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The Reign of the Kingfisher
Thirty years ago a superhero tried to save Chicago. Now the city is again under siege, in this gritty, suspenseful, and beautifully written novel from award-winning debut author T.J. Martinson.
Somewhere in Chicago, a roomful of people have been taken hostage. The hostages will be killed one by one, the masked gunman says on-screen, unless the police will admit that they faked the death of the legendary black superhero called the Kingfisher and helped him to give up his defense of the city thirty years ago.
Retired reporter Marcus Waters made his name as a journalist covering the enigmatic superhero’s five years of cleaning up Chicago’s streets. Then the Kingfisher died, Chicago resumed its violent turmoil, and Marcus slid back into obscurity.
But did the Kingfisher really die? And who would take hostages connected to the Kingfisher's past attempts to clean up the streets? With the help of disgraced police officer Lucinda Tillman and a young hacktivist named Wren, Marcus will explore the city's violence, corruption, and chaos to figure out if the vigilante hero died tragically, or gave up hope and abandoned the city—and for the hostages, the clock is ticking.
Somewhere in Chicago, a roomful of people have been taken hostage. The hostages will be killed one by one, the masked gunman says on-screen, unless the police will admit that they faked the death of the legendary black superhero called the Kingfisher and helped him to give up his defense of the city thirty years ago.
Retired reporter Marcus Waters made his name as a journalist covering the enigmatic superhero’s five years of cleaning up Chicago’s streets. Then the Kingfisher died, Chicago resumed its violent turmoil, and Marcus slid back into obscurity.
But did the Kingfisher really die? And who would take hostages connected to the Kingfisher's past attempts to clean up the streets? With the help of disgraced police officer Lucinda Tillman and a young hacktivist named Wren, Marcus will explore the city's violence, corruption, and chaos to figure out if the vigilante hero died tragically, or gave up hope and abandoned the city—and for the hostages, the clock is ticking.
342 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2019
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1994 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
October 6, 2019
”He’s either alive or he isn’t. And if he’s dead, then God rest his soul. But if he is alive, well, God forgive him. Because I’m not sure what the hell he’s waiting for.”
For five years, the city of Chicago was protected by a vigilante, a man of superhuman strength who interceded to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. He was dubbed Kingfisher by the reporter Marcus Waters, who is now, thirty years later, retired and about to be drawn back into the Kingfisher story by a growing need to know the truth.
”He believed he could dispassionately report on a man who once looked over these streets and protected them. A man who ignored due process and whose conception of justice began and ended with his knuckles. A man who bullets could not bring down, a man who heard the thousands of discordant cries rising up from the city he must have loved dearly. A man who put away some of the city’s most dangerous aberrations. A man who killed, a man who saved. A man who cooperated with the law to subvert the law.”
The thing was, the Kingfisher was not warm and fuzzy in a Captain America kind of way. The criminals he apprehended, that he usually left conveniently trussed for the police, were battered and bloody. Sometimes the damage inflicted on these criminals showed the signs of an increasingly more psychotic mind. “But the body before him now was not a dead body as he had known them. It was a tangle of vaguely human elements arranged into an unholy creation. Legs, arms, head, neck. Twisted and broken and reassembled. If God created humankind, He Himself would not have recognized this as His own.”
The Kingfisher became the dark and twisted Batman.
And then he died.
Or did he?
A kidnapper apprehends several people who were saved by the Kingfisher and demands the city release the Kingfisher autopsy report. If he doesn’t get what he wants he will start executing them one by one. What was the Chinese proverb? “If you save a person’s life, you are forever responsible for that life.”
If the Kingfisher lived, could he possibly resist saving the lives he saved once before?
Meanwhile, Waters had to begin treading over old ground in the hopes he could find new clues that would lead him to the truth about what really happened thirty years ago. Did he miss something or someone?
From about 1976-1980, I read every comic book I could get my hands on. I was undersized for my age, bookish, weird, and wearing big plastic framed glasses too big for my face, which any one of these attributes would have caught the attention of a crowd of bullies, but possessing all of these unattractive traits made me the object of daily torment. I, in desperation, made this switchblade out of popsicle sticks and rubber bands, and though it made me feel better having this cool but hardly lethal sharpened stick in my pocket, I never pulled it out, even as I was being pummelled behind the lilac bushes or shoved up against the wall for a bit of slap and giggles. Just so we’re clear, I was being slapped around while they giggled. I didn’t want to be saved by Batman; I wanted to be Batman. I wanted to hear the sounds of justice.
KAPOW! WHAM! BLAP! SPLAT!
This all made me wonder, as I read this book, what were the real motivations of Kingfisher? If I had grown up to become a caped crusader, I would have gleefully battered those who picked on those weaker than themselves. I would have, with malicious enjoyment, thrown a white collared prick through his office wall or dangled an abusive principal upside down from her office window.
Every time I put the BAM on another creep, I would actually be socking ______________ or maybe _____________. It wasn’t the pain I would be getting even with them for. It was the helplessness they made me feel.
White Knights in gleaming armor on high stepping white horses are rarely the ones who come forward to help the downtrodden. It is usually someone who has felt the sting of oppression. A soul made dark by the ravages of indignity. A near or full blown psychotic who just happens to be on our side.
When Flatiron Books approached me about reading this book, I was not really sold on the idea until I saw the blurb by Emily St. John Mandel. (I’m a big fan of her work, especially Station Eleven.) She said one thing in particular that really caught my eye: ”This is a book for people who like reading really, really, good books.” She also said, for those of you who were deprived of comic books in your youth, that you don’t have to have been a reader of comics to enjoy this book, and I agree with that. There are many human elements at play in this novel that gave me cause to ponder the emotional toll that would come with being a superhero. The flash and glamour are really only a small part of what it would be like to be a deity. A God among men. A likely fragile psyche twisted by a daily dose of the worst of humanity. How long will giving pain to those who deserve it sustain him/her? How long will saving the lives of others be enough?
“You can give a man all the strength in the world, but you can’t strip from him his human weakness.”
I want to thank Flatiron Books for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
For five years, the city of Chicago was protected by a vigilante, a man of superhuman strength who interceded to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves. He was dubbed Kingfisher by the reporter Marcus Waters, who is now, thirty years later, retired and about to be drawn back into the Kingfisher story by a growing need to know the truth.
”He believed he could dispassionately report on a man who once looked over these streets and protected them. A man who ignored due process and whose conception of justice began and ended with his knuckles. A man who bullets could not bring down, a man who heard the thousands of discordant cries rising up from the city he must have loved dearly. A man who put away some of the city’s most dangerous aberrations. A man who killed, a man who saved. A man who cooperated with the law to subvert the law.”
The thing was, the Kingfisher was not warm and fuzzy in a Captain America kind of way. The criminals he apprehended, that he usually left conveniently trussed for the police, were battered and bloody. Sometimes the damage inflicted on these criminals showed the signs of an increasingly more psychotic mind. “But the body before him now was not a dead body as he had known them. It was a tangle of vaguely human elements arranged into an unholy creation. Legs, arms, head, neck. Twisted and broken and reassembled. If God created humankind, He Himself would not have recognized this as His own.”
The Kingfisher became the dark and twisted Batman.
And then he died.
Or did he?
A kidnapper apprehends several people who were saved by the Kingfisher and demands the city release the Kingfisher autopsy report. If he doesn’t get what he wants he will start executing them one by one. What was the Chinese proverb? “If you save a person’s life, you are forever responsible for that life.”
If the Kingfisher lived, could he possibly resist saving the lives he saved once before?
Meanwhile, Waters had to begin treading over old ground in the hopes he could find new clues that would lead him to the truth about what really happened thirty years ago. Did he miss something or someone?
From about 1976-1980, I read every comic book I could get my hands on. I was undersized for my age, bookish, weird, and wearing big plastic framed glasses too big for my face, which any one of these attributes would have caught the attention of a crowd of bullies, but possessing all of these unattractive traits made me the object of daily torment. I, in desperation, made this switchblade out of popsicle sticks and rubber bands, and though it made me feel better having this cool but hardly lethal sharpened stick in my pocket, I never pulled it out, even as I was being pummelled behind the lilac bushes or shoved up against the wall for a bit of slap and giggles. Just so we’re clear, I was being slapped around while they giggled. I didn’t want to be saved by Batman; I wanted to be Batman. I wanted to hear the sounds of justice.
KAPOW! WHAM! BLAP! SPLAT!
This all made me wonder, as I read this book, what were the real motivations of Kingfisher? If I had grown up to become a caped crusader, I would have gleefully battered those who picked on those weaker than themselves. I would have, with malicious enjoyment, thrown a white collared prick through his office wall or dangled an abusive principal upside down from her office window.
Every time I put the BAM on another creep, I would actually be socking ______________ or maybe _____________. It wasn’t the pain I would be getting even with them for. It was the helplessness they made me feel.
White Knights in gleaming armor on high stepping white horses are rarely the ones who come forward to help the downtrodden. It is usually someone who has felt the sting of oppression. A soul made dark by the ravages of indignity. A near or full blown psychotic who just happens to be on our side.
When Flatiron Books approached me about reading this book, I was not really sold on the idea until I saw the blurb by Emily St. John Mandel. (I’m a big fan of her work, especially Station Eleven.) She said one thing in particular that really caught my eye: ”This is a book for people who like reading really, really, good books.” She also said, for those of you who were deprived of comic books in your youth, that you don’t have to have been a reader of comics to enjoy this book, and I agree with that. There are many human elements at play in this novel that gave me cause to ponder the emotional toll that would come with being a superhero. The flash and glamour are really only a small part of what it would be like to be a deity. A God among men. A likely fragile psyche twisted by a daily dose of the worst of humanity. How long will giving pain to those who deserve it sustain him/her? How long will saving the lives of others be enough?
“You can give a man all the strength in the world, but you can’t strip from him his human weakness.”
I want to thank Flatiron Books for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
November 20, 2018
I won this via Goodreads Giveaways in exchange for an honest review. All my opinions are my own.
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A great book, but not what I expected it to be in a few ways.
What was I expecting? A tale of a SuperHero ala Avengers? Not really though I can't say that's a part of the reason it caught my eye. When I read the description, I was even more intrigued.
Sometimes you get a 'feeling' about a book that just draws you to it, even if you aren't completely sure why.
Its hard me for to find the words to describe this, not just because I don't want to spoil it but this is still swirling through my brain.
A character study, a sort of history... with people who are complicated and things aren't always black and white. Makes you think about what makes a Hero, and how sometimes they can be seen as villains. And how maybe they can be a bit of both.
The whole novel has an atmospheric feel to it, with the city itself feeling like a character itself and not just a place (which I always love). The air of mystery surrounding the Kingfisher is Something and I almost didn't want to know the whole story, if that makes sense.
The answers we get explain some things and not others, but not everything can be answered.. and even if so, it may not be enough for everyone.
I would highly recommend this book, this is definitely one that I think should be on everyone's shelves and libraries.
A breath of fresh air for this reader :0)
---
A great book, but not what I expected it to be in a few ways.
What was I expecting? A tale of a SuperHero ala Avengers? Not really though I can't say that's a part of the reason it caught my eye. When I read the description, I was even more intrigued.
Sometimes you get a 'feeling' about a book that just draws you to it, even if you aren't completely sure why.
Its hard me for to find the words to describe this, not just because I don't want to spoil it but this is still swirling through my brain.
A character study, a sort of history... with people who are complicated and things aren't always black and white. Makes you think about what makes a Hero, and how sometimes they can be seen as villains. And how maybe they can be a bit of both.
The whole novel has an atmospheric feel to it, with the city itself feeling like a character itself and not just a place (which I always love). The air of mystery surrounding the Kingfisher is Something and I almost didn't want to know the whole story, if that makes sense.
The answers we get explain some things and not others, but not everything can be answered.. and even if so, it may not be enough for everyone.
I would highly recommend this book, this is definitely one that I think should be on everyone's shelves and libraries.
A breath of fresh air for this reader :0)
August 29, 2019
*This is my dark horse, out of left field candidate for book of the year*
I was cruising Goodreads for something that seemed a little different and ran across a review for this by someone named Bandit and what they wrote convinced me to buy it and give it a try. Greatest decision of my life. This is a book about a superhero but it is not a book about superheroes. If you have watched the show The Boys then you know where this one is coming from in terms of tone and maturity level but The Reign of the Kingfisher is in essence really a story about lies and friendships and what people will do to protect the ones they love, even if (ESPECIALLY IF) that love is tainted by delusion. These themes are presented on a city-wide scale and a personal scale and not one of the characters is immune from making very hard, the-lesser-of-two-evils, decisions, knowing there are no outcomes where everyone wins.
This book oozes style as well. His comparisons and phrasing and descriptions were fresh and unique and I felt like they drew me further and further into the story, like an invisible chain dragging me closer and closer to what was happening. Mr. Martinson's writing style is so cinematic I almost forgot I was reading words on a page as the action unfolded movie-like in my head. Sincerely though, as soon as I picked up the book I was in this version of Chicago. I could hear the protests a few streets over, feel the wind blowing through the alleyways and skyscrapers, and smell the exhaust and emissions from the cars driving by.
The plotting is nothing short of genius. The chapters and timelines are somewhat cut up and rearranged and the delivery is Pulp Fiction-esque in its jumping around but that totally led to the overall enjoyment of the story because we are only given little bits of what is really going on with what are really three plot arcs happening simultaneously. This book is exactly what I was looking for without knowing I was looking for it and will probably end up being my favorite book of the year, and I have read some amazing books this year.
I was cruising Goodreads for something that seemed a little different and ran across a review for this by someone named Bandit and what they wrote convinced me to buy it and give it a try. Greatest decision of my life. This is a book about a superhero but it is not a book about superheroes. If you have watched the show The Boys then you know where this one is coming from in terms of tone and maturity level but The Reign of the Kingfisher is in essence really a story about lies and friendships and what people will do to protect the ones they love, even if (ESPECIALLY IF) that love is tainted by delusion. These themes are presented on a city-wide scale and a personal scale and not one of the characters is immune from making very hard, the-lesser-of-two-evils, decisions, knowing there are no outcomes where everyone wins.
This book oozes style as well. His comparisons and phrasing and descriptions were fresh and unique and I felt like they drew me further and further into the story, like an invisible chain dragging me closer and closer to what was happening. Mr. Martinson's writing style is so cinematic I almost forgot I was reading words on a page as the action unfolded movie-like in my head. Sincerely though, as soon as I picked up the book I was in this version of Chicago. I could hear the protests a few streets over, feel the wind blowing through the alleyways and skyscrapers, and smell the exhaust and emissions from the cars driving by.
The plotting is nothing short of genius. The chapters and timelines are somewhat cut up and rearranged and the delivery is Pulp Fiction-esque in its jumping around but that totally led to the overall enjoyment of the story because we are only given little bits of what is really going on with what are really three plot arcs happening simultaneously. This book is exactly what I was looking for without knowing I was looking for it and will probably end up being my favorite book of the year, and I have read some amazing books this year.
March 6, 2019
It’s always nice to start off a month of reading with something decent and I love superhero stories, but this book managed to exceed all of my expectations. In fact, it might have set a new bar. Superheroes are a thing nowadays, kind of a like a fad and I do have an entire theory worked out about how the genre popularity correlates with the increasingly helpless experience life is becoming due to societal decline, etc., but alas there are now too many of these movies and tv shows. And most of them follow the stereotypical comic book superhero formula (or get away from it in weird and unwelcome ways, yeah, I’m talking about you, DC universe, way to f*ck up Superman) and that never really interested me. It’s too black and white, too easy. Good for an occasional mindless sort of fun at best. But then every so often a superhero story gets done right. Moral complexity and all that. Most recently on screen The Umbrella Academy has done it. Absolutely terrific tv show, Netflix has really outdone itself there, do yourself a favor and check it out. And on the literary side of things this book is a perfect equivalent, a superhero story done right. But that’s actually reductive or insufficient, because there was so much more here. It’s a story of a city (Chicago) that once found itself in a care of a vigilante, whose work lead to lowered crime rate, but wasn’t received with uniform praise and welcome. In fact, the Chicago’s underworld considered him to be a major problem and the low rent criminals he occasionally took out utilizing (arguably) too much brutality thought of him as someone reinforcing racial barriers. But then he died. The city has settled into its ways and learned to take care of itself. And now, 40 years later, someone is demanding to know the truth about his death and will broadcast killing until the city (and the city’s police chief) comes clean about the fate of Kingfisher. So this isn’t just a superhero story, this is a serious dramatic work and a murder mystery. And every aspect is done perfectly. The mystery…the culprit isn’t revealed until 90% and it’s a complete surprise. I read tons of mysteries (just pure, straight up suspense mystery thriller) and they seldom get it this right. And the drama…well, let’s just say this author can write. This book drew me in with the very first sentence. It’s like someone telling you a story in a most cinematic way and yet it has all the advantages of literature i.e. layers. This books is mesmerizing, it unfolds like…ok, I can’t think of a thing that unfolds perfectly to compete the metaphor, so let’s just say it unfolds like a perfect multicourse meal until the most delicious of deserts. It’s just such a satisfying read, the characters are so striking and realistic and interesting. And although Kingfisher himself remains a mystery, it actually works really well, because his anonymity leaves it so that anyone can pick up the gauntlet or assume the mantle, because heroic acts should not presuppose a mask and tights and darkness and superpowers come in all different varieties and can be put to good use in a variety of ways. So the book ends like that, with a pretty optimistic message, like a proper superhero story ought to. It’s a book that’s quite dark in tone, but uplifts in its finale. Absolutely awesome, pleasure to read, loved this one. For a debut, this is most auspicious. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.
March 7, 2019
(2.5) Ugh, it's always really disappointing when this happens: a book seems wildly promising at the beginning, is engaging for a while, then nosedives so hard that by the end you wish you'd never bothered. Sadly, that was my experience with The Reign of the Kingfisher, a thriller set in an alternate version of Chicago. In the book, a 'superhero' (i.e. freakishly strong vigilante) known as the Kingfisher protected the city during the 1980s, only to be found dead at the height of his popularity. 30 years later, rumours of a cover-up and suggestions that he's still alive persist. These are brought to the fore when a masked man threatens to kill a series of hostages unless the police admit to faking the Kingfisher's death. We follow three separate characters – a retired journalist, a disgraced police officer and a young hacker – as they seek the truth.
Starting off as an intriguing dissection of the superhero narrative, the novel ultimately turns out to be a standard conspiracy thriller in a slightly fancier costume. I was most interested in the origins of the Kingfisher – who and/or what is he? What is the secret of his superhuman strength, and why is it that nobody can ever seem to see his face clearly, even when standing right in front of him? But The Reign of the Kingfisher doesn't really seek to answer those questions, and when it does explore the vigilante's motivations, it does so through the lens of an implausible romance I struggled to summon the slightest spark of interest in.
This is proper, muscular genre fiction, reminiscent of a number of high-concept thrillers I've read over the years, particularly The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes and The Dark Net by Benjamin Percy. It's energetic and unsubtle, fast-moving and action-packed – mostly good things; I just wasn't the right reader.
I received an advance review copy of The Reign of the Kingfisher from the publisher through NetGalley.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
Starting off as an intriguing dissection of the superhero narrative, the novel ultimately turns out to be a standard conspiracy thriller in a slightly fancier costume. I was most interested in the origins of the Kingfisher – who and/or what is he? What is the secret of his superhuman strength, and why is it that nobody can ever seem to see his face clearly, even when standing right in front of him? But The Reign of the Kingfisher doesn't really seek to answer those questions, and when it does explore the vigilante's motivations, it does so through the lens of an implausible romance I struggled to summon the slightest spark of interest in.
This is proper, muscular genre fiction, reminiscent of a number of high-concept thrillers I've read over the years, particularly The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes and The Dark Net by Benjamin Percy. It's energetic and unsubtle, fast-moving and action-packed – mostly good things; I just wasn't the right reader.
I received an advance review copy of The Reign of the Kingfisher from the publisher through NetGalley.
TinyLetter | Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr
October 30, 2019
I was looking for something a little different from my usual fare and came across a positive blurb from Emily St. John Mandel about TJ Martinson's debut novel. I am a fan of Mandel's but don't particularly care for superhero stories. I gave it a try anyway and came away impressed.
Martinson's novel is billed as a superhero story, but it is atypical in that the story circles around the titular figure rather than focuses on him directly. Martinson is more interested in the 'vigilante or hero' question rather than the exploits of a superhuman character. 'The Reign of the Kingfisher' takes a look at what really constitutes a hero.
Martinson builds a strong cast of characters and does a nice job of tying the different threads of the novel together. The writing is clear and crisp. I'm glad I veered out of my lane and checked this one out. A very good novel.
Martinson's novel is billed as a superhero story, but it is atypical in that the story circles around the titular figure rather than focuses on him directly. Martinson is more interested in the 'vigilante or hero' question rather than the exploits of a superhuman character. 'The Reign of the Kingfisher' takes a look at what really constitutes a hero.
Martinson builds a strong cast of characters and does a nice job of tying the different threads of the novel together. The writing is clear and crisp. I'm glad I veered out of my lane and checked this one out. A very good novel.
Read
May 2, 2019I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this book.
June 10, 2019
I have many thoughts so I’ll bullet point!
•loves the way Chicago was its own character
•great reflection on our current political climate without being obvious or down your throat about it
•I love a good story about a vigilante and all the ethical musings that goes with it
•good characters with good back stories without it being exhaustive
•PLOT TWIST
•love me some spunky cops who flirt with crossing the line in the name of doing the right thing
•a lot of remembering there are two sides to every coin
•it just felt rugged and real
All in all, read it.
•loves the way Chicago was its own character
•great reflection on our current political climate without being obvious or down your throat about it
•I love a good story about a vigilante and all the ethical musings that goes with it
•good characters with good back stories without it being exhaustive
•PLOT TWIST
•love me some spunky cops who flirt with crossing the line in the name of doing the right thing
•a lot of remembering there are two sides to every coin
•it just felt rugged and real
All in all, read it.
September 12, 2019
A compelling tale that switches seamlessly from past to present and weaves together characters masterfully. Mysterious and foreboding, you will not want to put this book down.
October 2, 2020
Uh... I'm "finished," as it were, 60 pages in. Picked this up almost solely on a rec by Emily St. John Mandel at The Millions ("Year in Reading" 2018) and as soon as I'm done with this review, I'm sending her a bill. This book was a vomit-spewing volcano of cliche after cliche after cliche, doused occasionally with fly-by dumps of banal and inane in-service-to-forward-the-plot-nobody-spoke-out-loud-to-anybody-in-real-life-EVER dialogue spoken by cardboard cutout characters with names pulled from a name-generator database: "Weary Police Detective: Jeremiah," "Brilliant Young Plucky Heroine: Wren," &c.
This book is a train wreck
This book is a train wreck
November 1, 2019
2.5 stars
Recommended for fans of Sugar Run and Gods of Howl Mountain.
This is a quirky, weird, and gritty story that somehow never captured my complete attention. Yes, there is a superhero (an actual bullets-don't-hurt-me superhero), but this is not a “superhero story.” This is about friendship, love, loyalty (and divided loyalties), betrayals, and good intentions gone far wrong. The story was interesting, but I prefer books that are much less bloated than this one. The pace was too slow. There were a lot of characters and I got them confused too often because their voices were not distinct. And it just took too long to get moving.
I can appreciate that Martinson is trying to do a literary thing here, but this style of lit fic that meanders and obfuscates is not my jam. I’m hopeful that as he becomes more confident, he tightens up his writing. I liked the gritty feel, I liked the crappy characters leading crappy lives, i liked the 80s flashbacks, I liked the Batman-esque hero-who-didn’t-want-to-be-a-hero-any-more, but I didn’t like how bloated this story was. Keep the grit, cut off the fat.
The chapters switch between present day and back in the 80s, which took me a while to figure out because my attention kept wandering, so I guess I missed the chapter heading that gave the date. The audiobook reader was decent, but not a good fit for this book, because he just had no idea how to do a Chicago accent. I’m not a native Chicagoan myself, so I don’t know the nuances either, but this guy sounded like he was trying for a Texas accent.
The jumps back to the past slow the pace down to positively glacial. I’m not sure why he wrote it like this. We’ve got hostages, and a guy posting live video of him killing and/or threatening the hostages, plus multiple groups (police, journalists, and hackers) trying to save the hostages, and it’s just ... blah. How can it be blah??!
There’s an incredible amount of detail, too. We get deep thin slices of each person’s life, which slows the pace down even more, but also adds nothing to the plot. When Marcus visits his old cop buddy, the scene is drawn in detail - the nurses, the old lap blanket, the cigarette burns on the furniture, the oxygen tank - and sure, it paints a vivid picture, but it also doesn’t matter. The cop buddy is not a main part of the plot. And there are details withheld - for example, for the first half of the book, Tillman is suspended from the Chicago Police force, but we don’t know why. When we finally find out why - - it changes nothing. So why confuse the reader by withholding the info?
Similarly, in the opening scene, we do not know who the boy is. We finally find out at some point in the second half that . There was no need to conceal that information. Learning it was not an “aha!” moment. It changed nothing. All it did was distract me.
And there’s a weird line in the beginning when Marcus muses about the day he came up with the “Kingfisher” moniker for our anti-hero.
This sentiment is repeated towards the end of the book, too. There ARE kingfishers in Asia, but there are also kingfishers in Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Americas. Kingfishers are not rare birds in far away places (and the American birds are not brightly-colored, either - the overall impression I get is “blue-gray” - nothing like the bright blue of a blue jay). I’ve stood next to a pond in a NJ county park (Rahway Park, to be exact), maybe 20 feet away from a busy urban street, and watched a kingfisher fish. Martinson is obviously not a bird watcher. I guess he did a quick Google check and found this line in Wikipedia: “most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania ,” and looked no further. He should have kept googling, because kingfishers, while not exactly as common as pigeons, are not rare or remote.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/B...
I kept going with this book because I wanted to see where Martinson was going, and how in the world he was going to tie up this rambling narrative with a satisfying ending. And the answer is: he doesn’t have any particular destination in mind. The ending was decidedly NOT satisfying. I was okay with not knowing the Kingfisher’s origin story, but I wanted to know:
"He was what he was.”
“Which was what?”
“Not us.”
Recommended for fans of Sugar Run and Gods of Howl Mountain.
This is a quirky, weird, and gritty story that somehow never captured my complete attention. Yes, there is a superhero (an actual bullets-don't-hurt-me superhero), but this is not a “superhero story.” This is about friendship, love, loyalty (and divided loyalties), betrayals, and good intentions gone far wrong. The story was interesting, but I prefer books that are much less bloated than this one. The pace was too slow. There were a lot of characters and I got them confused too often because their voices were not distinct. And it just took too long to get moving.
I can appreciate that Martinson is trying to do a literary thing here, but this style of lit fic that meanders and obfuscates is not my jam. I’m hopeful that as he becomes more confident, he tightens up his writing. I liked the gritty feel, I liked the crappy characters leading crappy lives, i liked the 80s flashbacks, I liked the Batman-esque hero-who-didn’t-want-to-be-a-hero-any-more, but I didn’t like how bloated this story was. Keep the grit, cut off the fat.
The chapters switch between present day and back in the 80s, which took me a while to figure out because my attention kept wandering, so I guess I missed the chapter heading that gave the date. The audiobook reader was decent, but not a good fit for this book, because he just had no idea how to do a Chicago accent. I’m not a native Chicagoan myself, so I don’t know the nuances either, but this guy sounded like he was trying for a Texas accent.
The jumps back to the past slow the pace down to positively glacial. I’m not sure why he wrote it like this. We’ve got hostages, and a guy posting live video of him killing and/or threatening the hostages, plus multiple groups (police, journalists, and hackers) trying to save the hostages, and it’s just ... blah. How can it be blah??!
There’s an incredible amount of detail, too. We get deep thin slices of each person’s life, which slows the pace down even more, but also adds nothing to the plot. When Marcus visits his old cop buddy, the scene is drawn in detail - the nurses, the old lap blanket, the cigarette burns on the furniture, the oxygen tank - and sure, it paints a vivid picture, but it also doesn’t matter. The cop buddy is not a main part of the plot. And there are details withheld - for example, for the first half of the book, Tillman is suspended from the Chicago Police force, but we don’t know why. When we finally find out why - - it changes nothing. So why confuse the reader by withholding the info?
Similarly, in the opening scene, we do not know who the boy is. We finally find out at some point in the second half that . There was no need to conceal that information. Learning it was not an “aha!” moment. It changed nothing. All it did was distract me.
And there’s a weird line in the beginning when Marcus muses about the day he came up with the “Kingfisher” moniker for our anti-hero.
... kingfishers, birds native to Southeast Asia. ... It was brightly colored, small, fragile in appearance. But it’s beauty was deceptive. The kingfisher was quick, reclusive, fiercely territorial, and a dangerously efficient hunter.
This sentiment is repeated towards the end of the book, too. There ARE kingfishers in Asia, but there are also kingfishers in Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Americas. Kingfishers are not rare birds in far away places (and the American birds are not brightly-colored, either - the overall impression I get is “blue-gray” - nothing like the bright blue of a blue jay). I’ve stood next to a pond in a NJ county park (Rahway Park, to be exact), maybe 20 feet away from a busy urban street, and watched a kingfisher fish. Martinson is obviously not a bird watcher. I guess he did a quick Google check and found this line in Wikipedia: “most species found in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Oceania ,” and looked no further. He should have kept googling, because kingfishers, while not exactly as common as pigeons, are not rare or remote.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/B...
I kept going with this book because I wanted to see where Martinson was going, and how in the world he was going to tie up this rambling narrative with a satisfying ending. And the answer is: he doesn’t have any particular destination in mind. The ending was decidedly NOT satisfying. I was okay with not knowing the Kingfisher’s origin story, but I wanted to know:
November 24, 2018
GOODREADS FIRST READS REVIEW
The legacy of Chicago’s very own, mostly forgotten, superhero suddenly becomes center stage when a gunman demands the police come clean on the hero’s supposed death or innocent people will die. T.J. Martinson’s debut novel, The Reign of the Kingfisher, follows several characters attempting to stop the gunman in their separate ways before coming together and using the information they collected to help stop the gunman.
Early in the morning of a soon-to-be hot Chicago summer day, a retired journalist is awakened by a call from Chicago Chief of Police and sees a video of a gunman claiming that the CPD helped the Kingfisher fake his death and demand they come clean before killing a hostage and threatening several more with the same fate. Recognizing the victim as someone he interviewed for his book about the superhero, the journalist gets concerned about others which gets the attention of a CPD detective who has a suspended CPD officer look into the journalist’s list. Meanwhile a hacktivist is angry that the gunman is claiming to be a part of her group and to stop him hacks the CPD database to get a medical exam of the Kingfisher case to prove he might be alive only for the gunman to kill another hostage. After several up and downs, the four characters come together and are able bring their talents and discovers together to bring resolution to the situation.
This mystery with a fantasy twist begins with an intriguing premise and some interesting flashbacks, halfway through the book I came up with three possible ways it could play out or in various combinations which made me look forward to see how things would end. However, while I correctly picked the villain and partially got the ending scenario right that doesn’t mean I was satisfied with the book. While the three main and two (or three) secondary characters all came out of central casting, that didn’t make them bad as they started off interesting and developed well. However they either stopped developing to become stale or began doing and saying things that was completely out of the blue from where they had been heading (or both), which undercut the quality of the storytelling. In addition some of the minor subplots, in particular the Police Chief’s, were detrimental to the overall book once it was over.
The Reign of the Kingfisher has a great premise, but unfortunately it doesn’t really achieve its potential. While T.J. Martinson might just be beginning a long career, his debut novel is a mixture of good and bad that in the end makes the reader think about how good a book it could have been.
The legacy of Chicago’s very own, mostly forgotten, superhero suddenly becomes center stage when a gunman demands the police come clean on the hero’s supposed death or innocent people will die. T.J. Martinson’s debut novel, The Reign of the Kingfisher, follows several characters attempting to stop the gunman in their separate ways before coming together and using the information they collected to help stop the gunman.
Early in the morning of a soon-to-be hot Chicago summer day, a retired journalist is awakened by a call from Chicago Chief of Police and sees a video of a gunman claiming that the CPD helped the Kingfisher fake his death and demand they come clean before killing a hostage and threatening several more with the same fate. Recognizing the victim as someone he interviewed for his book about the superhero, the journalist gets concerned about others which gets the attention of a CPD detective who has a suspended CPD officer look into the journalist’s list. Meanwhile a hacktivist is angry that the gunman is claiming to be a part of her group and to stop him hacks the CPD database to get a medical exam of the Kingfisher case to prove he might be alive only for the gunman to kill another hostage. After several up and downs, the four characters come together and are able bring their talents and discovers together to bring resolution to the situation.
This mystery with a fantasy twist begins with an intriguing premise and some interesting flashbacks, halfway through the book I came up with three possible ways it could play out or in various combinations which made me look forward to see how things would end. However, while I correctly picked the villain and partially got the ending scenario right that doesn’t mean I was satisfied with the book. While the three main and two (or three) secondary characters all came out of central casting, that didn’t make them bad as they started off interesting and developed well. However they either stopped developing to become stale or began doing and saying things that was completely out of the blue from where they had been heading (or both), which undercut the quality of the storytelling. In addition some of the minor subplots, in particular the Police Chief’s, were detrimental to the overall book once it was over.
The Reign of the Kingfisher has a great premise, but unfortunately it doesn’t really achieve its potential. While T.J. Martinson might just be beginning a long career, his debut novel is a mixture of good and bad that in the end makes the reader think about how good a book it could have been.
January 5, 2019
You think you're getting into a story about a superhero, but suddenly find this is about so much more. Corruption, secrets, and so much more unravel in this novel about people trying to do what they consider right and good. Even the bad guys are given their chance to be revealed as just people trying to get by and make a living.
Language and sexual content keep this as an adult read.
* I received a free copy of this book from Goodreads giveaways *
Language and sexual content keep this as an adult read.
* I received a free copy of this book from Goodreads giveaways *
January 30, 2019
Really surprised how much this book kept me glued to the pages. A mysterious vigilante helped fight criminals for the sake of the citizens of Chicago. His death was a blow to the community and some thirty years later, a crazed individual can’t let go of the past and demands answers by killing hostages who had ties with the enigmatic crime fighter. This books is like a detective suspense thriller.
Thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
Thanks to the publisher for the advance copy.
July 5, 2019
The first appearance of Batman was in Detective Comics in the Spring of 1939, making 2019 the character’s 80th anniversary. Batman is a sharp contrast to most “superheroes” in that he possesses no “super” powers. His prowess, whether physical or intellectual, comes from rigorous training and study. He patrols the fictional metropolis of Gotham City, an urban center so rife with criminal proceedings that law enforcement simply cannot stem the tide of illegal activities. While Batman has the tacit endorsement of the local police force, through his unauthorized partnership with Police Commissioner James Gordon, he is, ultimately, a vigilante working outside of the legitimate legal system to combat crime.
Now imagine Batman’s circumstances in a real city like Chicago in the 1980s. Imagine a dark figure is ferreting out criminals and dispensing his own brand of vigilante justice. When discovered, the criminals are regularly found battered and near death or dead. Some Chicago citizens see him as a crime fighting avenger. Others see him as a menace, a renegade taking the law into his own hands and dispensing lethal, or near lethal, retribution acting solely as judge, jury and executioner. He MAY be working with an ambitious police officer, one who is rising through the ranks of the department faster than would normally seem possible. An enterprising journalist begins to document the actions of the vigilante and report on his exploits. He gives him a name: the Kingfisher.
Suddenly, he is gone. The Chicago Police Department claims that he died. The city of Chicago holds a funeral that is attended by thousands. Crime explodes and runs rampant through the streets without the fear of the Kingfisher to impede it.
Thirty years later, a terrorist wearing a mask posts a video anonymously on the web. He claims that the CPD faked the death of the Kingfisher and demands that they release proof that the Kingfisher is still alive. Unless they do that, the hostages that he has taken will die, one by one.
In The Reign of the Kingfisher, debut author T.J. Martinson takes the basic elements of Batman’s mythos and spins from them a markedly more realistic and darker crime thriller. While it is nearly impossible not to see the parallels between the characters in Martinson’s tale and those of the Batman, it is those parallels that make this story so compelling. The stakes raised in the premise are high. Very early in the story, it becomes clear that the terrorist is more than willing to kill his hostages. And the longer it takes to answer the questions regarding the fate of the Kingfisher, the more people will die. This sounds very much like the set-up for a Batman story. Readers who have seen Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight will remember a somewhat similar circumstance with equally dire consequences but a much more idealized resolution. Despite marked efforts by writers and artists in recent years to make comics grimmer and more realistic, it may be that graphic novels, simply by being a partnership of text and graphic representations, may always be at least a step away from the reality that can be conveyed in text. Martinson’s removal of the most overt of the comic trappings ratchets up the tension and makes the story that much more immediate, compelling and believable. There are no clear cut answers to any of the questions posed and nothing is so simply defined as being black or white, right or wrong. Everything and everyone in this story falls somewhere on a spectrum of grey and, by the end of the story, readers may feel the need to adjust where they initially placed the characters on that spectrum. Interestingly, in a book that clearly takes its genesis from comic book literature, there are NO comic book heroes in this story. There are, however, heroes that are far more believable, with real foibles and a tremendous amount to lose, which makes them all the more admirable as the story progresses.
The Reign of the Kingfisher is a tremendous debut novel.
Reviewed by Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch Library
Now imagine Batman’s circumstances in a real city like Chicago in the 1980s. Imagine a dark figure is ferreting out criminals and dispensing his own brand of vigilante justice. When discovered, the criminals are regularly found battered and near death or dead. Some Chicago citizens see him as a crime fighting avenger. Others see him as a menace, a renegade taking the law into his own hands and dispensing lethal, or near lethal, retribution acting solely as judge, jury and executioner. He MAY be working with an ambitious police officer, one who is rising through the ranks of the department faster than would normally seem possible. An enterprising journalist begins to document the actions of the vigilante and report on his exploits. He gives him a name: the Kingfisher.
Suddenly, he is gone. The Chicago Police Department claims that he died. The city of Chicago holds a funeral that is attended by thousands. Crime explodes and runs rampant through the streets without the fear of the Kingfisher to impede it.
Thirty years later, a terrorist wearing a mask posts a video anonymously on the web. He claims that the CPD faked the death of the Kingfisher and demands that they release proof that the Kingfisher is still alive. Unless they do that, the hostages that he has taken will die, one by one.
In The Reign of the Kingfisher, debut author T.J. Martinson takes the basic elements of Batman’s mythos and spins from them a markedly more realistic and darker crime thriller. While it is nearly impossible not to see the parallels between the characters in Martinson’s tale and those of the Batman, it is those parallels that make this story so compelling. The stakes raised in the premise are high. Very early in the story, it becomes clear that the terrorist is more than willing to kill his hostages. And the longer it takes to answer the questions regarding the fate of the Kingfisher, the more people will die. This sounds very much like the set-up for a Batman story. Readers who have seen Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight will remember a somewhat similar circumstance with equally dire consequences but a much more idealized resolution. Despite marked efforts by writers and artists in recent years to make comics grimmer and more realistic, it may be that graphic novels, simply by being a partnership of text and graphic representations, may always be at least a step away from the reality that can be conveyed in text. Martinson’s removal of the most overt of the comic trappings ratchets up the tension and makes the story that much more immediate, compelling and believable. There are no clear cut answers to any of the questions posed and nothing is so simply defined as being black or white, right or wrong. Everything and everyone in this story falls somewhere on a spectrum of grey and, by the end of the story, readers may feel the need to adjust where they initially placed the characters on that spectrum. Interestingly, in a book that clearly takes its genesis from comic book literature, there are NO comic book heroes in this story. There are, however, heroes that are far more believable, with real foibles and a tremendous amount to lose, which makes them all the more admirable as the story progresses.
The Reign of the Kingfisher is a tremendous debut novel.
Reviewed by Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch Library
August 9, 2019
A gripping, unique read (crime novel/social commentary by way of superhero story) that feels somehow both epic and really relatable and true. A beautiful, nuanced portrait of the way that people try to do good things in the world and fail and succeed at the same time, and that heroic gestures are most worthwhile when borne out of humanity, not from a superhero. Not ashamed to say that I got a little emotional at the end. Beautiful book.
April 3, 2019
https://www.themaineedge.com/buzz/the...
Superheroes have been ingrained in popular culture for nearly a century. Decades of extraordinary powers and extraordinary tales. Comic books led the way, of course, but superheroes have become key components in just about every entertainment medium, dominating televisions and especially movie screen over the past 15 years or so.
These characters and narratives benefit from being represented in a visually-oriented medium; brightly-colored costumes and superhuman feats of derring-do lend themselves well to the pages of a comic book, the animated cels of a cartoon or the CGI-powered exploits of a movie.
Meanwhile, the superhero hasn’t made the same sort of cultural inroads into the literary realm, though that too has begun to shift in recent years.
The latest effort in that direction comes from the pen of debut novelist T.J. Martinson. “The Reign of the Kingfisher” is a literary crime thriller, one shaded by the lengthy shadow cast by the titular Kingfisher, a largely-forgotten vigilante whose death, some three decades in the past, becomes central to a horrific murder spree in the present day.
An exploration of the dark side of superheroism, evocative of the work of comics legends like Frank Miller, the book digs deep into the ethical and moral quandaries that permeate the notion of vigilantism – costumed or otherwise – and offers a look at the consequences therein, some obvious, others less so.
For a stretch in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the streets of Chicago had a protector, a man who emerged from the shadows and punished criminals with brutal efficiency. Drug dealers and pimps and violent offenders were beaten to within an inch of their lives (and occasionally beyond) before being left bloodied and broken on the city’s sidewalks to be discovered by the authorities.
Dubbed the Kingfisher in a series of articles written by the journalist Marcus Waters, this vigilante loomed large over the Windy City, a polarizing figure either beloved or feared by those on both sides of the law. When he died in 1984, half the city turned out for his funeral.
But in many ways, the question has always lingered: did the Kingfisher actually die? And there are some willing to do whatever it takes to find out once and for all.
Hostages have been taken somewhere in Chicago. A masked perpetrator, clad in the trappings of a known hacktivist group, is releasing videos in which he demands that the powers that be own up to the truth: that the Kingfisher is still alive and that the Chicago PD faked his death. And he is willing to execute every single one of those he has taken.
It’s up to Peters, long since retired from the journalism game, to track down the truth before it’s too late. He has to plunge back into the depths of corruption and violence that swamp the city; he has a few people to help him – a disgraced soon-to-be-former police officer and a gifted young hacker first among them – but there’s no way to know if it will be enough.
The deeper he digs, the more Marcus realizes that there’s much more to the life and death of the Kingfisher than even he, the vigilante’s foremost chronicler, ever would have imagined.
And interspersed throughout, we get glimpses into the past where we can see the Kingfisher in action at the height of his powers, a man who is more than a man, yet somehow also less. He is both powerful and fragile, his violent impulses and desire for justice in constant conflict. The Kingfisher seeks to do good, but his baser instincts sometimes prevail; his superhuman exterior masks his perhaps-too-human failings.
“The Reign of the Kingfisher” will delight fans of comic books and other superheroic pop culture for sure. However, even those with no affinity for the feats of comic book heroes will find plenty to enjoy here. The truth is that Martinson has crafted a top-shelf crime thriller, one with rich characterizations, vivid settings and a twisty-turny plot. Yes, there’s a superhero here, but the book isn’t ABOUT a superhero – not really.
This is a book about the emotional fallout that comes with operating in moral gray areas. It’s about the ethical ramifications of vigilantism, about whether the ends can justify the means when it comes to crime and punishment. It’s about exploring the notion of what it really means to take the law into one’s own hands, whether that be through literal physical involvement, through the power of the pen or from the business end of a computer keyboard. What it means … and what it costs.
Too often, superheroes and their ilk are rendered with broad strokes – at best, they lack dimension; at worst, they’re slapdash caricatures. And while the Kingfisher is in many ways a bit of a cipher, that’s by design; Martinson’s true focus is on those people surrounding the hero, rather than the hero himself. It allows the basic unknowns of the Kingfisher – the whos and whys and hows – to remain just that, while still delving deep into the mystery at hand. All of this is helped along by the neopulp style and whetstone-honed tone of Martinson’s prose.
As a lover of all things superhero, “The Reign of the Kingfisher” was always going to be in my wheelhouse; the truly impressive part is that I’d have loved this book even if I wasn’t.
Superheroes have been ingrained in popular culture for nearly a century. Decades of extraordinary powers and extraordinary tales. Comic books led the way, of course, but superheroes have become key components in just about every entertainment medium, dominating televisions and especially movie screen over the past 15 years or so.
These characters and narratives benefit from being represented in a visually-oriented medium; brightly-colored costumes and superhuman feats of derring-do lend themselves well to the pages of a comic book, the animated cels of a cartoon or the CGI-powered exploits of a movie.
Meanwhile, the superhero hasn’t made the same sort of cultural inroads into the literary realm, though that too has begun to shift in recent years.
The latest effort in that direction comes from the pen of debut novelist T.J. Martinson. “The Reign of the Kingfisher” is a literary crime thriller, one shaded by the lengthy shadow cast by the titular Kingfisher, a largely-forgotten vigilante whose death, some three decades in the past, becomes central to a horrific murder spree in the present day.
An exploration of the dark side of superheroism, evocative of the work of comics legends like Frank Miller, the book digs deep into the ethical and moral quandaries that permeate the notion of vigilantism – costumed or otherwise – and offers a look at the consequences therein, some obvious, others less so.
For a stretch in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the streets of Chicago had a protector, a man who emerged from the shadows and punished criminals with brutal efficiency. Drug dealers and pimps and violent offenders were beaten to within an inch of their lives (and occasionally beyond) before being left bloodied and broken on the city’s sidewalks to be discovered by the authorities.
Dubbed the Kingfisher in a series of articles written by the journalist Marcus Waters, this vigilante loomed large over the Windy City, a polarizing figure either beloved or feared by those on both sides of the law. When he died in 1984, half the city turned out for his funeral.
But in many ways, the question has always lingered: did the Kingfisher actually die? And there are some willing to do whatever it takes to find out once and for all.
Hostages have been taken somewhere in Chicago. A masked perpetrator, clad in the trappings of a known hacktivist group, is releasing videos in which he demands that the powers that be own up to the truth: that the Kingfisher is still alive and that the Chicago PD faked his death. And he is willing to execute every single one of those he has taken.
It’s up to Peters, long since retired from the journalism game, to track down the truth before it’s too late. He has to plunge back into the depths of corruption and violence that swamp the city; he has a few people to help him – a disgraced soon-to-be-former police officer and a gifted young hacker first among them – but there’s no way to know if it will be enough.
The deeper he digs, the more Marcus realizes that there’s much more to the life and death of the Kingfisher than even he, the vigilante’s foremost chronicler, ever would have imagined.
And interspersed throughout, we get glimpses into the past where we can see the Kingfisher in action at the height of his powers, a man who is more than a man, yet somehow also less. He is both powerful and fragile, his violent impulses and desire for justice in constant conflict. The Kingfisher seeks to do good, but his baser instincts sometimes prevail; his superhuman exterior masks his perhaps-too-human failings.
“The Reign of the Kingfisher” will delight fans of comic books and other superheroic pop culture for sure. However, even those with no affinity for the feats of comic book heroes will find plenty to enjoy here. The truth is that Martinson has crafted a top-shelf crime thriller, one with rich characterizations, vivid settings and a twisty-turny plot. Yes, there’s a superhero here, but the book isn’t ABOUT a superhero – not really.
This is a book about the emotional fallout that comes with operating in moral gray areas. It’s about the ethical ramifications of vigilantism, about whether the ends can justify the means when it comes to crime and punishment. It’s about exploring the notion of what it really means to take the law into one’s own hands, whether that be through literal physical involvement, through the power of the pen or from the business end of a computer keyboard. What it means … and what it costs.
Too often, superheroes and their ilk are rendered with broad strokes – at best, they lack dimension; at worst, they’re slapdash caricatures. And while the Kingfisher is in many ways a bit of a cipher, that’s by design; Martinson’s true focus is on those people surrounding the hero, rather than the hero himself. It allows the basic unknowns of the Kingfisher – the whos and whys and hows – to remain just that, while still delving deep into the mystery at hand. All of this is helped along by the neopulp style and whetstone-honed tone of Martinson’s prose.
As a lover of all things superhero, “The Reign of the Kingfisher” was always going to be in my wheelhouse; the truly impressive part is that I’d have loved this book even if I wasn’t.
November 6, 2019
Took me a while to finish this book because I was listening to it on Audible, excellent narration.
March 11, 2019
I'm not much for super hero anything, but I decided to try The Reign of the Kingfisher anyway. It's an entertaining and engaging read, but I didn't love it. I think it's just my personal preference and not really the story. It's great for the right reader. Unfortunately, it's a miss for me. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
June 25, 2019
After finishing this modern superhero story, I found I appreciated it. While listening to it, though, I found it hit and miss. The hit part was that it was an interesting concept, and the writing was cinematic. There was a lot of miss to go with that though. First, the story takes place in Chicago and burbs, where I live, and I usually enjoy that home town feel in a story. But here, it felt like it could have been any city, and that the author just randomly put references in to neighborhoods or streets that in actuality would have worked as well in St. Paul or Dallas. The localness felt phony. (At least name drop some local news anchor names, or buildings, or radio stations!) Second, the writing, though feeling like a television show, felt at times like a not-so-great superhero tv show on a minor network. The characters ended scenes with a corker of an overwrought statement, just like before you go to a commercial on a campy tv show. If it reminded me of, say, a classic comic book, I would have liked that gimmick. But here it reminded me of a bad tv show, so this was no plus for me. Thirdly, the plot just seemed to have too many holes. I find that I tend to be very forgiving on plot holes when reading something avant guard, but this tries so hard to be like a normal fiction city story that I can't suspend belief, and frankly, the plot holes are quite ridiculous. I found myself constantly wondering why people weren't thinking.Perhaps it was the water in the city that could have been Chicago.
But as I mentioned up front, on reflection I enjoyed this more than I would have thought while reading it. The concept was winning, and the take on the missing superhero was interesting. Overall, to use a horrible baseball metaphor, this was a lot like a massive Dave Kingman swing for a home run, occasionally pretty to look at, but often not connecting.
But as I mentioned up front, on reflection I enjoyed this more than I would have thought while reading it. The concept was winning, and the take on the missing superhero was interesting. Overall, to use a horrible baseball metaphor, this was a lot like a massive Dave Kingman swing for a home run, occasionally pretty to look at, but often not connecting.
December 14, 2018
I won an advanced copy of this book from a Goodreads giveaway, and I was ecstatic when it finally arrived!
The book wasn't what I was expecting, but I mean that in a great way. I normally stay away from crime mysteries (though I'm not even sure that's how to describe this book), but I have a big interest in comics, and I think there are thematic overlaps with this book and some of the best and grittiest graphic novels to date. The way T.J. writes about Chicago has a way of making you feel like you're there in a city that's breathing and pulsating, and each scene is written beautifully.
Without spoiling anything, I can say the author does a wonderful job of keeping his writing tense and interesting, and the more I read the more I was hooked and craving the resolution. The Reign of the Kingfisher examines justice, love, commitment, growing old, and the way we romanticize the past in a way that I found fascinating and really moving. It wasn't a debut novel I was expecting and I can't wait to read his second!
The book wasn't what I was expecting, but I mean that in a great way. I normally stay away from crime mysteries (though I'm not even sure that's how to describe this book), but I have a big interest in comics, and I think there are thematic overlaps with this book and some of the best and grittiest graphic novels to date. The way T.J. writes about Chicago has a way of making you feel like you're there in a city that's breathing and pulsating, and each scene is written beautifully.
Without spoiling anything, I can say the author does a wonderful job of keeping his writing tense and interesting, and the more I read the more I was hooked and craving the resolution. The Reign of the Kingfisher examines justice, love, commitment, growing old, and the way we romanticize the past in a way that I found fascinating and really moving. It wasn't a debut novel I was expecting and I can't wait to read his second!
May 23, 2019
There’s this whole genre of books that present as noir but are really about something else. This one’s a variation on the Batman question. It’s smart and witty and delightfully meta, a little flat in the plotting to start out, but picks up by the middle. Quirky characters, well written dialogue, strong sense of place, both topographic and sociological. I have to mention the writing, though. There are some amazing lines, but it often tips the balance into over the top territory— and sometimes the word choice is just, well, wrong. Maybe a tougher editor was in order.
June 25, 2019
The Kingfisher, at once a complicated shadow, a vigilante to some, hero to others, has been deceased since 1984. The city held a public memorial for the crime fighter, the superhuman who could not be shot, who mangled his victims, yet was found stabbed and burned beyond recognition. Thirty-five years later in Chicago, 2019, crime rates have skyrocketed. A fictional story with non-fictional tropes for sure. But a villain with a Robespierre mask and an axe to grind is not convinced the Kingfisher is really dead and will start killing hostages until the CPD releases the contents of the medical examiner’s report. The Kingfisher is an interesting character, not entirely unique, but mysterious enough to warrant some introspection about the purpose of superhuman traits and the corresponding conscience that is associated with combatting perceived evil. There’s really no mention of the Kingfisher’s origins in the book leaving open the possibility of a series, but I was intrigued by a thought the book invoked. It is the idea that trauma drives us in many directions; for some in the name of justice and for some in the name of vengeance.
March 30, 2025
3 song playlist:
roxanne - the police
hey man, nice shot - filter
fade into you - mazzy star
am i genuinely upset at how good this book was? yes. (why, might you ask? because i know dr. martinson and we joke around. if you see this, hi tj!)
though what is not a joke, is how wonderfully written this book is. i typically am able to figure out the "who" in whodunnits quite easily, i fear i sound pretentious when i say this but it's true, and yet this one had me second guessing. a beautiful book surrounding chicago during the wake of a disruption no one could have seen coming in the wake of the death of the beloved vigilante "kingfisher."
a book that allows me to believe that women and woc CAN be written by men! what i guess some people may call "woke," but is done wonderfully having a diverse group of characters, black men and women, immigrants, and a queer woman at the forefront of the story and yet not feeling like they are there to check any kinds of boxes.
not to mention the lost art of titled chapters AND!!! the fact that the chapter's names show up in the chapter. it felt like a fun puzzle to find the chapter name in one of the sentences.
roxanne - the police
hey man, nice shot - filter
fade into you - mazzy star
am i genuinely upset at how good this book was? yes. (why, might you ask? because i know dr. martinson and we joke around. if you see this, hi tj!)
though what is not a joke, is how wonderfully written this book is. i typically am able to figure out the "who" in whodunnits quite easily, i fear i sound pretentious when i say this but it's true, and yet this one had me second guessing. a beautiful book surrounding chicago during the wake of a disruption no one could have seen coming in the wake of the death of the beloved vigilante "kingfisher."
a book that allows me to believe that women and woc CAN be written by men! what i guess some people may call "woke," but is done wonderfully having a diverse group of characters, black men and women, immigrants, and a queer woman at the forefront of the story and yet not feeling like they are there to check any kinds of boxes.
not to mention the lost art of titled chapters AND!!! the fact that the chapter's names show up in the chapter. it felt like a fun puzzle to find the chapter name in one of the sentences.
August 20, 2019
This novel came to my attention because I read it was the reason its author lost a teaching position at Olivet Nazarene University (in Bourbonnais, Illinois) for including curse words, a lesbian, a sex worker, and a character who decides to "hope instead of pray" at one point. That's all I needed to be intrigued. I was not disappointed. The Reign of the Kingfisher takes place in Chicago 30 years after the disappearance of the Kingfisher, an outsized figure in the city's mythology who was the subject of dissenting views. Some of the city's citizens viewed him as a superhero while others saw him as a vigilante. During his heyday, he violently downed criminals on a regular basis.
Martinson is adept at both plotting as well as creating memorable characters—not always the case in books that are crime thrillers. The story's tension centers around a sociopath who has taken hostages and is requesting the Chicago PD provide him with evidence that the Kingfisher, who hasn't been seen in 30 years, is actually dead. There's a race-against-the-clock tension as the kidnapper makes demands which various characters are struggling to meet. They include a retired journalist, an ousted police detective, and the aforementioned lesbian who's a hacker associated with an anarchist group. The story unfolds from these characters' points of view. Martinson addresses questions around the slippery slope between good and evil, superhero deification, and trust of institutions. I got really caught up in this work. It was well written, interesting, and an altogether fun read.
Martinson is adept at both plotting as well as creating memorable characters—not always the case in books that are crime thrillers. The story's tension centers around a sociopath who has taken hostages and is requesting the Chicago PD provide him with evidence that the Kingfisher, who hasn't been seen in 30 years, is actually dead. There's a race-against-the-clock tension as the kidnapper makes demands which various characters are struggling to meet. They include a retired journalist, an ousted police detective, and the aforementioned lesbian who's a hacker associated with an anarchist group. The story unfolds from these characters' points of view. Martinson addresses questions around the slippery slope between good and evil, superhero deification, and trust of institutions. I got really caught up in this work. It was well written, interesting, and an altogether fun read.
February 18, 2020
I thoroughly enjoyed this. It was compelling and hard to put down.
March 11, 2019
The Reign of the Kingfisher is an arresting, innovative, and deeply flawed book that positions T.J. Martinson as one of the most intriguing new authors in the canon of contemporary literature.
It cannot be overstated: this text is thrilling, and rare is the text that manages to balance such eye-gluing plot turns with substantive and sophisticated ideas. Martinson interrogates the idea of the superhero and heroism in ways that are occasionally a little too on the nose, but interesting nonetheless. Martinson positions the superheroics of the Kingfisher in contrast to the quotidian heroism of a disgraced police officer (disgraced, of course, because the rules of progressive political engagement and the generic structure of hardboiled fiction from which Kingfisher draws mean that there are no good cops) and young hacker.
Kingfisher reads like an everything and the kitchen sink novel, going so far as to include in protagonist Marcus Waters as an ode to the New Journalism stylings of Tom Wolfe, Gay Talese, and Joan Didion (although Waters would be continuing the tradition past its height in the 1970s).
The novel is, though, not without flaws, some more serious than others. Most can be attributed to this novel's debut status. Martinson introduces his three protagonists in routine and formulaic ways, making the book's early chapters somewhat repetitive. He also makes a fascinating choice describing the hacking exploits of Wren, using an impressionistic style to give the scenes more kinetic energy and excitement. I may be wrong to consider this a flaw, it is a legitimately inspired artistic choice, but I am just not sure it lands here. Beyond that, I always wonder depictions of hacking in fiction appear to individuals with the ability to engage in such activities. If Martinson has made himself an expert and depicted these scenes in a way that would be meaningful to computer wizards, I'd consider the scenes to be a success — even if they might come across a little strange to the uninitiated.
With all that said, there's much more to love about Kingfisher than to take issue with. The novel is a triumph.
It cannot be overstated: this text is thrilling, and rare is the text that manages to balance such eye-gluing plot turns with substantive and sophisticated ideas. Martinson interrogates the idea of the superhero and heroism in ways that are occasionally a little too on the nose, but interesting nonetheless. Martinson positions the superheroics of the Kingfisher in contrast to the quotidian heroism of a disgraced police officer (disgraced, of course, because the rules of progressive political engagement and the generic structure of hardboiled fiction from which Kingfisher draws mean that there are no good cops) and young hacker.
Kingfisher reads like an everything and the kitchen sink novel, going so far as to include in protagonist Marcus Waters as an ode to the New Journalism stylings of Tom Wolfe, Gay Talese, and Joan Didion (although Waters would be continuing the tradition past its height in the 1970s).
The novel is, though, not without flaws, some more serious than others. Most can be attributed to this novel's debut status. Martinson introduces his three protagonists in routine and formulaic ways, making the book's early chapters somewhat repetitive. He also makes a fascinating choice describing the hacking exploits of Wren, using an impressionistic style to give the scenes more kinetic energy and excitement. I may be wrong to consider this a flaw, it is a legitimately inspired artistic choice, but I am just not sure it lands here. Beyond that, I always wonder depictions of hacking in fiction appear to individuals with the ability to engage in such activities. If Martinson has made himself an expert and depicted these scenes in a way that would be meaningful to computer wizards, I'd consider the scenes to be a success — even if they might come across a little strange to the uninitiated.
With all that said, there's much more to love about Kingfisher than to take issue with. The novel is a triumph.
March 5, 2019
This was a disappointment. It’s a great premise but the problem was execution and voice. The whole book felt a bit draggy until the end. There are a number of point of views advancing the plot. But each voice sounded the same and I had a hard time distinguishing them. And, I just didn’t really care what happened to any of the people or who the Kingfisher was. I just never connected with any of the characters bc they all seemed like the same person.
I received this arc as a goodreads giveaway but all opinions are my own.
I received this arc as a goodreads giveaway but all opinions are my own.
June 3, 2019
I picked up this book from the library after reading a review on a reading site. I was surprised on Goodreads that it has a mediocre rating but decided to give it a chance as I grew up in the Chicagoland area and am now in my 70's. I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this novel. The writing is excellent with seriously realistic descriptions of the city streets during the time frame as well as the resilient personalities of the ordinary residents who are drawn into the history of the Kingfisher.
No point in repeating the story line as others have presented it in detail. When a novel draws you in to the point that you can envision the environment as well as engage you in the existence of the characters, it is a pleasant reading experience. I loved the use of everyday heroes: a retired reporter, a young repressed hacker, two everyday police officers and a few of the Kingfisher's former victims. All had the ring of regular, ordinary people approaching an serious incident and deciding to do extraordinary things, not without fear and peril to themselves, in order to save others.
Whether the Kingfisher and his escapades was as a vigilante or a thug does not deter from the positive actions of those around him. The comic book comparison to say Batman for the Kingfisher adds to the story. A mythical figure to some but a familiar, tortured soul to others. The need for heroes happens when we least expect it and I appreciated the author's emphasis on ordinary citizens stepping up. A good story and excellent writing. I know some found it unbelievable but it is why it is called fiction and sometimes it is fun to read something for that same reason. Looking forward to T.J. Martinson's next work.
No point in repeating the story line as others have presented it in detail. When a novel draws you in to the point that you can envision the environment as well as engage you in the existence of the characters, it is a pleasant reading experience. I loved the use of everyday heroes: a retired reporter, a young repressed hacker, two everyday police officers and a few of the Kingfisher's former victims. All had the ring of regular, ordinary people approaching an serious incident and deciding to do extraordinary things, not without fear and peril to themselves, in order to save others.
Whether the Kingfisher and his escapades was as a vigilante or a thug does not deter from the positive actions of those around him. The comic book comparison to say Batman for the Kingfisher adds to the story. A mythical figure to some but a familiar, tortured soul to others. The need for heroes happens when we least expect it and I appreciated the author's emphasis on ordinary citizens stepping up. A good story and excellent writing. I know some found it unbelievable but it is why it is called fiction and sometimes it is fun to read something for that same reason. Looking forward to T.J. Martinson's next work.
February 2, 2019
I was completely entranced with The Reign of the Kingfisher, a stylish blend of noir detective fiction and superhero fantasy- think Sin City meets Raymond Chandler (then stop thinking and start reading).
30 years ago Chicago was home to The Kingfisher- a vigilante/protector who was ridding the city of crime, one broken bad guy at a time- until the night that this larger than life figure died. Or so the story goes.
Today, someone has decided that it is past time for the truth about The Kingfisher be revealed. A masked gunman streams a video showing terrified hostages and informing the police that until the truth about The Kingfisher's disappearance is revealed, he will pick off the hostages one by one. When the video goes public, a retired reporter, a computer hacker, and a benched police officer will each play a role in the investigation- one that leads to revelations they never could have predicted.
This ARC was provided by Flatiron/Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.
30 years ago Chicago was home to The Kingfisher- a vigilante/protector who was ridding the city of crime, one broken bad guy at a time- until the night that this larger than life figure died. Or so the story goes.
Today, someone has decided that it is past time for the truth about The Kingfisher be revealed. A masked gunman streams a video showing terrified hostages and informing the police that until the truth about The Kingfisher's disappearance is revealed, he will pick off the hostages one by one. When the video goes public, a retired reporter, a computer hacker, and a benched police officer will each play a role in the investigation- one that leads to revelations they never could have predicted.
This ARC was provided by Flatiron/Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.
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