To Agents “Loorbins” and “Drudles”, for their consistent support in the fireld. Mission accomplished.
Well, what an interesting book. This is about a secret agent called Toby who gets relegated to Section 37, an intelligence service specialising in the paranormal. Now hold on, don’t go away just yet. This is an enjoyable book. It is set in London for one, and so differs from the usual American paranormal government story. There is a character called August Shining, who is effectively the British Mulder, and his bolshy sister; Jamie, who has to get out of his face to travel to astral planes; an ex-wrestler who has built a kind of travel machine; and where would a good spy book be without a crazy Russian man bent on world destruction?
It is written by the same author whose book I read previously. Like the previous book, it uses classic devices such as prophetic statement to arouse the reader’s interest. The book switches from 1960s to present day and between various locations. To help the reader orientate where she is, Adams states location and date before each section. Adams also plays with perspective, changing it from 3rd to 1st and back to 3rd again. He keeps up the pace by switching from story to story and each section ends on a cliff-hanger leaving the reader wanting more – Dickens would be pleased.
As the action picked up the pace, so did the structure of the novel. Adams made each section shorter so they became more like scenes in a film. I really enjoyed this book and whizzed through it. Like a film, there was a suggestion of a sequel, I hope there is.
The Reading Marathon 