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Dog - Day of the Dogs
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16th
October 05 |
Strontium Dog -
Day of the Dogs
Andrew
Cartmel
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this book from Amazon.co.uk
What to Expect:
Asdoel Zo hires Johnny Alpha and his Strontium Dogs to collect the bounty
on Preacher Tarkettle, the man who killed his family...
Review by Richmond
Clements
After Cartmel’s
last Blackflame novel, the terrible Swine Fever, this one was always going to
have an uphill struggle with me. He
does go some way here towards redemption, but doesn’t quite make it.
This book has
some of the same problems that Swine Fever had, at times displaying little understanding
of the character and his world.
Problems start
early. In fact, they begin before you even open the book. Have a look at the front
cover. It’s great, a classic Alpha image. Whatever you do though, do not
read the blurb on the rear. It doesn’t just give you a taster of what it’s
about, but also gives away a major plot twist that in the book isn’t revealed
until page 200 or so!
Johnny is partnered by Middenface in this book, but Cartmel makes the bizarre
decision of not having him speak in his Scottish brogue, and writes the dialogue
in unaccented English, thus immediately robbing the character of one of the things
that makes him so much fun.
At first, the
story seems like a rerun of the earlier Strontium Dog novel ‘Bad Timing’,
as we are introduced one by one to a team of Dogs who’ll aid Johnny in his
task. But it soon becomes clear that this is not the case, as the gathering of
the team, and not the mission itself, is the main thrust of the narrative. In
themselves, the original characters are interesting enough, but the portrayal
of Johnny, and more particularly Middenface, sometimes jars with what we expect
from them.
There are other
problems. We’ve got the usual traitor in the ranks subplot, but the culprit
is so glaringly obvious from the first time they are introduced that it’s
almost insulting. Note to author: spoonerisms do not make a good disguise.
All this and the
big problem that I’ve had with quite a few books in the range: the editing.
When we are first introduced to the guy who is hiring Johnny and McNulty, a big
deal is made of the fact that he has an obsession with cleanliness and a fear
of germs, to such an extent that Johnny and Middenface are naked but for bathrobes
when we first encounter them. But this plot point is completely forgotten soon
after, and never mentioned again. I’m prepared to think this might be a
deliberate plot element, but if so, them why did neither Johnny or Middenface
feel it necessary to comment on their treatment when they see that other characters
do not have to go through the same?
All this sounds
terribly negative, but strangely, I did enjoy reading this book. It’s a
fun, and in places exciting enough, page turner. Cartmel employs a marvellous
narrative device where he has an old west crooner singing a ballad about the adventure
you’re reading at the start of every chapter, I know this sounds like it
shouldn’t work, but somehow it does. And that’s kind of how I see
the whole book. Looking at the pieces individually, they don’t go together,
but the undoubted talent of the writer does shine through in this book so much
more than in Swine Fever.
Would I recommend
this one? Yes, with reservations. An easy enough read, but not up there with Prophet
Margin or Ruthless as an essential read for the Stront fan.
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this book from Amazon.co.uk
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