? Despite the changing external world, Garrett's internal world is pretty much the same from when the series started. Maybe that's part of my problem? The way things currently stand I'm not sure I'm sufficiently interested to read any more books in the series.
lottpoet's review
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
More...