Bob Moore: Desperate Times

Bob Moore #2

by Tom Andry

Super powered humans started appearing 30 years
ago. Now, they are everywhere. Bob Moore, Private
Eye, dares to investigate those who could incinerate
him with a thought. Bob Moore: Desperate Times,
the action-packed sequel to Bob Moore: No Hero,
finds Bob working with his super-powered ex-wife
to foil a terrorist plot. But a new super, the most
powerful anyone has ever seen, arrives with
catastrophic results. Can Bob, a Private Eye with
no super powers, survive when so many supers
have perished?

Combining a traditional comic book style setting with
a noir tone, Bob Moore: Desperate Times marries
the action of superhero stories with deep and
thought-provoking supporting characters. Filled with
action, intrigue, and emotional depth, readers from
all walks of life and backgrounds will find something
with which to connect. The non-stop action and
monumentally high stakes mean that these are
desperate times for Bob as he must use all of his
skills just to survive and protect the people he cares
about most.

Genres: Fantasy

286 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 30, 2011

About the author

Tom Andry is the Associate Editor of Audioholics.com and host of the AV Rant podcast. He’s been writing mostly reviews but has lately returned to his prose roots. He has written many unpublished short stories, poems, and a few screenplays that may still be produced. He’s the father of three boys affectionately nicknamed Punkalicious, Captain Evil, and Neo. He’s happily married and currently resides in Perth, Australia. His background is in drama, creative writing, and research psychology which basically means his kids are in for a pretty rough time. His wife, Tanel, doesn’t have it so easy either. His first work for public consumption is an eBook titled Bob Moore: No Hero.

Reviews

[Kyle Timmermeyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was blown away by No Hero. This second effort doesn't quite live up to the first. Desperate Times gradually lost focus, especially toward the conclusion, with too many weak tangential subplots. I don't imagine paying for Bob Moore's next adventure without first reading a really good sample chapter. If there is a larger perspective that I am missing, and perhaps stronger subsequent books prompt me to reread, I would be glad to alter my stance, but rereading Desperate Times isn't in the cards at this point.

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

So bad. Maybe it gets better if you can sit through the first half of the book where he fails to advance the plot at all in favour of ogling and patronising the female assistant who is half his age. I'm not kidding, he literally spends most of the first half of the book doing exactly that, when he's not busy reminding us that the superhero name "Flamer" has a DOUBLE MEANING Y'ALL.

I don't know what happened here. It started out strong with the whole Raven storyline, and I thought it was going places with the Liz storyline, but he just kept getting sidetracked by barely legal boobs. Like, a LOT. As you would, when a shitload of people just died including one of your best friends, and your other best friend is in hospital. Constantly and creepily bringing up the age difference too, to really make sure it was gross and not just annoying. Felt like I'd been tricked into buying superhero / detective noir only to get stealth fed some dirty old man's letter to Penthouse. Ugh. Gave up on the whole book and bleached my eyes.

[Chad Cloman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much darker; didn’t enjoy it

The first novel in this series had its dark parts, but it was still a fun read. This one is way darker. I don’t really know how to describe it, but we get to experience the mind of an angry, hurt, paranoid, emotionally-damaged, and mind-controlled man who’s pushing away the people who care about him. That’s not the experience I wanted, and certainly not the one I had with the first novel.

The protagonist is descending into darkness and insanity. I have to wonder if he’ll turn completely evil in the next book of the series or have an epiphany and regain his sanity.

Not recommended. I give it 3/5 stars.

[Lissibith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot express how sad it makes me to only be giving this book a 3-star review.

I loved "No Hero," the previous entry in Bob Moore's series. Aside from one small issue with the writing style, I thought it was a fantastic book, the sort of thing I'm looking for every time I pick up a superhero novel and so rarely feel.

Desperate Times, while giving the author more time and space to flesh out everything (or maybe because of it), feels like it suffers from a lack of focus.

First, the good: A lot of the secondary characters are really well done. Nissa as Bob's assistant was probably the breakout for me. Her inner strength in dealing with all sorts of trouble is fantastic, her uncertainty as she comes into her powers is realistic and her hurt as Bob basically turns on her made her totally sympathetic. When Bob accidentally sabotaged her in the final fight, I was mad for her.

As before, the world of Bob Moore's books is incredible. It's detailed and looks at the idea of superheroes with a critical eye that the comics medium often seems to avoid. It feels huge and fully realized, with a variety of social changes that make perfect sense in a world where superheroes are actually real. It also lends strength to the ideas that tippys have about the problems, purposeful or not, that supers bring.

The villain had a fantastic reason for doing what he did without taking away from the horror of what he'd done, which I appreciated.

Ted continues to be interesting and quirky - not entirely there, and a little bit creepy, but well-meaning and trying to be a good friend in as much as he is able. His involvement in the final fight and his ability to finally get some of the recognition he believes he deserves.

The action is incredible, with the fight/action scenes driving forward with all sorts of momentum. they really kept me engaged as a reader.

But there was bad too.

First, Bob, for all that he's the main character, doesn't really seem to do very much in the main plot. He spends some time trying to work out what happened to Liz (who gets horribly disfigured off-page, which was disappointing). He spends some time being a dad and wishing he could save Nineteen. But his major contribution to the main plot is bringing Nineteen to the fight.

Also - he's a jerk. It feels like he's pretty universally mean to Supers, with two exceptions. But even Ted, ostensibly his friend, Bob is just mean to him. All the time. If a friend of mine treated me the way Bob treats Ted, he'd be an ex-friend. And he's not particularly nice to tippys. It doesn't even really feel like he's looking out for them. He's just pretty mean (and often not nearly as intimidating sounding as I think he's meant to). He's supposedly Liz's friend and the only real thing he does for her is completely ignore her wishes. Hunting down her attackers? It feels like that's for *him*, to let him lash out.

He is nice to Nineteen, but there, it almost goes the other way. He's so focused on her that "what the little girl is doing" started to feel like an actual theme.

So, with Bob being a jerk and not being heavily involved in what feels like the plot of the book, I was expecting the story to be about Bob growing as a person. But aside from new leg and foot, he feels no different at the end. He's still acerbic, still mourning the loss of his daughter, and I found myself closing my Nook after the last page and thinking - what was the point? He didn't save anyone. He didn't come out better. He drove off friends. I felt let down.

The problem I had with No Hero is back here, where every time a new character steps on stage or swaps clothes we're going to get a big block of description. I know some people have a greater tolerance for that than I do but I got to the point I was just skipping the descrips because they were so blocky and long.

I will readily admit that a lot of this may just be my problem - that I wanted something out of this book that it never intended to be - and that's fine. And I'll probably be picking up the next book - despite whatever I said, I still enjoyed most of the book and found it to be largely a compelling read. If you liked the first,I highly suggest giving this one a try as well.

[Hayley Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever since the first book - Bob Moore: No Hero - I enjoyed the idea of his world where Supers first started appearing in the 70s, changing the way their world and, more subtly, the technology available to tippys works. It's close enough to us to be believable but at the same time is a giant enough step away to draw you in to a fantastical world.

This book starts off with a tragic event that has everyone on high alert and rioting in the street and our favourite PI trying not to be thrust into the middle of it all, despite his ability to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. We are introduced to new characters (along with some old) that will either annoy you or have you hoping for something that could happen. It isn't until about halfway through that things become more personal and Bob takes more of an interest in stopping the Big Bad whilst finding out answers of his own.

Andry has created a 'real' PI with all his flaws, his dislike for stereotypes and his damaged past that encourages the reader to empathise with him. This second book focused even more on Bob's friendship and his broken marriage and lost child. I found myself really hoping that everything would have a 'Hollywood ending' and turn out for the better in this case, but with so many twists and turns on the way (and such an amazing revelation!) I feel that this was definitely the better way to end this book.

With a non-stop, action packed storyline I found it rather difficult to put this book down to go to work - once it picked up speed it didn't stop until the end. In Bob Moore Andry has created a character who could go on for a long time yet, and in this world he has created it almost seems to the reader that the possibilities really are endless. The characters, even the supers, are fleshed out and made real with their certain flaws (a love for drink, a superiority complex) and this makes for great reading when you have a PI who knows all the different angles to use on them. Now if only I could get the job as his next assistant!

[David(LA,CA) · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are at least two plots going on here, and they don't play well together. One of them is big and world changing as far as the status quo that was established in the previous novel is concerned. It feels like one of those big, summer, "we're changing everything you know about our universe!" events we seem to get every year from every major comic book publisher. Which fits, seeing as the novel is set in a world populated by a large number of super powered individuals. But they aren't our main character. Our main character is an ordinary private investigator that seems a little bit racist towards supers at times. So we have a different plot that's more around the level that he can deal with. But it doesn't feel like there's much there. There doesn't even seem to be a risk to investigating the normal level plot, except on the few occasions when the super plot comes crashing in (sometimes quite literally). And neither plot seems to resolve itself very well. Both seem to wrap up between the last two chapters off screen.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new and improved Bob Moore is back. Bob is a PI in a world of super heroes but he doesn't have any powers himself. When most of the world superheroes are destroyed by an insane collegue it's hard to see how Bob, a normal person with no powers can make a difference in stopping the rest being wiped out. However, Bob has brains and connections and knows how to use both. This book is a big improvement on the first short novel in this universe and I'll be looking out for more books in this series. Its one of those books that if it had a print version I'd be looking for a copy of it.

[David Teachout · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first book created a wonderful world of superpowers and a lone man who is definitely not a hero but you root for anyway. This book takes that world and the lone man and blows it all up into an incredible story, one where the supers are vulnerable the loner gets fleshed out to a degree that makes him impossible to not love. There is no way to stop reading once the story starts and the ending leaves you wanting to read it all over again. This is writing at its finest, entertaining but endearingly human, action-packed but utterly fragile. I do so hope there are more to come.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really fun, exciting read! It had just about everything I wanted in his last book, but more of it! If you like super heroes and noir-style detectives, this book will be right up your alley.

[Cade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this series! Can't wait for the next one!

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such an excellent approach to writing superheroes!

Bob Moore's character really developed in this book into a complex, sometimes conflicted man. He's definitely a good person, but he's not kind. I think it takes a lot of guts to write a character like that.

This book is well written and well paced, with great characters (with one exception...) and a great ending. I love superhero books where nobody wins.

Highly recommended for fans of the genre.