A Few Words for the Dead by Guy Adams

Published digitally by Ebury (Random House) on April 9, 2015

A Few Words for the Dead is sort of like an old episode of The Avengers with August Shining playing the role of John Steed (although, alas, there is no leather-clad Mrs. Peel to titillate the reader's imagination). Steed was always tracking down evil scientists whose gadgetry produced vaguely supernatural threats to society. Shining does the same except the supernatural basis of the threats is less vague. The novel is part of Guy Adams' "The Clown Service" series.

August Shining is a spy, employed by Section 37 of the British secret service. Shortly after the novel starts, his superiors interrogate him about a mission in Berlin thirty years earlier. An agent that Shining recruited, Lucas Robie, had stopped communicating. Shining's boss sent him to Berlin to investigate. Shining had recruited Robie because he had a "special ability," something beyond charm, that made others want to please him. As the novel moves forward, Shining tells the story of his trip to Berlin and his investigation of a mysterious killer that isn't quite human.

While Shining tells his story, his sister April is dealing with problems of her own while agents who work for August are selectively murdered. An assassin (known by the unimaginative name "the Assassin") is also out to get August. At least August isn't living a dull life. Rounding out the cast are a Section 37 agent named Toby and his voodoo-wielding wife Tamar, who occasionally show up to battle a wind demon.

A few chapters before the end, August concludes his story from the past, allowing the past and present plot threads to coalesce. From the beginning to the end, the story speeds along without wasting words. Like an old episode of The Avengers, it delivers fun without depth. This isn't the kind of story that demands depth so I don't have a problem with its absence.

The evil force that plagues Shining is a standard evil force of unexplained origin. I can't say that the evil force or the wind demon excited me. Shining and April are such strong characters that they could carry a conventional spy novel, but Guy Adams apparently likes to mix genres. If elements of supernatural horror are what Adams wants, villains of a more surprising nature would elevate the story. On the other hand, A Few Words for the Dead grew on me as I continued to read it and the intricate ending is pleasantly unexpected.

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