Review: Cruel Zinc Melodies

Cruel Zinc Melodies continues Glen Cook’s often wonderful Garrett, P.I. series, a heady mash-up of old-school hard-boiled private investigator fiction and swords-and-sorcery magic.

Unfortunately, Cook phoned this one in. The plot is all over the place with way too many subplots that never gel, and the laconic “P.I. voice” comes dangerously close to a parody of the genre rather than a homage.

Only for the hard-core fan of the series.