Stalking the Unicorn: A Fable of Tonight: A John Justin Mallory Mystery [Paperback]

Mike Resnick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2008

It's 8:35 pm on New Year's Eve, and Private Detective John Justin Mallory is hiding out in his Manhattan office to avoid his landlord's persistent inquiries about the unpaid rent. As he cheerlessly reflects on the passing of a lousy year, which saw his business partner run off with his wife, he assumes the bourbon is responsible for the appearance of a belligerent elf. This elf informs him that he needs the detective's help in searching for a unicorn that was stolen from his charge.When Mallory realises the little green fellow is not going to disappear with the passing of his inebriation, he listens to the elf's impassioned plea that the stolen magical beast must be returned to his care by daylight or his little green life will be forfeited by the elves' guild. Join detective Mallory on a New Year's night of wild adventure in a fantasy Manhattan of leprechauns, gnomes, and harpies as he matches wits with the all-powerful demon The Grundy in a race to find the missing unicorn before time runs out!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This enchanting blend of fantasy and hard-boiled detection, back in print after two decades, heralds a new series from prolific multiple-award–winner Resnick, best-known for his Birthright Universe series. On a gloomy New Year's Eve, recently bereft of wife and partner, down-and-out New York City PI John Justin Mallory is hired by Mürgenstürm, a little green elf who wants Mallory to track down a stolen unicorn. After gradually accepting that his client is not an alcohol-fueled hallucination, Mallory deftly takes on a shadow city of demons, leprechauns and gnomes even as he learns that his own future hinges on the unicorn's recovery. The crisp dialogue and imaginative setting will have many fantasy readers wanting to revisit Manhattan's magical side. (Aug.) ""
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Review

"...good fun...What's interesting about this book, besides the lighthearted tone and wry humor, is how it overcomes my usual reservations about fantasy by blatantly flying in the face of everything that normally makes me want to roll my eyes...A big plus of the book is the very likable Mallory...a fun story when all is said and done, and I give credit to the author for making a palatable fantasy novel that even this hard-case fantasy reader could enjoy." -- SF Signal, August 12, 2008. "With a witty perspective on many aspects of city life, anyone who enjoys fantasy adventures in a more or less familiar urban setting will laugh their way through this wild entertainment." -- Gumshoe, August 2008 "Mike Resnick has created a fine character in Stalking the Unicorn and carried him forward. Mallory is a detective who would be a cliche if Resnick hadn't meant him to be one. He's every detective Humphrey Bogart or ever played. For me, a guy who loves detective stories (and especially 1940s noir pictures), this is the perfect blending of the genres. he's based on every successful detective who's ever made it to page or screen. That's one of the fun bits, finding all the stuff that you know Resnick put in his pocket from others' noir leavings .It's an awesome little thing. [Stalking the Unicorn] certainly reads better to the detective fan in me than the fantasy fan in me. Mallory is awesome. He's a real detective, a hard-bitten dick who does it all. I just love him, [in Stalking the Vampire] even more than I did in the first novel. So, there's no question that Mallory has more legs to him. Resnick could give us a long series of Mallory novels, and it'll never be Mallory that'll lets us down." --Some Fantastic, August 2008 "Urban Fantasy. Detective Wizard(s). Mafioso Sorceress. Vampire Hunter. P.I. in Fantasyland. Paranormal Romance. Whatever you call it, books with some or all of those elements is one of hottest subgenres of Speculative Fiction today. This just goes to show that Mike Resnick was ahead of the ballgame considering his first John Justin Mallory novel, Stalking the Unicorn, was originally published in 1987. Terrifically entertaining novel. a welcome re-addition to the Urban Fantasy subgenre that is so popular right now. Adorned with a terrific pulpy cover by Dan Dos Santos, the physical book has a great look and feel. Even better, Resnick and Pyr published simultaneously with this reissue, Stalking the Vampire, which is next on my plate. Hopefully, we'll see even more Mallory stories." --SFFWorld September 2, 2008 (also mentioned at Rob's Blog o'Stuff blog) "This ambitious fantasy combines three very British stories: an Arthurian fable, a Victorian murder mystery and a modern-day YA adventure tale - The hinted interconnections between the three tales are complex and fascinating - a rollicking ride." --Publishers Weekly, October 20, 2008 "This is light reading, but it is fun. The personalities of the characters are brought alive by their actions and words, rather than lengthy decryptions, and this is a skill only the best writers exhibit." -- SFcrowsnest.com, Issue 183, February 2009

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Pyr (August 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591026482
• ISBN-13: 978-1591026488
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,123,680 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witty, dark, entertaining throughout, April 29, 1999

By 

Chris (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Stalking Unicorn: A Fable of Tonight (Mass Market Paperback)

If dark comedy, irony, or fantasy/sci-fi are your bag, it would be well worth it for you to try REALLY hard to find this book, as you will not be disappointed. This book starts off with John Mallory, a down on his luck private investigator, spending New Year's Eve alone in his dreary Manhattan office. His wife has run off with his ex-partner, the mafia has put a price on his head, and just when it seemed things couldn't get any cheerier, a little green elf shows up in his office who, to Mallory's surprise, is not an alcohol-based hallucination. It seems that the elf has a job for Mallory... and by dawn the next day, the two will have journeyed to an alternate world which is identical to, and at the same time nothing like, the Manhattan that Mallory has come to know. Resnick's style is dark and ironic, while still maintaining a deeper level of humor than found in most books of this genre. It may be difficult to find this book now, but if what you just read has enticed you, it'll be well worth it.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and very funny, November 3, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Stalking Unicorn: A Fable of Tonight (Mass Market Paperback)

This remains the only book I have ever read by Resnick, though I have read a few of his short stories, which have much the same flavor. The hilarity starts in the first chapter and keeps right on going. The hero is transported to a Manhatten terrorized by a demon, because the demon has stolen a unicorn... but I won't give too much away. All I will say is- go out of your way to look for this book. The humor, the completely unexpected ending, and the oddly sympathetic bad guys (once you figure out who the bad guys are) make it hard to pass up.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars not the author's best work, October 4, 2011

By 

Bill Allen (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stalking the Unicorn: A Fable of Tonight: A John Justin Mallory Mystery (Paperback)

When I started reviewing books I told myself I wouldn't review those I didn't like. Why? Because 1) I use my real name and 2) I am an author myself and don't think it's good karma or very professional to put down another author's work. Having said this, I'm about to make an exception. Why? Because there are not many reviews for this book and no bad reviews, and buyers should know what they're getting.

Resnick is a great award-winning author. He's been writing forever and has hundreds of books to his name, and anyone starting out reading Stalking the Unicorn can see why. After the first chapter I was excited and anxious for more. But once Resnick took us out of the real world and into his fantasy world, things started to go astray.

I liked some of the humor sprinkled throughout the story, but much of it seemed forced, as if Resnick were trying to be funny instead of being funny. But the bigger problem was his "trying" to create a world that was absurd. His world was absurd, all right, but not in a good way. It felt to me--and to my wife, who quit reading about halfway through--as if Resnick were searching his imagination, looking for the most absurd elements he could find, whether or not they had any point being in the story.

As I said before, Mike Resnick must be a good author. I am guessing he has hundreds of books that are a joy to read. If so, I recommend you try one of those. This cannot possibly be his best work.