Trying to recreate
the feel of old pulp adventures, especially introducing a series character, can
go one of two ways:1. The writer tries too hard to be clever and infuses the
character and series with nods and winks.2. The writer actually hits the marks
of the genre and never oversteps the bounds of the books it’s trying to be
like.
Teel James Glenn’s THE FIRST SYNN: THE BLOODSTONE CONFIDENTIAL, the first entry in the Gideon Synn series, thankfully falls into category two. This feels like it could have easily been on the newsstands next to some of those old Street & Smith series.
Gideon Synn feels like an old pulp archetype, a mixture of Doc Savage and The Spider. That’s not to say the character is aping those two — just that the pulp heroes of that time are definitely an influence.
The story focuses on Synn and his team as they are called upon by Charity Bloodstone. It seems the women in her family have been cursed, in that at the age of 25, they die, usually killed by a The author really has a feel for the old-school pulps, while also giving us a nice little mystery.
Not to spoil the story, since it’s a rather short and extremely quick read, but Glenn throws a little surprise at the readers at a great point so it doesn’t come out so cut-and-dry, so to speak, while also providing great character development of Synn and his team.
THE BLOODSTONE CONFIDENTIAL is a nice entry into this ebook series. Hopefully, Glenn can come up with enough clever plots and enemies to throw at Synn for numerous further adventures. —Bruce Grossman
Teel James Glenn’s THE FIRST SYNN: THE BLOODSTONE CONFIDENTIAL, the first entry in the Gideon Synn series, thankfully falls into category two. This feels like it could have easily been on the newsstands next to some of those old Street & Smith series.
Gideon Synn feels like an old pulp archetype, a mixture of Doc Savage and The Spider. That’s not to say the character is aping those two — just that the pulp heroes of that time are definitely an influence.
The story focuses on Synn and his team as they are called upon by Charity Bloodstone. It seems the women in her family have been cursed, in that at the age of 25, they die, usually killed by a The author really has a feel for the old-school pulps, while also giving us a nice little mystery.
Not to spoil the story, since it’s a rather short and extremely quick read, but Glenn throws a little surprise at the readers at a great point so it doesn’t come out so cut-and-dry, so to speak, while also providing great character development of Synn and his team.
THE BLOODSTONE CONFIDENTIAL is a nice entry into this ebook series. Hopefully, Glenn can come up with enough clever plots and enemies to throw at Synn for numerous further adventures. —Bruce Grossman