David Devereux

Don’t really know where to start with this book. At times gruesome, at other times incredibly childish….. Imagine you are a 13 year old boy, interested in James Bond and the Ghostbusters, mixed in with a juvenile fascination with sex. You sit down and decide to write a book, giving yourself only a few days to do so. I think your finished product would be very similar to Hunters Moon.

The plot centres around an unnamed assassin but we can call him Jack) working for an undercover MI5 type institution. However, there is a difference. He is highly skilled in the black arts/magic/witchcraft etc

Jack is assigned to a case to stop a terrorist organisation run by lesbians with the ability to alter mind through using sexual tension. Along the way he enlist the help of various ex colleagues, including a retired man in black and the spirit of his dead friend.

The book is written in the first person and in a style that would not be suited to everyone. Often quite abruptly written and almost with an underdeveloped feel to the plot.

I can’t say it was a bad or a good read. The pages seemed to by quickly enough, although at times I did feel like throwing it out the window.… (mais)

I think I originally saw this tagged or otherwise referenced Cthulhu somewhere. Nothing on the blurb suggested mythos, but I've chased down flimsier leads. To be fair, I doubt the author wanted to have his book considered mythos.

This book is a sort of extreme testosterone-driven response to the genre of Mercy Thompson, Harry Dresden and Anita Blake. Maybe for techie fans, naaaah, the fans of Jack Reacher or Tom Clancy type books who want a little fantasy fix? That's probably a better fit. The protagonist, Jack, is employed by the British government to basically kill anyone who uses summoning magic to disrupt the general welfare. He is allowed to stomp on civil rights (and hold in contempt those who don't), murder, steal and torture in any way that seems reasonable. He can also occupy the moral high ground while doing it. It's sort of a really macho Laundry series without the wit or humor.

Anyway, in this book Jack is tracking down a coven who are trying to asassinate the PM. The motives of this group are pretty sketchy but at one point someone mentions maybe it's the cult of Azathoth, and the Jack notes he has not found a copy of the Necronimicon around. That's it for the direct mythos references. Whether Azathoth is real in this world, or other mythosian entities/tropes have any bearing, is never further addressed. As for Lovecraftian sensibilities otherwise, there are none. This book is as subtle as a brick.

I think anyone could polish it off in an airplane ride if they were so inclined, but I found it pretty much devoid of humor, and the 'hero' was an unappealing sociopathic misanthrope, whom I guess is supposed to represent the pinnacle of British manhood. He even gets to beat up and humiliate a few Americans. All would have been forgiven except for the wooden characters, pedestrian dialogue, aimless plot and weak prose.

Mythos fans can safely pass it by.… (mais)