For Powers completists only. Not bad by any means, just very slight. ( )

Another Powers book set in the Inland Empire, quite close to where I’m living. The story is intriguing—our protagonist is hired by a Hollywood studio fixer to deliver a box, which he correctly figures out is a ransom. The protagonist foolishly checks its contents, and finds exactly the sort of thing you’d expect from Powers, and it turns out to be the key to a complicated and somewhat confusing resolution to the immediate problem.

Alas, the story ends before the bigger issues, such as our hero’s and the kidnap victim’s long-term survival, are resolved. It very much feels like a sketch for a full novel, and I will happily read that novel if it’s written.

As a somewhat rabid Powers fan, I enjoyed the story and the writing, but I’ve knocked off half a point for my disappointment with the unfulfilled tease it is. ( )