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Review
‘Marshall is a cracker at writing tense, rich scenes’ Observer
‘The writing is assured and the plot carefully calibrated’ Guardian
‘Just when you think there’s nothing new under the sun in the world of the suspense novel, along comes one hell of a nasty spider called The Straw Men. It’s brilliantly written and scary as hell. Be the first on your block to stay up all night with this one; it’s a masterpiece, reminding us that even paranoids really do have enemies.’ STEPHEN KING
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.Guardian
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Customer Reviews
Personally, I think the criticism levelled by other reviewers is misguided. The characters and plot have been carefully developed and for me at least the various threads are sufficiently resolved even if they're not as tidy as some might like, and it's done without blocking off the possibility of more 'Straw Men' novels.
Don't read this book unless you've read the other two as there's a lot of backstory that will make this one a more enjoyable read, and although MM tries to fill in the essential details you're going to lose a lot if you start here.
Whilst Michael's writing is as good as ever, I can't help but feel that he struggled writing this third book; whilst the plot builds up nicely with interesting twists at the end of each chapter the ending simply falls flat and is horribly open-ended without providing much in the way of resolution. In my mind it's a 'answers provided in the next novel' type story and that's where the problem lies.
Writing as Michael Marshall Smith his stories (the fantastic Spares, the sublime One of Us and a brilliant short story collection) are wonderfully inventive and written with style and verve. With book three of The Straw Men Trilogy everything feels diluted and washed out, as though Michael wasn't sure what to do with it. The characters are nowhere near as strong as previous novels and have, in my mind, struggled to develop over the three books.
Despite that it is a good read, and as an English author I feel we should be supporting our guys.
Look forward to the next one, which I've heard will be a horror. Can't wait!
This book is everything the Lonely Dead should have been. The multiple stories that ultimately collide are brilliantly written and keep the reader engaged throughout. The secret of this book's success is that you care about what is happening. Whilst I enjoyed the Lonely Dead, the second story within it did not captivate me, hence I lost interest and focused upon the main thread - that of the trio's search for The Upright Man. Blood of Angels makes you want the best for the newly-introduced characters - although you always have a feeling that they will ultimately end up victims within the tangled web that surround the society known as the Straw Men.
Perhaps this is the attraction of Marshall's books. He is not afraid to introduce you to a character, develop their personality, pshyche etc then kill them off. A criticism often levelled at other writers is their characters become stale, predicatable even. Marshall has yet to be accused of this.
My only criticism of the book is its reliance upon previous knowledge of the other two books - The Straw Men and The Lonely Dead. Whilst it is not a bad thing to have read them, not everyone purchases books in the order they were written.
Once I start reading one of his books, I can't seem to stop reading, and then it's all over before I... Read more
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