The Adventures of Lazarus Gray, Volume 2: Die Glocke [Kindle Edition]

Well after anxiously awaiting this book it didn't disappoint me. Laz takes on some old foes as well as new, and meets some friends along the way. Barry carries the action from start to finish, leaving you wanting more. The story centers around a ancient bell. I won't say more, because that would ruin it. The second story brings the Black Terror into play. They meet new threat and journey to South America for a battle Royale in the jungle. Great stuff that I read in two days because I didn't want to put it down. Highly recommended reading.

I recently read Barry Reese's Lazarus Gray: Die Glock, the second in a series of New Pulp Adventures featuring Barry's character, the aforementioned Lazarus Gray. As with the first volume I enjoyed this one immensely. The series is set in the mid 1930's in the fictional Sovereign City. In this volume Lazarus and his team of adventurers (professionally known as Assistance Unlimited) travel outside of Sovereign City in a search for a weapon(The Die Glock) the Nazi's want for their own nefarious use, which can be used as a doorway to another place. A place where something very evil lurks and stirs, and has waited a very long time to return to the earth.
Enter Lazarus Gray and Assistance Unlimited. Members of the team travel around the globe to search out and destroy the weapon. But will they do so before whatever lurks on the other side of that wall between places Die Glock connects to steps through into the world of Earth in the 1930's? You'll have to read it to find out.
Suffice to say, ` Die Glock' Is a good, rousing adventure that does not bore and does not disappoint. Also there is a bonus second feature featuring comic hero "The Black Terror" which is just as enjoyable as the main feature. If you like two fisted stories with lots of action as well as sexy women, demons, disfigured madmen and magic wielding villains, then give `The Adventures of Lazarus Gray: Die Glock' a read. There's really nothing not to like here.

I am a fan of Reese's work, having read a number of his "Rook" collections and the previous volume of "Lazarus Gray," and generally like his style of writing, which is fairly straight forward action without a lot emotional bits bogging it down. "Die Glocke" was a little different than the previous books I'd read in that it only featured 2 stories, one of which took up most of the volume and was longer than anything else I've seen from Reese. Because of that - being used to a lot more stories in a Reese book - this "Die Glocke" felt very short to me.

The only downside for me (and the reason I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5) is because of the second, much shorter story that starred the public domain character, Black Terror. It read very rushed and almost unfinished, like it was tossed in as an after thought or filler. However, the quality and fun of the main story more than made up for it.

"Die Glocke" is a great offering for fans of neo-pulp and readers of quick action stories.