Customer Reviews

The Spy Who Haunted Me (Secret Histories, Book 3)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I really like Simon R. Green's books and have since Blue Moon Rising. They are just a whole lot of fun with great bigger than life villains and heroes. Nothing by halves.

In this one, Edwin Drood gets invited to take part in a competition against 5 other spies held by a master spy who is offering his lifetime of secrets for the prize. While Molly isn't in it much, that's made up for by Walker from Nightside. John Taylor's nemesis and occasional ally Walker. He's a major character in this book with a lot more development. I was just absolutely tickled and thrilled about that.

Like all of Green's book, the evil is eviler and the powers are weird and the descriptions are just great. This one though is a bit more serious than most of his others but still packaged in gadgets and magic and lots of adventure that makes it all very fun reading.

Simon R. Green is on fire this year. Following on the heels of the excellent Just Another Judgement Day, Green delivers another fine novel with his latest entry in the Secret Histories series. The Spy Who Haunted Me is now my pick as the best book in the Shaman Bond chronicles.

It was a much needed and welcomed bounce back after last year when I really felt both Daemons Are Forever and The Unnatural Inquirer were subpar Green novels. But this year he has reinvigorated both the Nightside and Secret Histories with more investment for the heroes. Both novels last year had the usual Green mixture of fresh ideas and tons of imaginative fantasy elements, but it always felt like both Eddie Drood and John Taylor were going through the motions. This year their adventures have been more personal and both characters seem more entrenched in the action than before.

I mention the Nightside so much because, for the first time, the Drood Universe crosses over with the Nightside. It has been hard to deny that they were similar stories, John and Eddie have a lot in common and much of the action takes place in a world that (up to now) could have been the same, and now is obviously shown to be the same world. Daemons Are Forever had a crossover with Deathstalker, so it seemed inevitable for there to be a Nightside crossover as well. It is done very well, and the crossover character is one you always want more of in the Nightside books!

Another thing that I thought made this book an improvement over the last, is it felt more like the original premise of the series: that of a Fantasy James Bond. I loved The Man With The Golden Torque because it had a lot of nods to Bond and though it eventually took on a decidedly more Simon Green style, it maintained that mimicry to an extent throughout. I really felt like Daemons Are Forever just abandoned it altogether, Eddie was running the family instead of being an agent, and it felt more like a typical Nightside book than the first. The Spy Who Haunted Me really marks a return to the style of the first book, with more Shaman Bond, more agent action, and even a premise and a villain that would not be out of place in Fleming's world.

It is a pretty basic setup: 6 of the best Agents from around the world are to compete for a chance to claim The Independent Agent's treasure cache of stolen secrets. The catch? Even though they are forced to work as a team, in the end there can be only One! Only one agent will be allowed to walk away with the prize, and their life.

Shaman Bond aka Eddie Drood is, of course, among the candidates, as well as a familiar face from previous books, and as mentioned, a character from the Nightside. They are tasked with uncovering five great world mysteries, things even the Drood Family and CIA do not have the answers to. The mysteries are all interesting in their own right, and very fun given the Green treatment.

In all I would say that The Spy Who Haunted Me is a lightning quick thrill ride through the mind of Simon R Green: Filled to the brim with his typical mixture of humor, crazy imaginative monsters, myths, and [...] heroes.

389 pages HC 4.5 out of 5 stars

The plot of the book goes as follows: a legendary agent- the Independent Agent, is about to die and issues a challenge to 6 of the best agents to solve 5 puzzles, with the winner taking first prize- all his secrets.

I liked this book because not only does the author have his usual super imaginative situations, there's something a little different- a proper crossover with his Nightside series. It gave an insight into Eddie Drood's contemporaries, like MI 13 and the CIA. It also revealed that the Drood's have a treaty with the Nightside (or perhaps an understanding would be more accurate), and the unflappable and enigmatic Walker has suffered a rather personal loss of his own after his encounter with Lilith (see Nightside series).

It's clear that Mr Green is enjoying himself and now has enough books out there that he can mix and match characters when he wants. My goodness, could there possibly be a showdown between Eddie Drood and John Taylor in the future? It's unlikely, given the treaty, but I can always hope!

Go ahead and treat yourself to a good fun read.

In case you havent already, start from book 1. It'll make more sense that way.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the book!

I like Greens work. All his series have such interesting characters and side plots. You never seem to know what will happen next. Having said that, this novel seems more like it did not get enough time and attention from the author.

The story was some what linear and frankly kind of easy to guess the ending to. Definitely shades of Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians" in this one.

The wonderful side branches and interesting characters and sub-plots that Green is known for are missing. Instead of colorful wacky characters being introduced through out the length of the novel all the major characters are introduced at the beginning. This does not give Green enough time to flesh out the characters fully before he starts having to whack them off.

The whole novel seems to have suffered from being a little rushed.

First, I need to say that I absolutely love Simon R. Green's writing. It is bright, imaginative and entertaining. Very few authors can come up with fully rounded characters that riff on common awareness - he's right up there with Gaiman and Pratchett.

Second, I wanted to love this book. The concept is reasonable and should fit in with the Drood side of the Green universe.

But either Green has gotten lazy or tired of putting much effort into his writing. A completely made up example: Eddie Drood (and companions) are in a horrible situation, in dire need of escape or defense. In this book the answer is inevitably "I'm a Drood, and I'll armor up - which will not only show me where I need to go, through the armor's special Sight (you know it's important - it's capitalized after all), but will also give me the strength, firepower, and invulnerability I need to get there."

Another completely made up example: Eddie Drood's companions are stumped about some puzzle or piece of information they need to know to advance their quest. Again, the answer is almost always "I'm a Drood, and we know everything of any consequence."

Needless to say, this gets very tiresome very shortly. The inevitability of the successful completion of each stage of the quest (I hope I didn't ruin the story for anybody that may have thought that Green would actually have Eddie Drood fail at something) eliminates any suspense. Sure theres a twist or two, but nothing that changes anything by the end.

Eddie is an infallible character and basically sleepwalks through the entire book - the only reason he is even uncomfortable in some of the locales is because he decides not to wear the Drood armor when any sane person would.

The shame is that I'll read the next in the series in the hope that Green has woken up and gets back to his normally peppy writing style.

The Spy Who Haunted Me (2009) is the third fantasy novel in the Shaman Bond series, following Daemons Are Forever, In the previous volume, the Time Train made it to the higher dimension and impacted amidst the Hungry Gods. Eddie and Mollie teleport out just before all the accumulated temporal energies exploded, closing the gateway. The Matriarch congratulated him on solving the crisis and chided him for bringing a half-elf into the household.

In the novel, Eddie Drood is a field agent for the Drood family. His area of responsibility is London and environs.

Martha Drood is Eddie's grandmother. She had been the Matriarch. Now she has been elected as the head of the family, subject to an advisory council.

Jack Drood is the Armourer and Eddie's Uncle. He runs the madcap team who come up with all the cool gadgets.

The Blue Fairy was a friend of Eddie before stealing a Drood torc. Then Queen Mab took the throne and he was admitted into the fairy enclave. The Fae gave him more training in his magical abilities.

Honey Lake is a CIA operative. She has access to many cool gadgets from the Company.

Walker is from the Nightside. He is the friendly nemesis of John Taylor.

Peter King is the grandson of Alexander King, the Independent Agent. He is a corporate espionage operative.

Lethal Harmony is an agent from Kathmandu. Katt specializes in honey traps and betrayals.

In the story, Eddie is wearing his Shaman Bond persona as he tries to find out what is going on with the Tower of London. He is hired by an Australian republican to kill the Tower ravens. Naturally, the job is not quite that simple.

Then Eddie is called back to the family mansion and ordered to drive rather than use the Merlin glass. After arriving, he finds Martha and the Armourer waiting for him. He is told that the Independent Agent is having a competition for his own replacement. The winner will get all of his accumulated secret information.

Eddie uses the Merlin Glass to reach Place Gloria, Alexander King's hideout, museum and residence. The area is covered in flux fog and nothing can be seen, but heavy footsteps sound from around him. After the fog lifts, Eddie finds that he and the other five candidates are on the top of a mountain.

They all gather around and introduce themselves. Of course, Eddie already knows the Blue Fairy and he knows of Walker. Honey, Peter and Katt are new to him.

After the introductions, the area around them shudders and then lowers into the lobby of the residence. They walk out and through a private museum into the audience chamber. Then a three-dimensional image of Alexander King appears and explains the contest.

They soon discover that the image is live, for King answers some comments (and ignores others). There will be five locations where the group must discover secrets. At the end of the quest, only one person will be left alive to receive the prize.

King causes a teleport device to appear on each wrist to take them to the designated spots. Eddie is rather startled since his golden torc is supposed to prevent such occurrences. Later they discover that the devices also travel to specific times as well to places.

At the first stop, they have to uncover the secret of the Loch Ness monster. Honey links with her boss and gets a small yellow submarine. They discover that the monster is not anything like popular theories, but they lose one of their group.

This tale takes the survivors to other sites and times, where they find all kinds of monsters. Some of them die or disappear. Eddie suspects that someone within the group is killing the others.

This novel has several references to other novels and series by this author. Both Nightsideand Shadows Fall are mentioned. And other classic allusions are made in passing.

This story has a fair amount of action. The next installment will be From Hell With Love. Read and enjoy!

Highly recommended for Green fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of ancient protectors, various strange creatures, and cocky young agents. If anyone has not previously read this series, the initial volume is The Man with the Golden Torc.

-Arthur W. Jordin

A legendary free agent is dying, and is having a contest for his secrets. It's between six chosen spies/assassins/agents, one of which is Edwin Drood and another of which is Walker (of the Authority, from the Nightside books). The contest is to solve five unexplained mysteries, with proof. Personally I'm not very fond of when an author tries crossing over his own stories with each other, in this case this new series with his Nightside series.

Book went like this... Story of Edwin Drood as Shaman Bond on a solo case (story one), acceptance of legendary agent's challenge (main plot), meet the contestants (main plot), story two, story three which includes each contestant telling their own campfire short story, story four, story five, story six, shenanigans (main plot), end of the legendary agent's challenge (main plot end). More like a novella with some supporting short stories (each mystery), as opposed to a novel.

Can you guess the mysteries? I got three out of five totally blind -- Loch Ness, Bigfoot, and Roswell. I was also able to guess the entire plotline and resolution of the main plot by the end of the Loch Ness story. I was hoping for more uniqueness, like the fourth mystery of the disappearing Navy ship and Elfland. That's the only one I really liked, and the only time I enjoyed the book.

Each mystery is treated as a separate short story chapter. I was never in suspense. Edwin Drood, wearing his invincible suit, was not in danger during these adventures. The suit saves the day and acts as an all purpose deus-ex, to the point where Drood never has a need for any other cool spy gadgets.

Unlike the rest of the series, I didn't feel Edwin Drood grew as a character, no deep mysteries were revealed, and nothing involving the series goal of 'Drood Traitor' is advanced. No mysterious apocalypses to prevent, but admittedly lots of action. The book didn't advance the series, and you could easily skip it.

I am a HUGE fan of Mr Green and have read all his works repeatedly. That being said; I am struggling with this new series. I really want to love Edwin Drood as well, and wish I could say that I am awaiting each new addition with the same breathless excitement that I felt for the Blue Moon series, Deathstalker and John Taylor's Nightside... But it seems to just miss the mark for me and I find that I'm feeling more than a bit mournful about it all.

The Droods are an interesting clan, they really are. And the idea of a 007 type story line with Martha as "M" and the Armorer as "Q" (only they are family instead of British Secret Service) is both inspired and enormous fun. But I don't seem to feel quite as caught up in it all as I have in previous stories and find myself thinking about rereading another series of his (yet again, because they are ALL SO GOOD) and just forgetting about this one altogether for awhile. I don't seem to be able to nail down just why I feel the way I do about it and I wish I could point to one or two things that are preventing me from being able to go "all in" as it were, with this whole affair... But maybe that's problem in and of itself. SRG doesn't seem to be "all in" and I don't know how to follow to a place he doesn't really seem to have gone.

I will keep reading the series... In the end, I just love him too much to give up on anything he's written or is writing. And the man is and probably always will be my favorite author. But just lately (with the "additions" to the Nightside series after we all thought it was said and done and now these last couple of Secret Histories books) he seems to be missing some of the sharp enough to make you bleed sarcasm; laugh till you fall down and cry silliness; sad till you ache and can't cry anymore sorrow; jump up out of your seat in shock scary movie thrills and chills and many of the other wonderful qualities that make his books so much "Better Than Life" (a nod to the boys from The Dwarf)! I love you Simon (and not in that creepy, weird, obsessed-fan way) and I'm not going to give up on you or your people... I guess I'm just going to wish that some of them had a little more of you in them.

I have read all of Green's nightside series and am now reading the Secret Histories series. I keep waiting to be disappointed because I always feel like he cannot top his previous works. Thankfully Green continues to prove me wrong!! I loved this book and I especially loved the introduction and inclusion of other characters outside of the Drood family and Molly Metcalf.

Possible Spoilers:

I loved having Walker in this book! I think it was a great piece of character development and I actually would really like a book devoted entirely to Walker and his story and futre.

I loved the book and I also appreciated that it was released on the Kindle.

I'm a big fan of most of the Simon Green novels. I've enjoyed the previous novels involving Shaman Bond and the Droods. This novel just seemed like the author dialed in the effort but there was not much heart and soul in the novel.

The story twists around the Independent Agent who has key information that the Droods want. But the Independent Agent will only provide that information to one of the top spies that he has invited to compete together to solve 5 mysteries. And with that, the adventure is off.

And the adventure is off. The mysteries are spins on some of the worlds mysteries today. Loch Ness, etc. I will say that one of the other contestants is from the Nightside novels and I don't think it works for me. Sometimes having other characters cameo from one world to the other is fine. But this other characters is a side by side star through this book. Between the mysteries being solved and odd characterizations of the Nightside character, this novel felt forced. It's still well written and a lot of fun but not quite as involving as some of Green's other novels.