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Garrett Files #7-9

Garrett Investigates

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Book Club Hardcover Edition

982 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2004

24 people are currently reading
345 people want to read

About the author

Glen Cook

158 books3,717 followers
Glen Cook was born in New York City, lived in southern Indiana as a small child, then grew up in Northern California. After high school he served in the U.S. Navy and attended the University of Missouri. He worked for General Motors for 33 years, retiring some years ago. He started writing short stories in 7th grade, had several published in a high school literary magazine. He began writing with malicious intent to publish in 1968, eventually producing 51 books and a number of short fiction pieces.
He met his wife of 43 years while attending the Clarion Writer's Workshop in 1970. He has three sons (army officer, architect, orchestral musician) and numerous grandchildren, all of whom but one are female. He is best known for his Black Company series, which has appeared in 20+ languages worldwide. His other series include Dread Empire and and the Garrett, P.I. series. His latest work is Working God’s Mischief, fourth in the Instrumentalities of the Night series.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/glencook

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5 stars
216 (46%)
4 stars
189 (40%)
3 stars
49 (10%)
2 stars
10 (2%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Sarah.
Author 34 books503 followers
March 5, 2013
Garrett for Hire is an interesting mix that really worked for me on some levels. Garrett is an incredibly entertaining noir protagonist to follow, but it seems like it’s the supporting characters that really make the book pop for me. The Goddamned Parrot, while stealing the spotlight on occasion, is a hilarious addition to the series. As are Garrett’s friends and associates, who are all truly and wonderfully weird in their own ways. Garrett’s adventures are really imaginative, quick moving and amazingly fun. While Cook keep levity and entertainment his primary concern with these books, he also toys with some deeper themes as well. While the levity and entertainment might overpower the deeper themes, they are there, and they are also fairly satisfying for readers who enjoy that kind of thing. However, one thing is obvious, Garrett for Hire is a book you want to read if you want to laugh a lot, and take a break from reality and all things serious.


Read my full review here:

http://www.bookwormblues.net/2013/03/...
Profile Image for OpenBookSociety.com .
4,111 reviews136 followers
April 9, 2013
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Sammy

What a longggggg book. Had I not committed to reading and reviewing this book, it would have gone into my “did not finish” pile. Why???? I can’t stand Garrett, the main character. He is a pompous ass, I didn’t find him likeable, charming, or self aware in any way.
With full disclosure, I have not read any previous books, so there were many things and relationships that didn’t make sense.

The other issue I had with these stories was in the first book a few pages in…

”She was a decade older than my first guess. But time had stolen nothing. She was proof on the hoof that aging produces fine wines. Second-guessing, I put her over thirty-five but under forty. Me, I’m a tender, innocent thirty and don’t usually look for them quite so ripe.”

and then…

”The seasoned redhead had set up camp in the client’s chair.”

Yes, we all thought thirty-five was old when we were twelve, but he is thirty. Who is the target audience for these stories?

I could go on but there’s just some more of the same throughout all three stories. A swearing parrot, boring!

If the ratings were for characters only I would have given these books one star, however, as much as I didn’t like many of them, the mystery part of the stories were engaging and came together in interesting ways. Also, the writing is well done. That upped the stars for me.

I’m really not sure who to recommend this series for. When I saw the blurbs, I thought this was going to have the same flavor as a couple of series I love, the Dresden Files and Simon R. Green’s Nightside series. Both have likeable hero’s who figure out the crazy intense mysteries, without acting like an adolescent boy wanting to bang everything, like Garrett. I was really disappointed reading these and it won’t be a series I will continue to read. I guess if I have to choose a group to recommend for, perhaps a younger adult audience. (Shrugging my shoulders, I’m just not sure.)

http://openbooksociety.com/article/ga...
Profile Image for Keri Sparks.
Author 5 books36 followers
April 14, 2021
I don't know why I love these books so much, although I suspect my infatuation with Morley has a lot to do with it. Unfortunately, by the second story in this book he turned into a bit of a pansy and my infatuation has reached its limits.
The first book was as good as all the previous. Petty Pewter Gods lost me. It wasn't terrible but it really felt unhinged (?). The whole plot felt like a loose end. The third story (I have the hardest times remembering the titles) was right back to the good stuff. Even Morley came back a bit from being a pansy. Sadly though, he lost his touch with me and I just can't see him in the same light as before. My long time crush has met its end. Four star rating, was going to be three but then I decided that I really enjoy fantasy crime thrillers too much to rate it so low. Lol
Profile Image for Lori.
698 reviews13 followers
October 1, 2011
I adore these books, though some are better than others, of course.
This anthology contains novels #7 through #9 in the Garrett, P.I. series.

Novel # 7 was my first introduction to the world of Garrett, P.I. This novel sucked me in and has remained one of my favorites in the series. I picked it up solely based on the cover art, and it did not disappoint.

This omnibus contains my favorite in the series (#8 Petty Pewter Gods); Garrett is up to his eyeballs in beautiful and deadly women while on the hunt for a key to open a temple.

In Novel # 9 Garrett is caught in a conspiracy of hate that pits man against everybody.
52 reviews
September 14, 2015
Once again, Glen Cook entertained me through the eyes and thoughts of Garrett. These three stories were, as all previous, were episodic that also moved the world and city of Tun Faire forward. Don't start your Garrett PI experience with these. If you've enjoyed the others I'm sure you'll enjoy these. If the others were so-so for you, you likely will find this to be blah. Overall, read this if you've read the precious Garrett novels to continue more of the same.
As well, and as an aside, I am hoping that the next three will be packaged together into one volume for me to read.
92 reviews1 follower
April 11, 2009
Books 7-9 of the Garrett stories. Alas, they suffer from a problem I find all to common in a series. The author seems to feel that each story needs to be wilder and weirder than the previous one, until it stretches my imagination to far. If I didn't like the characters so much, I might have given up on this.
Profile Image for Stewart.
115 reviews
August 17, 2014
Bit of a strange book. The characters are interesting and the plot is engaging ... you want to keep reading. However, the writing is a bit choppy and the actual story itself evolves in a tangled and unclear way. I can see where some people would either really like or really dislike this book. I'm somewhere in the middle.
Profile Image for Andre.
1,267 reviews11 followers
March 21, 2013
More Garrett adventures from Glen Cook. I like it, that the noir and fantasy blend was good but that, while it did have a good story and writing, the noirs tropes become overdone when applied constantly for 3 novels read in a row. A nice, fun noir getaway in a fantasy world with the Cook writing.
Profile Image for Carmen.
180 reviews3 followers
June 9, 2013
Deadly Quicksilver Lies was ok, nothing special. Petty Pewter Gods was a bit dull. Faded Steel Heat was really good. I would have given it 5 stars, but because of the first two in this compilation I had to give the group 4 stars.
Profile Image for Pye Josephus Joestar.
37 reviews2 followers
May 15, 2019
By far the best omibus so far, all the stories are in here are the best of the series in my opinion.
Profile Image for Brandon.
533 reviews3 followers
April 21, 2021
I didn't think the stories in this book were as good as the earlier ones, but I still enjoyed them.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

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