Garrett for Hire
By Glen Cook
ISBN# 9780451464958
Author’s Website: http://us.macmillan.com/author/glencook
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Sammy
Synopsis:
Meet Garrett, P.I. He’s a hardboiled human detective who stands out in a crowd of elves, trolls, and other otherworldly denizens in the magical city of TunFaire. Garrett For Hire is “fantasy noir at its best” (Library Journal), collecting three novels from Glen Cook’s classic urban fantasy series.
Deadly Quicksilver Lies
A rich woman hires Garrett to find her missing daughter…or to act as her hitman. In TunFaire, sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference, leaving him no choice but to sift through the sex, intrigue, and murder to uncover the truth behind this case…
Petty Pewter Gods
With TunFaire real estate at a premium and prayer palaces at a minimum, the big gods on the block hold a contest: find the “key” to the one temple still available for worship. And when two rival pantheons try to hire Garrett to find it on their behalf, he finds himself facing the wrath of gods…
Faded Steel Heat
Riots between humans and non-humans have turned TunFaire into a war zone. And when a powerful gang of “human rightists” drag Garrett into the fray, he defends himself with a circle of friends no one would wish on their worst enemy…
Review:
What a longggggg book. Had I not committed to reading and reviewing this book, it would have gone into my “did not finish” pile. Why???? I can’t stand Garrett, the main character. He is a pompous ass, I didn’t find him likeable, charming, or self aware in any way.
With full disclosure, I have not read any previous books, so there were many things and relationships that didn’t make sense.
The other issue I had with these stories was in the first book a few pages in…
“She was a decade older than my first guess. But time had stolen nothing. She was proof on the hoof that aging produces fine wines. Second-guessing, I put her over thirty-five but under forty. Me, I’m a tender, innocent thirty and don’t usually look for them quite so ripe.”
and then…
“The seasoned redhead had set up camp in the client’s chair.”
Yes, we all thought thirty-five was old when we were twelve, but he is thirty. Who is the target audience for these stories?
I could go on but there’s just some more of the same throughout all three stories. A swearing parrot, boring!
If the ratings were for characters only I would have given these books one star, however, as much as I didn’t like many of them, the mystery part of the stories were engaging and came together in interesting ways. Also, the writing is well done. That upped the stars for me.
I’m really not sure who to recommend this series for. When I saw the blurbs, I thought this was going to have the same flavor as a couple of series I love, the Dresden Files and Simon R. Green’s Nightside series. Both have likeable hero’s who figure out the crazy intense mysteries, without acting like an adolescent boy wanting to bang everything, like Garrett. I was really disappointed reading these and it won’t be a series I will continue to read. I guess if I have to choose a group to recommend for, perhaps a younger adult audience. (Shrugging my shoulders, I’m just not sure.)
