Customer Reviews

The Alternative Detective: A Novel

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Noted sci-fi author Sheckley revisits the mystery form in this pleasing PI story. Middle-aged ex-hippie Hob Dranconian has settled down in New Jersey after spending the last 20 years running around the world enjoying life and dealing drugs to the funseekers of the world. This book finds him trying to track down some stolen sailboards in Spain via his Ibiza office, and trying to locate a missing old friend in Paris. Sheckley sets off down these two paths with solid plotting, amusing characters, and a clear sense of making sure all is not as it seems. It's a nice quick read, I'll definitely be checking out the sequel: Soma Blues and prequel: Draconian New York.

There was a time when Sheckley was one of the funniest science fiction writers around. But he experimented (to put it mildly) with drugs and his writing went downhill. When I went to get some books autographed in the late 70s, I thought he was still out of it. This is the first "new" Sheckley (it was first published in 1993) that I have read in decades.

The book has a very light, very fast moving wit to it, kind of like some of the movies from the 1930s, but not so corny. In fact, it is also a nice little travelogue of places real and unreal in Paris and elsewhere. I like the way the detective agency works, but it requires someone with a really good social network, and a lot of trust. Plus an interest in making money, without being too greedy.

Hob Draconian is as mentioned by another reviewer, a "soft boiled detective". He doesn't carry weapons, wants no part of violence, but does possess tenacity. He is also a keen judge of character. So when he is taken at gunpoint by an ill at ease gunsel, he is not too worried.

Oh, and another thing. There is a lot of entanglement of persons and events. Everything is important to some degree, even if it seems a weird tangent. It all gets tied up neatly at the end. So Sheckley really came back from Pepperland, or wherever he was. I am looking forward to the other two books.

(btw, another reviewer had it wrong. This is the first book in the series, followed by Soma, and then Draconian New York.)

This is the second book in Sheckley's Hob Draconian series. It features a hilarious scene in a French taxi with a French poodle who is smarter than one of the passengers! Sheckley's series is witty, urbane, and filled with the kind of small touches only an experienced writer can deliver. If you are looking for "something different" in the mystery category, you won't go wrong with this!