Red Iron Nights

Garrett Files #6

by Glen Cook

Determined to stop a series of brutal murders of women, Garrett enters the sleazy underside of a medievalesque bazaar of sex, getting into one mess after another

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Detective, Crime, Science Fiction Fantasy

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

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

Reviews

[Choko · Rating 4 out of 5]

*** 4.44 ***

Another delightful installment in the Garrett P. I. series. I love this crazy world Mr. Cook has created and all the weird creatures so naturally co-Existing with humans and other such vermin... It is a very smart and ironic study of human nature, that our ability to bring prejudices and biases can span all manner of magic, fantastic species, and creeds, being just as socially destructive as it is in real life...

I discovered that as far as this series is concerned, I can appreciate the writing and observations as much, if not even more, when our private detective just grumbles and complains with absolutely nothing else happening, as when cursed to commit murder guys rove through town and bring pure malevolent chaos in the city... Yes, I enjoy the cases Garrett tackles every book, with the help of his continuously in the state of dying partner, the Deadman, but I truly believe I can enjoy the stories, so masterfully written by the author, even if they only described the domestic life of our heroes, Dean the housekeeper, and the odd secondary characters who tend to accumulate around them. A lot like many of Terry Pratchett's books, I felt that if I had let myself highlight everything that made me laugh or cringe, I would have had to highlight the whole book... This series is going on my favorite things to read when I want something to relax and laugh with!👍💛💚💙💜💝

[Algernon · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I shoved through the doorway of Morley's 'Joy House' you'd have thought I was the old dude in black who lugs the sickle. The place went dead quiet. I stopped moving. I couldn't push uphill against the weight of all those stares. "Somebody sneak lemons into your salads?"
"Aw, damn! It's Garret." That was my pal Puddle, safe behind the bar. "Here we go again, troops."

Cue in David Coverdale and his wicked solo on the Whitesnake album ... Garret is on the prowl again! investigating the vegetarian bar of his friend Morley, the dissapearance of a bunch of young and pretty brunettes from the posh Hill neighborhood and the whereabouts of conspiracy theorist and amateur anarchist Kropotkin F. 'Barking Dog' Amato. Anything to put bread on the table, or to be more correct, to put 'beer' on the table.

I missed my old friend Garret, and I blame Goodreads for making me stay away from TunFaire and the Tenderloin slum for almost three years. I get so many new titles and new authors to add to my wishlist that sometimes I ignore what's right in front of my old shelves. This is the sixth adveture of our laidback (lazy) private investigator, and his sarcastic commentaries and irregular similes are as fresh and entertaining as when we first met.

I don't much like work. Especially not work-out-type work. I figure in any rational world a man will get all the exercise he needs catching his share of blonds, brunettes, and redheads. Got it so far? I'm Garrett, investigator and confidential agent, not animated by any overwhelming ambition, with a penchant for figures of a certain kind and a knack for stumbling into things friends and acquaintances don't find enthralling.

Garrett is a human shaped incarnation of comic strip hero Garfield. Please don't ask him to get up early in the morning or to do anything stressful. Put a keg of beer in front of his nose and a redhead in the vicinity and he is happy.



I have this thing about mornings. No sane man gets up then. They come too damn early in the day.
Think about it. All those early birds out there, what do they get? Ulcers. Heart trouble. Caught by homeless cats. But not me. Not old Garrett. I'm going to lean back and relax and loaf my way to immortality.

Unfortunately, in this episode redheads are in short supply, since Garret tried to juggle one too many of these pretties in book number five, and now he has to do without as they are boycotting him, starting with Tinnie Tate, his diminutive former girlfriend. No worries, something alluring always knocks on the door in any self-respecting hard-boiled (or, in our case, 'beer-pickled') novel:

She liked black. She wore a black raincloak over a black dress. She wore high-top black boots. Raindrops shimmered like diamonds in her raven hair. She wore black leather gloves. I imagined she'd lost a black hat and veil somewhere. Everything about her was black except her face. That was as pale as bone. She was about five-six. She was young. She was beautiful. She was frightened.
I said, "I'm in love."
Morley's sense of humor deserted him. He told me, "You don't want anything to do with her, Garrett. She'll get you dead."

Morley is right : it's not healthy to try to date the daughter of Tunfaire's kingpin, Chodo Contague, especially not right after you tried to assassinate him in a previous episode. But the heart has reasons of which the head knows nothing, as the old philosophers tell us, and Garret is on the case again.

Much of the charm of the series for me comes from the running commentary provided by Garrett during the investigation : his self-deprecating confessions, his acid repartees with his dead partner and with his elderly valet, his inflated opinion of his charm as a ladies' man, his prudent approach (hit them hard over the head first, ask questions later) to street violence. There is more than meets the eye though to our gumshoe. I believe he is at his core one of the true knights of the mean streets of the big cities, in the mold of Philip Marlowe or Sam Vines of Ankh-Morpork. When Garrett occasionally lets his guard down and forgets to joke about everything under the sun, he provides as strong a rant againt society's ills as Raymond Chandler or Walter Mosley.

The trouble with me is my work. Investigating exposes you to the slimy underbelly of the world. Being a weak character, I try to make things better, to strike the occasional spark in the darkness. I have a notion my reluctance to work springs from the knowledge that if I do I'll see more of the world's dark side, that I'll butt heads with the Truth, which is that people are cruel and selfish and thoughtless and even the best will sell their mothers at the right time.
The big difference between good guys and bad is the good guys haven't yet had a fat chance for profiting from going bad.
A bleak world view, unfortunately reinforced by events almost daily.
A bleak view that's scary because it keeps on telling me my turn is coming.

Garrett may act like a clown, and most of his comments about women are politically incorect, but I admire him nevertheless because he sees the world as it is, yet he keeps fighting back, to the best of his abilities.

The actual plot of this episode is not all that original. It's a Jack-the-Ripper type story with a deranged serial killer that targets women of a special category. The details of the murders are pretty gruesome, and the case revolves around the use of magic, because TunFaire is after all a fantasy city with multiple races living side by side. Magicians and wizards, priests of a dozen dozen different creeds, scary wild creatures (thunder lizards, anyone?), dead loghrins that are still telepathically alive, ghouls, vampires, elves, ogres, giants, dwarves, ratmen, and flying warrior squirells (?) crowd the streets night and day. In fact, the setting is the second main attraction to the series. This multicultural, seedy, dangerous city of TunFaire is providing most of the originality and of the social commentary in the series:

The ratman hordes were about their legitimate tasks of cleaning and illegitimate tasks of removing everything not nailed down. Kobolds and gnomes and numerous varieties of little people dashed here and there on business. Sometimes I wonder how so many people can live side by side with so little contact. Sometimes I think TunFaire is a whole series of cities that just happen to occupy the same geographical locations.
I saw a troll family, obviously bumpkins, gaping at the sights. I got propositioned by a giantess of ill repute who was, evidently, suffering a business slump. I ran into a band of goblins riding red-eyed hounds that looked more wolfish than domesticated.



Red Iron Nights takes us on a grand tour of the night spots in TunFaire city, drinking beer, oggling the go-go dancers, evading the thugs in dark alleys, listening to crackpots (Barking Dog Amato) shouting doom from street corners, playing hide-and-seek with the kingpin's goons, chasing a killer that refuses to play dead. It works well as a stand-alone novel for readers as yet unfamiliar with the cases of Garrett P.I., but there are a couple of running gags and world developments that work better in the context of what went on before. There is a multi-generational war with a neighboring empire that keeps intruding on the current local events. There are Garret's sentimental entanglements. There is political and racial unrest in Tunfaire that can explode into riots at any moment. There is an unresolved conflict with Chodo Contague, the boss of the local mob. All of these side acts are adding spice to the main attraction (the case of the dead posh brunettes), and are making me curious about the next episode in the series. I really hope I will not let another three years pass before I return to TunFaire.

Until then, to quote Garret, commenting on another hot brunette turning down his indecent proposals:

What is she, then? A nun? Never mind. I don't want to know. I want to sleep. Good night. Tight. Bedbugs. Bite. All that stuff.

[Jacob Proffitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is sixth in a fantasy mystery series. You don't have to read in order, but lots of fun stuff develops over time if you do.

I wasn't as happy with this one as I thought I'd be. The side quest with Barking Dog Amato annoyed me. Developments with Crask and Sadler felt a bit anti-climactic. And my favorite part sours in the end.

Oh right. And the mystery is kind of a slog, too. I mean, seeming to solve the murders only for them to continue after they caught the bad guy was an interesting twist. Maybe this suffered from me having read it so much before so I knew the twist was coming?

And I really liked Belinda Contague, the daughter of the now-disabled kingpin Chodo. She's on the run from the organization because she knows the secret Crask and Sadler are concealing. I really like her interactions with Garrett. She gives good banter and she's the first woman in his orbit who might stand as an equal. I'll admit that I got my hopes up (and still do even knowing the end). It's so sad that in the end, she turns out to be corrupt and frankly evil. Taking over the criminal underworld requires destroying people's lives for profit and so her not only stepping into that role knowing what it is, but maneuvering with the Dead Man to get there makes her frankly a little depraved. And that made me sad, not just on Garrett's behalf but because I had come to like her, myself.

I think I'm going to lower my five star rating from the past down to four. It's disappointing, but even a disappointing Garrett novel is a good time.

A note about Chaste: It looked for a while like Garrett would go a whole book without getting any. He is in open rebellion on groveling to Tinnie and I'm so glad to see that. But no, he's still a hound dog and does get some action. As always in this series, there's nothing on-page so it's pretty chaste by my measure.

[Joshua Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 stars

At this point, it’s hard for me to say any more about the Garrett P.I. series than what I haven’t said alread. Good characters. Great dialogue. Fun and fast read. If you aren’t reading this series, then I feel sorry for you. My only quip on this book in particular was that I felt things got a bit repetitive in spots and could have ended sooner. Otherwise, a good addition to the series.

[✘✘ Sarah ✘✘ (former Nefarious Breeder of Murderous Crustaceans) · Rating 5 out of 5]

🕵️ Sleuthing Mercenaries R Us Buddy Read (SMRUBR™) with The Overlord and My Dearest of Wives 🕵️

Actual rating: 4.5 stars.

Time for some Why Glen Cook is a God Maths (WGCiaGM™) once again:

Typhoid Garrett + “rabbit food and the squeezings thereof” *waves at her boyfriend Morley* + siccing constipated evangelists on not-so-innocent bystanders the way others unleash murderous crustaceans on their evil nemeses + grumble grumble grumble grumble + fruitcakes and crackpots and Barking Dogs, oh my! + thunder lizards and their precisely targeted, um, missiles + deliciously gruesome stuff + most scrumptious secondary cast ever + bad personal hygiene as a weapon of mass destruction + unexpected developments aplenty + damsels in little to no distress + treacherous horses, low-flying pigs and handy bugs + hahahahaha + sneaky felines, talking parrots and dead Loghyrs (a deadly combination this) + bar brawls FTW! + knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock + old-time lunatic wizards =



P.S.



👋 To be continued and stuff.

· Book 1: Sweet Silver Blues ★★★★
· Book 2: Bitter Gold Hearts ★★★★
· Book 3: Cold Copper Tears ★★★★
· Book 4: Old Tin Sorrows ★★★★★
· Book 5: Dread Brass Shadows ★★★★
· Book 7: Deadly Quicksilver Lies ★★★★★
· Book 8: Petty Pewter Gods ★★★
· Book 9: Faded Steel Heat ★★★
· Book 10: Angry Lead Skies ★★★★
· Book 11: Whispering Nickel Idols ★★★★
· Book 12: Cruel Zinc Melodies ★★★★
· Book 13: Gilded Latten Bones ★★★★
· Book 14: Wicked Bronze Ambition ★★★

[Elena Linville-Abdo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm still going through my massive re-read of all Garrett's files. Loved this one and it will be interesting to see what kind of consequences the events in this book will have in the next one. I read these books so long ago that I mostly forgot what they were about. It's a treat to re-discover them all over again.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A serial killer driven by an ancient curse is on the loose in TunFaire and it's up to Garrett to stop him. Meanwhile, Chodo is a vegetable after the events of the previous volume and Crask and Sadler are set on putting Garrett in the ground.

The tension level in this one was pretty high, especially for a book of this type. While I knew Garrett would win out in the end, I didn't know how many more victims would be killed before then.

I'm pleased that the Garrett books are getting better instead of worse. Glen Cook's writing is getting better but I think the real reason is that the overall plot in the background is moving along, unlike other series I could name (I'm looking at you, Dresden!). It looks like the war in the Cantard is nearly over. We'll see if Glory Mooncalled gets brought to justice in the next book.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one dragged a little until the halfway or better point. There was too much from too many angles. Garrett's hired, behind his back so to speak, to keep tabs on one of the cities well known raving madmen who rants on the courthouse steps about the wrongs done unto him by the rich and powerful. He's also been hired by the leader of the city watch to help find a real madman who is possessed by a curse making him slaughtering woman of a certain type and look on an ever shortening schedule. Worse the curse seems to migrate to a new victim any time the current is stopped. Then Garrett is hired against his will by the kingpin of the underground to find his missing daughter. This leaves our poor hero running in circles trying to solve everyone's problems. The story tightens up towards the end but rambled a little bit too much. Too many irons in the fire.

[Michael Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I've been reading too many of the Garret Files books at one time... they are all fun, fast reads with likable and memorable characters, as well as having excellent dialogue. In this one Garrett must find a serial killer who targets a select group of women. The tension level is a bit higher than usual despite knowing that Garrett would wrap things up in the end -- with a little more help than usual from his partner the Dead Man. Glen Cook has improved his writing style throughout this series. Despite Garrett having the same old habits and methods it is good to see that the overall background story is moving along from book to book -- I'm actually curious to see just how much the world will change in the next book since it looks like the ongoing war in the Cantard is almost over with.

[Gintautas Ivanickas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ko dar neturėjom Garretto serijoje?
Teisingai – serijinio žudiko.
Na, tai va – prašom.
Maniaką pavyksta sučiupti gana greitai. Bet jei manote, kad tuo viskas ir pasibaigs…
Kaip visada – smagūs dialogai, niekur nedingstantis noir kvapelis. Bet yra toks pojūtis, kad serija vos vos išsikvepia.
Kita vertus – juk ir pozcionuoja save kaip greitą, lengvą, smagų skaitinį. Tai taip ir yra.
Keturi iš penkių. Bet skysti tokie.

[Trish · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one seemed to read better than the previous installment.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Garrett Files novel has the most memorable villain in the series. He’s an extreme sexual deviant who happens to vomit green venomous butterflies when he gets worked up. Oh, and it doesn’t seem to matter how many times you kill him and burn the body, he still manages to stalk the night and kill another woman. The novel is a little slow to get started, but once it catches its stride its nonstop excitement until Garrett and the Dead Man bring their villain to justice.

But it wouldn’t be a Cook series if that was all that was happening. The war in the Cantard is coming to an end and the city watch is starting to imagine it could be a lot more than an ineffective group of guys who make most of their living taking bribes from criminals. Things are starting to happen in Garrett’s hometown and it’s by no means clear it will be good for him.

I’ve enjoyed this series for well over twenty years and it’s a delight to reread it.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Bogdan Capitanoiu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does it needs a review?
No.. it's just another Garrett story..as entertaining and enjoyable as the previous ones...

Any elements that u liked especially?
1 of the most cliche super-detective stories gets twisted in a visual&graphical way

Anything else you want to say?
I guess Cook, found the secret of story perennial/eternal telling, focus on a character, but do not challenge him with a archenemy or a as smart counterpart.
Just let your guy be; let him try to his hardest to do his job/play his role...
&in every book...besides the heartbreaking common elements, you just introduce a new element (e.g. muscle(&vampires), politician ,god ,soldier, dwarf, police, royalty)

And so u can stay in-love with the writer&characters, they do not start destroying planets/solve intergalactic mysteries but you are still rewarded when reading with a good exp (or like i like to call it A reminder that life is soooo funny .. :)

[Ben Truong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red Iron Nights is the sixth book in the Garrett P.I. series written by Glen Cook and centered on the adventures of private investigator Garrett.

Garrett is relaxing at the Joy House with Saucerhead and Morley Dotes, when Belinda Contague, daughter of Kingpin Chodo Contague, stumbles into the bar. She is attacked by a wizened old man who spits butterflies from his mouth and tries to kidnap Belinda in his black stagecoach. As strange as this is, Garrett moves on to his next job, tailing a religious crackpot by the name of Barking Dog Amato. This job, however, takes a backseat when Captain Westman Block comes knocking at Garrett's door. Block needs Garrett's help to solve a series of grisly murders, in which upper class young ladies are being strung up and gutted in strange, ritualistic killings.

Garrett soon realizes that the attempted kidnapping of Belinda Contague is connected to the murders. Garrett and Morley then go pay the owner of the coach a visit, and in a bungled sleuthing attempt, Garrett ends up killing the serial killer. Figuring that the case is closed, Garrett finds time to spend on Barking Dog Amato, but before he can get going, Captain Block comes by to inform Garrett that there has been another murder. It seems that there is a curse associated with the murders, so that killing the murderer does not prevent the rise of a new serial killer. Even when Garrett and Block find the new killer, the curse spreads again.

Red Iron Nights is written rather well. Cook continues to expand the world of TunFaire, although the narrative is comparatively weaker than his previous installments and a tad repetitive. While the writing is wonderful, there are some parts where the actions scenes seems a tad underwhelming and that there was a noticeable lack of humor as compared to the rest of the series, which was sorely missed in this installment.

All in all, Red Iron Nights is written rather well and is a good continuation to what would hopefully be a wonderful series, which I plan to continue in the very near future.

[Genna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh! Hey! This was fun to read!

I have reservations, of course. I'm tired of the Heinlein-y presentation of women. It would've been nice if any of the female characters existed for something other than the main character to lust after or be murdered.

It was still fun to read. I will probably read more.

Also, where do we start a petition with publishers that IF THEY ARE PUBLISHING A SERIES THEY WRITE THE NUMBER OF THE BOOK ON THE SPINE? Like, seriously, how hard would it be to put a #6 on the spine of this book so someone new to the series would know it was, in fact, the sixth book? It didn't really matter with this series, that I read the sixth book first, but it's such a simple thing and it'd make everyone's lives easier.

[Pye Josephus Joestar · Rating 2 out of 5]

definetly my least favourite out of the books so far, I found it very hard to stay captivated throughout as the book was slow to start and then kept (what felt like) taking breaks from the case on hand. However I did like that the Dead Man played a larger role in this book. I was weirdly fascinated with Belinda's character as well, don't know why, I just was. The Curse was also interesting and is what initially got me more involved in the book when you are first introduced to it. The last 5 or 10 chapters were incredible and ended once again with some pretty good twists and some unexpected intense situations. I'm looking forward to more with the Parrot.

[Michael Schirle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to get some of my thoughts down for this book.

I'm still loving the Garrett P.I. series. They are always such delightful reads, and might be inching its way above the Black Company for me.

This entry was fun, but I probably preferred some of the previous entries. Cook continued to break away from some of the formulaic elements of past entries, which was great. This book seemed to have some classic Cook reconning, modifying some of the developments of the previous book. Big picture, this might be good for the status quo, but I would be curious on a reread of the previous book, how much of a retcon this was/wasn't.

This felt in some ways a bit lower magic than. some of the previous entries. The case and mystery were not as enjoyable as some of the other entries, due to the nature of the case for this book. Still lots of enjoyable Cook and Garrett banter and jokes, which carried the book, but personally, not my favorite case in the series.

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't get into this one at the start but it eventually got going and I enjoyed it. This time, Garrett is trying to find a serial killer stalking the lovely upper class women of Tun Faire. The police are his client this time around and it's an unusual experience for Garrett to have their support. We also have Garrett taking a shine to Chodo's, recently deposed don of all organized crime in the city, daughter. While not my favorite, I still love this series.

[Psychophant · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not like it. By this time you expect certain things from a Garrett book, and here we do not get it. No real mystery, just repetitive events. No sympathetic characters, specially no great villain, and most recurring characters were absent or almost unrecognizable. Even the potential love interests were underwhelming.

It seemed just Tales of the Dead man, rather than Garrett P. I.

[Candy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series, which is sort of Nero Wolfe & Archie Goodwin in Middle Earth, is delightfully entertaining and seems to be getting better and better. It's a fun blend of crime and fantasy and it makes for a great summer read!

[Nighteye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, blooddrenching, cursefilled book. One of the joys in here is to follow the changing of the cities diffirent mobs and extension of Garret's world. Also the new ideas and themes he meet and new races. As well as glory mooncalled of couse and the news about the war now and than.

[Tamp_kh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Кажется, Кук окончательно определился с аудиторией читателей серии. Теперь интрига размазана тонкой линией между пластами приключений и диалогов и надо сосредоточиться, чтобы ухватить сюжетный ход за хвост и не отпускать до конца книги...

[Drew McCaffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a bit of a letdown in Dread Brass Shadows, Cook has absolutely returned to form in Red Iron Nights. This book is a rollicking, fun, and intense ride from the start through the final (hilarious) line.

[Emmalyn Renato · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been using this series as a means of taking a break from more complex science fiction and fantasy books. There's always a good plot, interesting characters and dialogue. There's always progression with each character arc and the overall big picture. This was no exception.

[Tyrel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the series, but this one moved a little slow

[Gio C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Great installment. Not one of my favorites but it was still great. So many good characters and I like the way things around the town are shaping up. I look forward to the next one

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoy the Dead Man and Dean. Garrett's always entertaining and this story is one of Cook's better yarns. A curse involving electric green eyes and vomiting butterflies, watch out.

[Paschalis]

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[DebraEmanon]

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[Kirby Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably my favorite book in the series. Tightly written, and very witty. Doing a serial killer story in a fantasy realm is always interesting.