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I was terribly disappointed when I heard that Pierce Brosnan wasn't going to be making any more Bond movies. I'm very fond of the Brosnan Bond - and the Dalton Bond, to a slightly lesser degree. The others you can keep, but those two, and especially Brosnan, I'd cheerfully watch more of. But I wonder now if perhaps the time wasn't right. The times are changing, and Bond is looking increasingly out of date - along with all the others of his kind. There are different people fighting the bad guys now.
It started with Captain Jack. Swaggering his way on screen, as heroic and swashbuckling as any of the screen idols who came before him - but as happy to sleep with the guys as with as the girls. Something new for the 21st century, that leaves all those overly-macho, clichéd types far behind. Jack Harkness is just as tough and just as capable and just as heroic as all the others, but he's played by an openly gay man, and he'll flirt with anything that's capable of flirting back. It's from this same pattern that Lucifer Box is cut, and he brings the same fresh approach to books that Jack has brought to the screen. Lucifer is no Jack Harkness - he's a bit of a git on the quiet, for one thing. Actually, not all that quiet, come to think of it. He's a hired assassin, more or less, with none of Jack's scruples. He carries on that freshness, though; that long overdue openness that allows him to flirt with and bed as many men as women. And after all those years of resolutely heterosexual leading men, it makes a wonderful, wonderful change.
The first Lucifer Box book, The Vesuvius Club, has been out a while now, though I came pretty late to the party. Consequently I didn't have nearly so long to wait for book two. Probably won't get so lucky this time, though. Mark Gatiss is an annoyingly busy type, so book three is probably a ways off yet - though he did say in a recent interview that he plans to write lots more when he retires. At any rate, The Devil In Amber was worth a year's wait. More than worth it, actually.
It's a fabulous read. Fun and entertaining, and full of great set pieces - and I challenge any Doctor Who fan to get through the last few chapters without thinking about "The Dæmons". There's shades of Indiana Jones, too, all wrapped up in the general sense of naughtiness that seems to follow Lucifer Box around like a shadow. There's seriousness mixed in with all the fun; most notably a visit to a war memorial, and a nod to old friends; but for the most part this is grand escapism. At the end of it I'm left with only the one real criticism; and oddly enough given everything that I've said above, it concerns Lucifer's love life.
He's a great flirt, is Lucifer. He'll pretty much sleep with anybody who'll have him, male or female; which is, of course, what makes him different. Problem is, his girlfriends don't seem nearly as well written as his boyfriends. In The Vesuvius Club there were several encounters, but the stand-out is young Charlie Jackpot, a properly three-dimensional character that you can't help caring for. In The Devil In Amber the main love interest is Aggie, a young woman whose life Lucifer saves. The problem is, there's just nothing to Aggie. She's rather wet and hapless, dragged along by events, and never really doing anything about them. Compare her to Rex, the young bellhop who catches Lucifer's fancy in the early chapters of the book, and she just doesn't match up. Rex is interesting, though he doesn't get to do a great deal. Even in the few short chapters that he has, he makes his mark. In all the rest of the book, Aggie just smiles at lot, and... well, that's pretty much it, really. She just smiles a lot. If Lucifer is going to be really, truly believable as a bisexual rogue, he needs some women who match up to the men.
Still, at the end of the day the love encounters aren't really as important as the gun battles, and the chases, and the double-crossing, and the international naughtiness that keep Lucifer busy from chapter to chapter. In this book he's battling an evil would-be magician who really is straight out of an Indiana Jones movie. He's even a fascist, though not actually a Nazi. Cue madcap dashing from an atmospherically chilly New York to a snow-swept Europe, lots of shooting, lots of jokes and lots of derring-do. Hurrah! The Beeb is in talks to film The Vesuvius Club, and The Devil In Amber as well if it all works out. Can't come quickly enough. I only hope they can find the right man for the role. A few years ago Rupert Graves would have been the blindingly obvious choice, but he might be a bit old now. Not sure. Rufus Sewell would also be good... For now, though, we'll just have to wait and see.
Lovely retro-style cover. :)
It started with Captain Jack. Swaggering his way on screen, as heroic and swashbuckling as any of the screen idols who came before him - but as happy to sleep with the guys as with as the girls. Something new for the 21st century, that leaves all those overly-macho, clichéd types far behind. Jack Harkness is just as tough and just as capable and just as heroic as all the others, but he's played by an openly gay man, and he'll flirt with anything that's capable of flirting back. It's from this same pattern that Lucifer Box is cut, and he brings the same fresh approach to books that Jack has brought to the screen. Lucifer is no Jack Harkness - he's a bit of a git on the quiet, for one thing. Actually, not all that quiet, come to think of it. He's a hired assassin, more or less, with none of Jack's scruples. He carries on that freshness, though; that long overdue openness that allows him to flirt with and bed as many men as women. And after all those years of resolutely heterosexual leading men, it makes a wonderful, wonderful change.
The first Lucifer Box book, The Vesuvius Club, has been out a while now, though I came pretty late to the party. Consequently I didn't have nearly so long to wait for book two. Probably won't get so lucky this time, though. Mark Gatiss is an annoyingly busy type, so book three is probably a ways off yet - though he did say in a recent interview that he plans to write lots more when he retires. At any rate, The Devil In Amber was worth a year's wait. More than worth it, actually.
It's a fabulous read. Fun and entertaining, and full of great set pieces - and I challenge any Doctor Who fan to get through the last few chapters without thinking about "The Dæmons". There's shades of Indiana Jones, too, all wrapped up in the general sense of naughtiness that seems to follow Lucifer Box around like a shadow. There's seriousness mixed in with all the fun; most notably a visit to a war memorial, and a nod to old friends; but for the most part this is grand escapism. At the end of it I'm left with only the one real criticism; and oddly enough given everything that I've said above, it concerns Lucifer's love life.
He's a great flirt, is Lucifer. He'll pretty much sleep with anybody who'll have him, male or female; which is, of course, what makes him different. Problem is, his girlfriends don't seem nearly as well written as his boyfriends. In The Vesuvius Club there were several encounters, but the stand-out is young Charlie Jackpot, a properly three-dimensional character that you can't help caring for. In The Devil In Amber the main love interest is Aggie, a young woman whose life Lucifer saves. The problem is, there's just nothing to Aggie. She's rather wet and hapless, dragged along by events, and never really doing anything about them. Compare her to Rex, the young bellhop who catches Lucifer's fancy in the early chapters of the book, and she just doesn't match up. Rex is interesting, though he doesn't get to do a great deal. Even in the few short chapters that he has, he makes his mark. In all the rest of the book, Aggie just smiles at lot, and... well, that's pretty much it, really. She just smiles a lot. If Lucifer is going to be really, truly believable as a bisexual rogue, he needs some women who match up to the men.
Still, at the end of the day the love encounters aren't really as important as the gun battles, and the chases, and the double-crossing, and the international naughtiness that keep Lucifer busy from chapter to chapter. In this book he's battling an evil would-be magician who really is straight out of an Indiana Jones movie. He's even a fascist, though not actually a Nazi. Cue madcap dashing from an atmospherically chilly New York to a snow-swept Europe, lots of shooting, lots of jokes and lots of derring-do. Hurrah! The Beeb is in talks to film The Vesuvius Club, and The Devil In Amber as well if it all works out. Can't come quickly enough. I only hope they can find the right man for the role. A few years ago Rupert Graves would have been the blindingly obvious choice, but he might be a bit old now. Not sure. Rufus Sewell would also be good... For now, though, we'll just have to wait and see.
Lovely retro-style cover. :)
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