Hell and Gone

Charlie “"Unkillable Chuck" Hardie is back, after barely surviving the epic shootout with the devious Accident People in Fun & Games. If you thought that was a sinister rollercoaster ride, just tighten your grip on the crash-bar, because you are about to take a wicked plunge, tumbling along with Charlie down the rabbit hole.
I’m not sure anyone is writing crime novels, with such crazed and inventive audacity, as
Swiercynski. These books are smart, funny and mind-blowing. I can’t wait to see what he has in store for the final book in the trilogy. I’m leaving my flak jacket on, just in case.

This book was still a lot of fun in an over-the-top, rollercoaster type of way: Charlie Hardie is a great character; the action is fast; Swierczynski still manages to avoid completely grossing the reader out with the violence (though there is still quite a bit of it). However, I liked it slightly less than the first book in this trilogy.

Part of the problem was simple Middle Book Syndrome. While the basic subplot is started and finished in this volume, there's neither the excitement of building the story that you find in a first book, nor the resolution of the overall story you find in a final book.

Another part is that this episode had a different feel to it. Whereas Fun & Games was all action-packed thriller, this had a slightly creepy show more sense to it—sort of Patrick McGoohan's The Prisoner with serial killers.

It's a very quick read and has that flavor of Swierczynski's comic book background that I find appealing. It's not a book to use as your introduction to his writing; it won't make a whole lot of sense without reading Fun and Games. show less

Finally on to new ground with the Charlie Hardie trilogy. This one wasn’t as slam-bang awesome as the first book, but it had some great characters, cool twists, and a bizarre setting in an underground prison where it isn’t clear who is an inmate and who is a guard. As these books continued, they just got weirder and weirder…

Good grief! This book may not be quite as engrossing as its predecessor Fun & Games, but it is just as over the top and about ten times stranger, which is saying a lot. The only question is how Swiercynski is going to succeed in having it all make some sort of sense at the end of the final volume of the trilogy. There are some plot holes here and occurrences that don't make a lot of sense other than as a way for something to happen later, but Swiercynski's writing style is absolutely riveting. The book is also notable for its close approaches to being just a little too violent or vulgar for enjoyment, but the author always steers away just in time. Highly highly recommended, despite the flaws. I can't think of another writer who can show more take you on a ride quite like this one. show less

While technically a sequel, this is quite different in setting and action, almost like the author is just exploring another format with some of the same characters as the first novel. He pulls it off and it is a fun ride. But definitely a departure from the first book.

Charlie Hardie once worked with the Philadelphia police, cleaning up the town. But the bad guys killed his partner and his partner's family, and Charlie wound up house sitting and living a dead existence. Until he met an unexpected squatter at his latest job, kicking off a chain of events that nearly kills him while bringing him to the attention of a hidden organization that runs everything.

Ok, so here's the deal. What I just wrote happened in the first book, Fun and Games. In reality, this isn't a trilogy. It's a single book in three volumes, the last of which isn't quite out yet. Hell and Gone continues Charlie's story, and continues the devolution into weirdness.

Because, yeah, this is one *weird* story, and not in the Lovecraft show more sense. What starts as a fairly run of the mill suspense/thriller becomes in short order pretty strange, but strangely fascinating, I enjoyed it and am seriously interested to see where the story goes next! show less

Hell & Gone is somewhere between a comic book story and a traditional thriller. Based on the two books I have read, Swierczynski produces original ideas and plots that are entertaining to read. Biographical material on the book cover indicates Swierczynski is also a writer for Marvel Comics. It shows in this book.
The other Swierczynski novel I read was Expiration Date, a science fiction/time travel puzzler. In Hell & Gone he produces a plot that again borders on science fiction. Secret underground prisons with uncertain roles between guards and prisoners maintain suspense as Charlie Hardie tries to understand whether he is a prisoner or a guard and attempts to escape.
This is the second book in a Charlie Hardie trilogy. Without reading show more the first book, it is hard to understand just how Hardie got himself into the situation presented in Hell & Gone. And the ending of this book is merely a teaser for the the third novel in the trilogy. Based on the tease, it will probably be more fantastic than its predecessor.
Fun reads - recommended for those who can suspend belief even more than is required for mainline thrillers. show less