Previously, Michael Marshall was a sci-fi/horror writer, who has taken a brave step of switching genres with 'The Straw Men' Trilogy (of which Blood of Angels is the third) which is a straight out and out thriller.
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!
