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Topic: TMEF:The Amulet by William Meikle (Read 664 times) |
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(Note: As the subject line couldn't fit the whole title in I shortened it from The Midnight Eye Files: The Amulet by William Meikle)
Derek Adams is a Glasgow PI with plenty of time on his hands. Until the “Bogart Case” walks in. A priceless family heirloom has been stolen and everyone in town is looking for it. The stars are right one more, and an ancient evil has been awakened from its dreaming sleep.
It was supposed to be an easy case, fast money. But pretty soon Derek is up to his armpits in bodies, femme fatales and tentacles.
The city's dark side has him. And it doesn't want to let the Midnight Eye go!
Honestly when I first opened this book I wasn't sure what to expect- well no I take that back I knew what I was expecting, a supernatural Noir type of mystery, and wasn't sure what I was going to get. With a few exceptions I was pleasantly surprised with just how close to my original expectations the book came. It does capture that pulp detective novel feeling quite well and manages to update it into the 21st century without getting too horribly awkward about it.
It's strengths are surprisingly many, Meikle manages to write first person in a way that not only doesn't aggravate me it works quite well for the character. His characters themselves are quite likeable, in fact they are characters rather than the cardboard cutouts that have been known to pollute the genre. The plot was interesting enough without getting to tangled within itself and without giving away anything to early. He also managed to work in a few neat twists that give the reader if anything at least a pleasant reading experience. The supernatural elements fit in quite nicely into the mystery and Meikle portrays Derek's ineptitude and confusion with it fantastically (i.e. no sudden talent or knowledge to make the detective that much better).
That's not to say that the novel isn't without it's faults. It has the feel of a first novel to it. Meikle while if anything a decent if not talented author, manages to drop a few clunkers of lines. Such as “she was more than beautiful, she was awesome” which had me resisting a facepalm or two. Another issue that bothered me was the fascination between Derek and the main female character, simply in that fact that whenever she'd show up he'd turn a bit mindless and pontificate about her legs for awhile. Which is fine-and a staple of dime novels honestly- if only it didn't feel so out of character for Derek. Another mark of a first novel style to me is that Meikle -without getting to detailed- tends to rack up a huge body count for a novel that's first in a series. It'll be interesting to see how he handles that in the next Midnight Eye novel. And once the main monster baddie is revealed it'll probably initiate more giggles and eye rolling than horror.
All in all it's a pretty decent book. Spend a lazy afternoon reading it and you won't regret it. I'm looking forward to the next in the series if only because I believe Meikle is a good author and will only get better over time.
The Midnight Eye Files: The Amulet
By William Meikle
Black Death Books
http://khpindustries.com/
197 Pages
$14.99
Posted by: WarKitten Guest
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TMEF:The Amulet by William Meikle
« 07/13/08 at 2:48pm »