Stop me if you've heard this one. Boy gets job. Boy hates job but is totally, totally trapped in it so he does the best he can at it according to his lights. Boy's boss gives him an important new project that's finally going to put his talents to use. Boy finds out that this only makes his job suck more. Once again, there is no girl, nor is there a spoon. Well, there is a woman (we do like being called women when we reach adulthood)* but she's pretty much off limits, because she's the boss.

I'm pretty sure we can all relate to this one.

The Big Reap is the latest in Chris F. Holm's Collector series, and a book I've been eagerly anticipating. I enjoyed the first two so very, very much. But since one of the big questions I had going into it was, could it possibly be as awesome as was The Wrong Goodbye?** That's always a dangerous question to be asking as one begins a book, and I dislike having such questions on my mind as it's a strong indicator that I'm not going to be enjoying the book solely on its own merits (see also my experience with Doctor Who: Harvest of Time, the other book I was dying to get my hands on this summer).

But really, The Wrong Goodbye was one of my favorite things I read last year. And here we are, returning to the weird, sad, funny, outrageous world of Sam Thornton once again, so how can I not compare? How can my expectations not be high?

This is not to say that they weren't met, or more precisely not met at all. But there was something missing this time around, for me, and I'm not just talking about hospital/morgue hijinks as Sam steals his next body to inhabit.*** I've been having trouble putting my finger what it is that's felt missing, though.

Partly, I suppose, it's that each successive novel has almost felt like it was playing for more modest stakes than the last. In Dead Harvest, Sam was only focusing on saving one girl, but in saving that girl he was also saving the world from an all-out war between Heaven and Hell; in The Wrong Goodbye he was trying to collect a particularly nasty soul, the possession of which might give one side an undue advantage over the other; in The Big Reap he's really just kind of acting as a janitor or errand boy. He's taking on, in the process, some seriously grotesque and powerful monsters, monsters that turn out to have had an undue influence over human history, but even after Holm brings back a few much-loved characters from the prior two books to help out (and be put in danger), Sam's jeopardy now feels like Doctor Who jeopardy, except for one thing that I can't talk about without spoiling everything.

The book is still, though, a fine, fine addition to a series that I enjoy a lot -- it made me want to re-read its predecessors, the better to admire how he's constructed the story arc (and believe me, it's worth admiring) -- but I'm not sure, if I hadn't read those books, if this book would have made me want to. As part of the series, it's still pretty satisfying, but as a stand-alone work, less so.

I still, make no mistake, read the whole thing in as few sittings as I could manage, with no flitting to other books like I do. And doubtless this will always be my way, with Mr. Holm.

For Holm has carefully left room for more Collector books to happen, and I'll be along the ride if/when he does -- I'm especially interested to see what Sam's stories are like without [REDACTED] -- but I hope he starts thinking a little bigger for them again.

Or more intimate. Because on the whole, I prefer smaller and more intimate stories. If your theme is eternal cosmic conflict, though....? Holm balanced this beautifully in the first two books. Here, he just went for a video game-style quest narrative with flashbacks. But you know what? Holy crap, do I want to play this as a video game now.

Which probably says more about me than about the book.

I still suspect that Mr. Holm has yet to peak and is only going to get better. Keep watching this guy.

*Well, except when "woman" is used in place of our proper names. That's a bit crass.

**Yes, his titles are all riffs on famous crime novel titles. I love this about Holm.

***For those of you who haven't read my prior reviews or the books, Sam is a sort of ghost, whose job is to collect the souls of the damned, and he has to borrow bodies from the living or the freshly dead to do it. In the first two novels, he stuck to newly dead ones for ethical reasons -- crowding a living mind and soul out of the driver's seat of its own body is kind of a dick move, yo -- but in this novel, for a variety of perfectly justifiable reasons, he's mostly piloting living bodies. A bit of tasty conscience wrestling thus occurs, but not that much, because its one of this world's conceits that every time Sam possesses a body, he leaves a little of his humanity behind when he leaves the vessel, and he's been doing this for something like 60 years as most of this story takes place. ( )

Maybe this book makes more sense read in the context of the preceding two novels in the series, although, since it includes the "origin story" I'm not quite sure how that would work out? It is schlock full of profanity, violence and an escalation of tight situations for the protagonist before suddenly waxing lyrical towards the end and aiming for what might be seen as a redemptive ending. Personally though, I think I'll leave this series in the pit despite the cool retro cover unless I really find myself aching for some pulp escapism to practise my speed reading on.

It has been compared to Jim Butcher's Dresden series and, like that collection, suffers from the need to continually up the ante. He doesn't literally jump the shark (although at one point comes close to it) but one of these books feels like enough for me. ( )

Still reeling from the effects of The Wrong Goodbye, Sam Thornton is tasked by his handler Lilith to take out the mysterious Brethren, a group made up of former Collectors who have severed their ties with Hell.

I received an ARC of The Big Reap from Angry Robot in exchange for a fair review. Thanks to our literary robot overlords!

The opening scene of The Big Reap will have a spot among my favorite openers ever. Not only does Chris bring you up to speed if this happens to be your first Thornton novel (and seriously, who starts on the third book of any series - go read those first two!), he also takes us back and tells the story of Sam’s first collection. That particular story is told over the course of the novel as Chris presents it side-by-side with Thornton’s crusade against the forces of the Brethren. Both stories are equally compelling so when he switches back and forth, you’re not exactly dying to get back to the other.

Like the first two novels, Holm continues with his excellently choreographed action scenes. There’s some high octane stuff here involving Thornton having to use his environment to gain advantages. It’s a wonder how Holm can make the character so damn confident when he always seems to just barely come out on top. Sam never seems to have a solid game plan and often relies on thinking in the moment – something that keeps the action moving swiftly with consistently unpredictable results. All of these factors leave us with a story that is a real blast to read.

Sam is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters. While he carries with him the attitude of a blockbuster movie action star, he’s also a tragic character at heart. As his journey progresses, he realizes just how hopeless his future really is. It would be easy for Holm to give us a character with big bravado who constantly comes out on top but instead gives us a character that learns, develops and grows with each story. He's like John McClane from the first Die Hard movie – not the John McClane that developed over time and became an indestructible superman.

In my opinion, this is Holm's finest work yet. Taking nothing away from the first two books in the series, The Big Reap has raised the bar for any potential sequels.

Cross Posted @ Every Read Thing

Check out my interview with Chris! ( )

I don't use star ratings, so please read my review!

(Description nicked from B&N.com.)

“Sam Thornton has had many run-ins with his celestial masters, but he’s always been sure of his own actions. However, when he’s tasked with dispatching the mythical Brethren – a group of former Collectors who have cast off their ties to Hell – is he still working on the side of right?”

I’m amused by how quickly I took to this series, given that it leans heavily towards noir fiction even though it’s technically paranormal fantasy. Sam lived during the early decades of the twentieth century, and I think that Holm has managed to keep that feel in Sam’s personality. It gives him a set of values and ethics that aren’t quite what we hold to in this day and age, but I find that it makes him more likeable.

On the other hand, part of this novel deals with Sam’s growing comfort with breaking those values. The biggest one of these is his determination to only use recently dead bodies as his “vehicles”. Initially, he does this to avoid traumatizing a hapless human, but in this book he realizes that a living body is more convenient, and thus he starts using them more and more. This brings up some interesting ethical dilemmas—namely, is this a matter of expedience, or is he losing his humanity after so many decades as a Collector?

The flashbacks in this episode center around Sam’s first job as a Collector, a job that turns out to be wonderfully twisted. It also underscores some of Sam’s possible loss of humanity, even at that early stage, with some of his choices of action. I couldn’t decide which part of the novel I liked better between the flashbacks and the current storyline, because believe me, in this case the past is just as intriguing as the present.

The other thing that this novel does well, in both the past and the “now”, is explore the relationship between Sam and Lillith. While Holm has gone into this at various points in the other novels, showing both their first meeting and the events of this novel bookend the plot arc of their interactions really well. If this book shows you the inhumanity in Sam, it also gives you a glimpse of Lillith’s humanity. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this is a love story, however, because it’s something different than that.

I do hope that Holm keeps writing stories about Sam, because I appreciate reading a novel with a complex and sometimes flawed hero who nevertheless continues to strive for goodness. The Big Reap is both a fun adventure and a subtle reflection on what it means to be human—or humane.

This review originally appeared on Owlcat Mountain on September 12, 2013.
http://www.owlcatmountain.com/the-big-reap/

Looking back, I almost regret being so vaguely snooty about the first book in this series. Holm has grown into the series and as a result deserves notice as one of the most exceptional writers working in the genre today. His faculty with language - presenting beautiful, thought-provoking digressions & conversations on MAJOR philosophical & religious issues... then hitting you with a hilarious smartass remark from Sam - is matched only by his evident joy in putting this story on the page. Even when it veers towards the outrageous or the predictable, you don't really care, simply because you're having as much fun as he is. You don't want to read this one without having read the first two (despite my potential recommendation to read this first, because it's so much fun) - but once you do read that, you'll get to this one in no time and be left gasping for more. It's just damn good stuff.

More at RB (and some shade thrown at [b:Life After Life|15790842|Life After Life|Kate Atkinson|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358173808s/15790842.jpg|21443207], just because): http://wp.me/pGVzJ-JV ( )