This review originally appeared on Goodreads on February 9, 2015.

Eight Skilled Gentlemen

By Barry Hughart – Foundation/Doubleday – January 1, 1991

Review by Robin Marx

While still a pleasure to read, Eight Skilled Gentlemen hews disappointingly close to The Story of the Stone's formula. As with the last book, there's a barrage of digressions, false starts, betrayals, and red herrings. While individual scenes are invariably entertaining—one where Number Ten Ox and Master Li have to dispose of a corpse was stomach-churningly hilarious—I felt they didn't quite come together to form a single cohesive book.

That being said, Master Li and Number Ten Ox have earned a place in my heart as two of my favorite characters, and it seems a great loss that there won't be any more adventures starring them.

★★★☆☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on February 9, 2015.

The Story of the Stone

By Barry Hughart – Spectra – October 1, 1989

Review by Robin Marx

It was great to read more about Master Li and Number Ten Ox's exploits, but I can't help feeling like it didn't quite live up to its predecessor.

While Bridge of Birds is more of a traditional fantasy adventure, The Story of the Stone ends up more like a murder mystery. While investigating an apparent forgery, the protagonists come upon the scene of a killing, along with hints that the killer may be the Laughing Prince, a long since deceased despot.

The premise is interesting, but the story that follows has even more meanderings, red herrings, and side treks that Bridge of Birds. The adventures described are always entertaining—the heroes' visit to a number of the Chinese hells stands out in particular—but with so much misdirection and dead ends I found myself losing the plot at times. It turns out there's a reason for all this, revealed (in true mystery novel fashion) as a climactic twist.

Master Li and Number Ten Ox continue to entertain, but Master Li's idiosyncrasies in particular seemed somewhat muted in this novel compared to the first one. Perhaps it was due to the spotlight time given to newly-introduced characters Moonboy and Grief-of-Dawn.

The Story of the Stone didn't wow me as much as Bridge of Birds, but then again very few books do. This is still an interesting novel and very much worth a read.

★★★★☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on May 14, 2012.

The Final Solution

By Michael Chabon – Fourth Estate – November 9, 2004

Review by Robin Marx

The Final Solution has a compelling premise, but the execution (perhaps a poor choice of words when dealing with a book that obliquely refers to the Holocaust) leaves a bit to be desired.

Although he's referred to solely as “the old man,” it's immediately apparent that the protagonist is intended to be Sherlock Holmes at 89. The idea of Holmes coming out of retirement during World War II to solve one more mystery is intriguing, but the reason why he becomes involved in this particular case (a murder and a bird-napping) seems a bit flimsy. While I'd hoped to see the master detective—even a Holmes diminished by age—there wasn't much in the way of brilliant deductions, just a few “Easter egg” references to past cases and an admittedly clever allusion to the title of what was intended to be Holmes' final case, “The Final Problem.”

The characters were too many in number, and too sketchily rendered to leave much an impression. This surprised me, since characterization was such a strong point in his previous novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

Another issue I had is that the viewpoint character for the climactic scene is a parrot. This isn't an unforgivable sin—it was an interesting portrayal—but it IS pretty goofy.

Finally, detective novels (even self-consciously literary ones) live and die on their mystery, but here Holmes solves the lesser one while ignoring the larger one. He nabs the murderer while failing to uncover the nature of the German numbers constantly recited by the parrot at the heart of the case. The reader will likely figure it out right away, but Holmes never does. I imagine this was intentional on the part of Chabon; he seems to want to say that even a master detective is incapable of realizing the scope and true horror of the Nazis' depravity. However, it didn't feel right or authentic that Sherlock Holmes would let this particular puzzle slide.

While I don't feel like my time was wasted reading this book, I do feel like the interesting premise was wasted on an undercooked story.

★★☆☆☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on March 9, 2021.

The Angel of Darkness

By Caleb Carr – Ballantine Books – March 25, 2010

Review by Robin Marx

The second Dr. Laszlo Kreizler story, this one involves a kidnapped baby and a disturbed nurse whose youthful charges tend to end up dead.

While this was an enjoyable read, it didn’t equal or surpass The Alienist. The pacing felt a bit off in several sections, with strange detours and an occasional lack of urgency despite the core conflict. While it’s not really a complaint for me, there are a number of action sequences (and one particular supporting character) that cross a bit into pulp territory, which is not something I remember from the first book. Also, Dr. Kreizler seemed to take a back seat to much of the proceedings. Perhaps it was due to the new choice in narrator, but Kreizler spent much of the story off-screen, doing vague psychology stuff while the scrappy kid narrator got into punch-ups with juvenile gang members.

That being said, this book offers an opportunity to spend more time with Carr’s appealing characters, which is what I (and probably many readers) wanted most. There’s not as much mystery or investigation as the previous book, but the characters are solid and the historical figure cameos are fun, if a bit forced at times.

The first thing I did after finishing this book was check when the next book in the series is expected to arrive. I think that can be taken as a solid recommendation.

★★★☆☆

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This review originally appeared at Grimdark Magazine on September 10, 2023.

The Graveyard Shift

By Maria Lewis – Datura Books – September 12, 2023

Review by Robin Marx

Tinsel Munroe is the host of “The Graveyard Shift,” an overnight horror-themed radio show on 102.8 HitsFM, Melbourne’s hottest station. Despite her best efforts she finds herself mostly treading water in her career, trapped in a dead-end time slot playing for a devoted but small following. Her life is upended on Halloween, however, when an audience member is viciously murdered during a broadcast phone call. New listeners flock to the show with ghoulish hopes for another on-air killing, and ominous messages reveal to Tinsel that she herself is a target. As the police investigation founders and the body count rises, Tinsel realizes that her continued survival depends on her ability—with assistance from her true crime blogger sister Pandora and the handsome detective Vic James—to uncover the hidden connection between herself and the unseen assailant.

The Graveyard Shift is billed as an “homage” to the slasher movies of the 1990s, and elements of the Scream series are certainly present and accounted for. While Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Child’s Play and various other slasher franchises are name-checked throughout the book, potential readers should be aware that The Graveyard Shift is more of a thriller with light mystery and romance elements than a horror novel. The supernatural is not a factor, and Maria Lewis does not devote much effort to building and sustaining an unsettling or frightening atmosphere. That being said, the murder scenes are tense and exciting and deliver the sort of gore one would expect from I Know What You Did Last Summer or similar slashers.

The Graveyard Shift’s greatest strength is its characters. Tinsel is a likable, smart, and resourceful heroine. True crime blogger Pandora and police detective Vic James are likewise appealing, and even the minor supporting characters come across as distinctive, well-rendered individuals. While it feels a little convenient that Tinsel’s sister happens to be a serial killer expert with police connections and a ready supply of murder factoids, Pandora is given enough fleshing-out to make her more than just a convenient plot device. Dreamy, stubbled protector Detective James also seems more like a Hollywood cop than somebody one would encounter on a real world police force, but he is given enough depth to transcend his primary function as hunky daydream fodder for readers. The characters are fun, and it’s enjoyable spending time with them.

In The Graveyard Shift, Lewis writes in a breezy, thoroughly modern voice. The book is fast-paced and engaging, but I struggled a bit with the tone. At no point in this book does someone narrowly escape from a knife-wielding maniac and then brush it off with a quippy “Well, that happened,” but if a scene like that HAD been present it would not have been out of place with the rest of the book. Plucky bravery is one thing, but Tinsel comes off as remarkably unflappable for someone being actively stalked by a serial killer. She shows occasional moments of fright or doubt, but is otherwise largely able to go about her life in good spirits, mostly covering her regular shift at work and putting in appearances at social functions. The constantly shifting tone threw me off, but it feels significant that a main character is a true crime enthusiast. True crime podcasts and blogs are often accused of trivializing real world brutality and murder for the sake of salacious thrills, and similarly the fictional crimes depicted here aren’t always handled with the utmost gravity. Tinsel is appropriately devastated when people she knows are attacked, but at times it feels like the deaths of unacquainted victims are treated more like a fun puzzle to be solved by Tinsel and Pandora: Taskforce Laurie Strode.

The Graveyard Shift is an energetic and stimulating thriller. Readers hoping for grit and angst are better off looking elsewhere, but this book serves well as a refreshing palate cleanser after finishing weightier fare.

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