Where the Protagonist Disappointed Me

The Lazarus Gate by Mark A. Latham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked this in parts. I hoped to enjoy it more than I did, but it disappointed.

The setup is great; the setting with London connected to a secondary world is fun, and the main character as a kind of spy working on the case is cool. The main character, Hardwick, is okay, though it's hard to warm to him. However, the bit in the middle where he's recuperating with the help of a group of people (being vague to not give too many spoilers) is nice, and I thought it was leading somewhere.

It didn't. Lots of unfinished threads. Characters we never see again.

And the very ending, with a hurried last few pages, includes Hardwick doing such a terrible thing (as a patriot, supposedly) that I just can't like him. I don't want to read another book with him in it. I guess the author was going for complexity and nuance and morally gray blah blah blah. I hated it.

Three stars. I'm not giving it a 1 or 2 because it's pretty well written and others may enjoy it. I won't recommend it, though.

I might read one of his Sherlock books, because those still look good, but I'm feeling kinda burned right now. We'll see.

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