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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
Crossover urban-fantasy/espionage thriller in which a supernatural entity makes a bargain to possess a sorcerer in Cold War Berlin only to renege on it in modern times. .
This is the third and final book in The Clown Service series. I'm reading this because I liked the previous book in the series The Rain-Soaked Bride (my review).
This was an urban-fantasy/spy thriller that shapes up as a The Spy Who Came in from the Cold like Cold War Berlin espionage story. Young MI6 sorcerer August Shining in Cold War East Berlin makes a bargain with a supernatural entity to save his life while he’s laying mortally wounded. In exchange for his life, he’ll willingly let the non-physical entity possess him, the next time he’s mortally wounded. This is his Deal with the Devil. Decades pass. Shining is very careful and remains very spry. The entity loses its patience, and tries to ensure an earlier possession through murderous extortion. Plot-lines started in The Rain-Soaked Bride are also advanced. Finally, the series is given a soft ending with the potential for a reboot. The writing is British. This story was less humorous and generally darker than the other books in the series. The author achieves atmosphere and moves the story quickly with a screenplay-like style.
My dead-tree copy was a moderate 320-pages. Original UK copyright for the story was 2015. Reading this book without having read the other books in the series is not recommended. The book leverages and ties-up almost all the plots in the last two books.
[a:Guy Adams|445649|Guy Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1296857561p2/445649.jpg] is a British author who writes in several genres. This is the final book in his Clown Service series. The series was three (3) books.
Prose was good. It had an informal, hip, British style. As in the previous books, dialog was better than the descriptive prose. Action sequences were good. The narrative was noticeably less humorous than the earlier books in the series. August Shining is the main POV for the story, although there are four supporting POVs from established characters in the narration. Supporting POVs were April Shining, both Tamar and Toby Greene and the human antagonist. Shining's narration flashes back and forth between Communist East Berlin and present day London. This was well handled.
There was no sex, or drug abuse in the story. Alcohol was used for self-medication. Violence was physical and firearms. It was moderately graphic. Descriptions of resulting trauma were similarly graphic. Body count was moderate and in-line with a serial killing supernatural murder mystery.
The main character is Shining. He and his sister have always been my favorite series characters. He is the same spymaster, bureaucrat, and sorcerer found throughout the series. In this story he’s revealed to be gay. August’s spinster, pensioner, bureaucrat, likely-intelligence operative sister April contributes significantly to the story. Tamar and Toby Greene (now a married couple) play a peripheral part in the story. There are also several MI6/ MI5 subordinate characters both present and past involved. The main antagonist is a supernatural entity that has been dogging the series from its beginning. I think of it as The Puppeteer although it’s never named. In addition, the human Fairfield antagonist introduced in the previous book makes an appearance. I continue to take issue with magic bad guys in mysteries. Magic usage negates my deep experience with criminal behavior and police procedurals.
The plotting was well done. It owed a lot to [a:John le Carré|1411964|John le Carré|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234571122p2/1411964.jpg] and [a:Len Deighton's|31234|Len Deighton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1359135015p2/31234.jpg] Cold War Berlin novels. Most of the story is August recounting his first encounter with The Puppeteer in Communist East Berlin. Adams leverages fantasy, horror, and espionage tropes in the story. The Puppeteer can Body Surf . The author handles this fairly well. I thought the cleverest bit was turning Shining’s Deal with the Devil on its head. Usually, it’s not the Devil who seeks to cheat on the bargain. The author was merciless in killing-off series' characters. I began to think he wanted to make the series unrecoverable. Series spy tropes continue in the flavor of Len Deighton, although this was more solidly a John le Carré-like story. Intra-service rivalry within the Brit security services, a theme within the series, continued to be well done. I early guessed Fairfield’s complete role in the story. Usually, the author does a better job of plot obfuscation. Pacing was fine throughout. The author is fond of awkward addendums to the story to lay the ground for future books. In this case it was used to end the series. However, there was an option for a return
Action takes place in Metro London and (what I think is) the English county of Berkshire.. There was also very little UK geography infotainment in the story.
This was a moderately entertaining end to this urban-fantasy/espionage thriller series. It continued the light-weight, screen-play structure of the previous books. The author continued with using urban fantasy/horror/spy genre tropes that started the series. The riffs on these tropes were entertaining enough to be interesting. This book was much darker than other books in the series. A lot of very likeable, series characters violently perished. In addition, I wasn’t at all pleased with how Shining left the story. Once I buy into a series, I tend to become more forgiving. This is not a great work, although an Anglophilic, urban fantasy/mystery crossover reader will find it entertaining. I liked the author’s use of the Deal with the Devil. I really disliked The Puppeteer/Devil. It made the book for me. The Greene/Tamar relationship could have been left behind. Frankly, I was sad to see the series end. However, you have to read this, if like me you’ve read the other two books in the series.
Readers interested in Cold War Berlin should try the [b:Funeral in Berlin|438072|Funeral in Berlin|Len Deighton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1174771401l/438072._SY75_.jpg|2999067] and [b:The Spy Who Came In from the Cold|19494|The Spy Who Came In from the Cold|John le Carré|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327719782l/19494._SY75_.jpg|1177001].
This is the third and final book in The Clown Service series. I'm reading this because I liked the previous book in the series The Rain-Soaked Bride (my review).
This was an urban-fantasy/spy thriller that shapes up as a The Spy Who Came in from the Cold like Cold War Berlin espionage story. Young MI6 sorcerer August Shining in Cold War East Berlin makes a bargain with a supernatural entity to save his life while he’s laying mortally wounded. In exchange for his life, he’ll willingly let the non-physical entity possess him, the next time he’s mortally wounded. This is his Deal with the Devil. Decades pass. Shining is very careful and remains very spry. The entity loses its patience, and tries to ensure an earlier possession through murderous extortion. Plot-lines started in The Rain-Soaked Bride are also advanced. Finally, the series is given a soft ending with the potential for a reboot. The writing is British. This story was less humorous and generally darker than the other books in the series. The author achieves atmosphere and moves the story quickly with a screenplay-like style.
My dead-tree copy was a moderate 320-pages. Original UK copyright for the story was 2015. Reading this book without having read the other books in the series is not recommended. The book leverages and ties-up almost all the plots in the last two books.
[a:Guy Adams|445649|Guy Adams|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1296857561p2/445649.jpg] is a British author who writes in several genres. This is the final book in his Clown Service series. The series was three (3) books.
Prose was good. It had an informal, hip, British style. As in the previous books, dialog was better than the descriptive prose. Action sequences were good. The narrative was noticeably less humorous than the earlier books in the series. August Shining is the main POV for the story, although there are four supporting POVs from established characters in the narration. Supporting POVs were April Shining, both Tamar and Toby Greene and the human antagonist. Shining's narration flashes back and forth between Communist East Berlin and present day London. This was well handled.
There was no sex, or drug abuse in the story. Alcohol was used for self-medication. Violence was physical and firearms. It was moderately graphic. Descriptions of resulting trauma were similarly graphic. Body count was moderate and in-line with a serial killing supernatural murder mystery.
The main character is Shining. He and his sister have always been my favorite series characters. He is the same spymaster, bureaucrat, and sorcerer found throughout the series. In this story he’s revealed to be gay. August’s spinster, pensioner, bureaucrat, likely-intelligence operative sister April contributes significantly to the story. Tamar and Toby Greene (now a married couple) play a peripheral part in the story. There are also several MI6/ MI5 subordinate characters both present and past involved. The main antagonist is a supernatural entity that has been dogging the series from its beginning. I think of it as The Puppeteer although it’s never named. In addition, the human Fairfield antagonist introduced in the previous book makes an appearance. I continue to take issue with magic bad guys in mysteries. Magic usage negates my deep experience with criminal behavior and police procedurals.
Spoiler
As in The Rain-Soaked Bride the use of the Doppelgänger spell was a breach of the author/reader trust.The plotting was well done. It owed a lot to [a:John le Carré|1411964|John le Carré|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234571122p2/1411964.jpg] and [a:Len Deighton's|31234|Len Deighton|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1359135015p2/31234.jpg] Cold War Berlin novels. Most of the story is August recounting his first encounter with The Puppeteer in Communist East Berlin. Adams leverages fantasy, horror, and espionage tropes in the story. The Puppeteer can Body Surf . The author handles this fairly well. I thought the cleverest bit was turning Shining’s Deal with the Devil on its head. Usually, it’s not the Devil who seeks to cheat on the bargain. The author was merciless in killing-off series' characters. I began to think he wanted to make the series unrecoverable. Series spy tropes continue in the flavor of Len Deighton, although this was more solidly a John le Carré-like story. Intra-service rivalry within the Brit security services, a theme within the series, continued to be well done. I early guessed Fairfield’s complete role in the story. Usually, the author does a better job of plot obfuscation. Pacing was fine throughout. The author is fond of awkward addendums to the story to lay the ground for future books. In this case it was used to end the series. However, there was an option for a return
Action takes place in Metro London and (what I think is) the English county of Berkshire.. There was also very little UK geography infotainment in the story.
This was a moderately entertaining end to this urban-fantasy/espionage thriller series. It continued the light-weight, screen-play structure of the previous books. The author continued with using urban fantasy/horror/spy genre tropes that started the series. The riffs on these tropes were entertaining enough to be interesting. This book was much darker than other books in the series. A lot of very likeable, series characters violently perished. In addition, I wasn’t at all pleased with how Shining left the story. Once I buy into a series, I tend to become more forgiving. This is not a great work, although an Anglophilic, urban fantasy/mystery crossover reader will find it entertaining. I liked the author’s use of the Deal with the Devil. I really disliked The Puppeteer/Devil. It made the book for me. The Greene/Tamar relationship could have been left behind. Frankly, I was sad to see the series end. However, you have to read this, if like me you’ve read the other two books in the series.
Readers interested in Cold War Berlin should try the [b:Funeral in Berlin|438072|Funeral in Berlin|Len Deighton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1174771401l/438072._SY75_.jpg|2999067] and [b:The Spy Who Came In from the Cold|19494|The Spy Who Came In from the Cold|John le Carré|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327719782l/19494._SY75_.jpg|1177001].
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
I don't know. Guy Adams writing is still as entertaining as ever. This book also has a different structure than the first two, which makes sense upon completion of the story. But the brutality is what holds me back. To have a truly horrifying villain, I guess you have to have truly horrifying consequences. And the writing makes those actions all the more visceral. But Chapter 25 in particular was hard to stomach.
The fact that like 70% of what apparently is the conclusion to a trilogy is told to us in a series of flashbacks, irks me to no end. Flashbacks are fine, but I don't want the majority of a book to take place there. It takes me right out of the story instead of drawing me in.
Then there's the fact that with getting "hints" of there being an unknown party steering the events in the background, very obviously setting up the book for a clever ending, even if we can't necessarily see what that ending is going to be.
Combine these two facts and you get a book where arguably 90% of if doesn't really matter. And then we get to the epilouge where we get to see what actually happened.
I am disappoint.
Then there's the fact that with getting "hints" of there being an unknown party steering the events in the background, very obviously setting up the book for a clever ending, even if we can't necessarily see what that ending is going to be.
Combine these two facts and you get a book where arguably 90% of if doesn't really matter. And then we get to the epilouge where we get to see what actually happened.
I am disappoint.