The Spy Who Haunted Me

I love Simon R Green's books and the Secret Histories series is normally quite good...but this is the worst book in the series. Don't get me wrong I like the story and the action (although it gets really over the top in some places) but this book has a lot of mistakes in it.

And I know some people are thinking that I'm just talking about "well the character were a red shirt in that particular scene but it's really supposed to be blue" type thing. But I'm not. I'm talking rather big mistakes like getting the gender of a character wrong. Granted Ethel is an alien from another world, but Ethel has always been identified with a male pronoun...until here where Green constantly refers to Ethel as she. Or how about referring to Subway Sue as show more partnering up with another Drood agent...when Subway Sue was most definitively killed in the last book (and really the family would partner an agent with an outsider?) Or how the Merlin Glass was acquired??

At times this feels like it was a short story that they went "oh lets make it into a longer book!" And if that's what happened it shows. This is a book that Green should have reread a few times before it got published to correct the mistakes. show less

In this third installment in Simon R. Green's Secret Histories series, we find Eddie Drood back out in the field as Shaman Bond, no longer heading his family, but no closer to finding the traitor either. There is a brief escapade as Eddie as Shaman has to protect the Tower of London, but this seems more to point out that Eddie is no longer the head of the Droods and he likes it that way. He is then invited to play a high-stakes game with several of the best secret agents in the business for the prize of winning all the secrets that the dying Independent Agent knows. The carrot for Eddie and the Drood clan is the supposed knowledge of the traitor in their midst. And so insues a madcap mystery-hopping tour through all the weird and deadly show more things that Simon Green is known for. For the first time we get to interact with Walker from the "Nightside" series as an individual, which I think may have been some of the best parts of the book. However the over-the-top nature of every new mystery gets to be a little repetitive after awhile (there can only be so many strange, uncertain, inhuman ways to be inhuman it seems). But all in all, a very good read and a nice break from the Drood infighting of the last book. So if you want some more Shaman Bond and his antics, then this novel is right up your alley. All I have to say is "I'm not weird,... I'm differently normal". show less

A bizarre, eclectic, past-faced romp as Eddie Drood is invited to compete in a competition with other agents that will lead to the revelation of long sought-after secrets.

This is the first Eddie Drood novel that I’ve read, but I’ve enjoyed Green’s Nightside series, which takes place in the same universe (and some of the characters cross over. Hi Walker!). Green continues to have a wicked imagination, and although sometimes he overdoes it with the “I’m [insert person or group here]. I’m awesome. Let me tell you over and over again how awesome I am”, his books are like brightly flavoured candy crack. In what other book do you go from fighting fairies to fighting aliens to searching for the Loch Ness monster?

I always enjoy Simon Green books. This one was great because it not only had Eddie Drood, but another of my favorite of his characters, Walker from the Nightside. This book was none stop adventure, and we go along for the ride, and get to solve some of histories greatest mysteries.

Does anyone else think that Eddie is like the superpowered Marty Stu version of Severin von Kusiemski? No? That's just me? Ok then.

Eddie is sent on a scavenger hunt around the world in order to receive the secrets of a legendary, dying spy. Winner take all; there can be only one. His competitors include the spy's grandson, Walker from the Nightside (love him!), the Blue Fairy, and Honey, a dangerous damsel occasionally in distress (depends on the scene, she mostly seemed to be the token girl). Molly only makes a couple of cameo appearances in this book, more's the pity.

The plotting was actually pretty straightforward for a Green story and, except for a few eye-rolling moments *cough*Tunguska Event*cough* and some inconsistencies toward show more the end, it was engagingly rollicking. I do wish Eddie wasn't quite such a Marty Stu-like prat in some of those little scavenger hunt vignettes, but oh well.

Also, was there a sale on semicolons when this was written? Or maybe there was a comma shortage? show less

I haven't read other books in this series, but I think that was ok. Some things didn't make sense in the mythology and references to earlier battles/magic/people, etc., but because I have read a lot of the Nightside series, I was able to pick up this one without a problem. Walker is in it! An interesting Nightside character that I don't think gets enough page-time. Nice to see him out of his element, but still very much in charge of himself and unflappable. The Droods (the actual family this series centers around) were intriguing. I'm going back to the beginning of the series to get the back-story I was missing here.

Why only three stars? The plot was a bit weak. I think the reactions when various characters were killed off didn't make a show more lot of sense. And the "twist" wasn't terribly twisty (for me).

But it was still fun! show less

Thus, fans return to the world of Eddie Drood aka Shaman Bond, secret agent extraordinaire, Drood family rebel, and field agent sworn to protect humanity -but most importantly, constant cheesy James Bond reference that never gets old. The Spy Who Haunted me is third book in author Simon R. Green's series about Eddie, and what was originally meant to be the final book of the series before it was later expanded before a trilogy.

In Spy Who Haunted Me, Eddie is faced with another wild road of unexpected twists and turns that takes me into the darkest parts of London. Though he had no intention of attracting attention, Eddie has captured the eye of Alexander King, who is looking to pass his power on to someone else who proves themselves show more worthy by winning a contest to solve the world's greatest mysteries -including the illusive Loch Ness monster.

For me, Spy had its ups and downs. While Green weaves another great tale with plenty of mysterious twists and unexpected situations, it just wasn't as compelling as the previous Secret Histories novels. Despite this, there were plenty of fun little Easter eggs for long time Green fans -Eddie takes a trip to the Nightside, and visits some old places and old friends that the Green-faithful have come to love. It's always fun to take a little walk on the Nightside.

While Spy was just a little off the mark, it was still an enjoyable read that had me flipping pages up until the very end and I will certainly be coming back for more. show less