All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses an Eye
Registered by Wordsnark on 12/12/2006
1 journaler for this copy...
For a while, it looked like Brookmyre might have gone, well, girly.
The story here has so many James Bond allusions and Bond-like scenes it seems to teeter between bald imitation and parody. The action has posh exotic settings, extreme gadgetry, a secret installation in an old volcano, wicked cartels, and roaming herds of professional killers. And wise-cracking, much wise-cracking. But Brookmyre is too sharp and comic to be baking an Ian Fleming cake: Brookmyre loads the spy recipe with too much Scots phlegm and acid.
As in several other Brookmyre works, an ordinary character is remade into a hero through encounters with violence. Here a middle-aged woman, Jane Fleming (!), is hauled out of a slough of convention when her scientist son becomes the hostage and prize in an armaments industry struggle. [No plot spoilers anywhere here.]
The fun and games begin when Jane is abruptly recruited to a freelance rapid deployment force hired to find her son. The elite group is coolly ruled by Bett, a sort of dark avenging angel. There is Romantic Tension between Bett and Jane, as well as Grrrl Power episodes stuck like perfume samples into the novel.
However, just when you think the author might have gone squishy, uber-mayhem erupts. And nobody does it better than Brookmyre.
The story here has so many James Bond allusions and Bond-like scenes it seems to teeter between bald imitation and parody. The action has posh exotic settings, extreme gadgetry, a secret installation in an old volcano, wicked cartels, and roaming herds of professional killers. And wise-cracking, much wise-cracking. But Brookmyre is too sharp and comic to be baking an Ian Fleming cake: Brookmyre loads the spy recipe with too much Scots phlegm and acid.
As in several other Brookmyre works, an ordinary character is remade into a hero through encounters with violence. Here a middle-aged woman, Jane Fleming (!), is hauled out of a slough of convention when her scientist son becomes the hostage and prize in an armaments industry struggle. [No plot spoilers anywhere here.]
The fun and games begin when Jane is abruptly recruited to a freelance rapid deployment force hired to find her son. The elite group is coolly ruled by Bett, a sort of dark avenging angel. There is Romantic Tension between Bett and Jane, as well as Grrrl Power episodes stuck like perfume samples into the novel.
However, just when you think the author might have gone squishy, uber-mayhem erupts. And nobody does it better than Brookmyre.
Released 17 yrs ago (2/20/2007 UTC) at
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
At the book club meeting.
Returned by book club member [ sigh ] last night, and re-released to a Brookmyreophile in Vineland.
