The Man with the Golden Torc by Simon R. Green

Title:  The Man with the Golden Torc
Author: Simon R. Green
Publisher:  Roc
Publication Date:  June 2008
Format:  Paperback, 416 pages
Age Group:  Adult
Series:  The Secret Histories (Book 1)

The Drood family has been protecting humanity for generations against all forms of evil, earthly or not.  At least this is what field agent Eddie Drood believes until his family declares him a rogue agent and tries to kill him.  Now he must go undercover as Shaman Bond and work with his enemies to discover his true family legacy.

This is the first book I've read by Simon Green and I really enjoyed it.  I'm finding some urban fantasy these days to be either too dark and serious or having too much romance and sex for my liking.  Thankfully, The Man with the Golden Torc is free of both those scenarios.  In some ways Eddie Drood reminds me of a British Harry Dresden facing the evils of the world with humor and determined to get to the heart of the matter while playing by his own set of rules.

My next comparison might be a bit funny but I truly mean it in a good way.  I realized last night that this book was a bit like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? for me.  Crazy things kept happening and nothing was really as I expected or believed it to be.  Eddie had all kinds of James Bond type gadgets that sometimes acted in a cartoon-type fashion and some of the enemies he was fighting seemed like cartoon characters as well.  This definitely fit in with the 'humor in the face of death 'aspect of the book.

There was some light romance near the end of the story but even that was treated with humor.  When Eddie and Molly realize they might be having a romantic moment, they immediately put a stop to it.  Of course this does start the wondering about whether or not they will develop into something more than just enemies working together with a common purpose.  I just really liked that they didn't stop right in the middle of the action to have a mushy romantic scene.

One thing I've found interesting in the days since I finished this book is that some of the things that I really enjoyed in this book are ones that I didn't like at all in Mind Games by Carolyn Crane (link goes to my review).  I think the biggest difference for me was the addition of humor in The Man with the Golden Torc.

The Man with the Golden Torc is part of our personal book collection and no one anywhere had any expectation of a review.  I am looking forward to continuing on with this series.

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