Simon R. Green, The Man with the Golden Torc

The Man with the Golden Torc

Simon R. Green

Roc, June 2007, $23.95, 400 pp.

ISBN 0451461452

When he's not on assignment, the world knows him as Shaman Bond. He is not a spy but is Eddie Drood of the powerful Drood family. They are the ones who keep the world safe from the supernatural and human elements that are evil. Eddie wears a gold torc around his neck and when he says the magic words it turns into a gold costume covering him from head to toe and rendering him invisible from almost everyone. It also gives him special powers that allow him to fight demons, aliens and other bad things.

His grandmother, the Matriarch, calls him home for the first time in ten years. She has a special assignment for him. She wants him to take the Soul of Albion to its resting place in Stonehenge. On his way there, he is attacked by the Men in Black, Elves with poison arrows, CARnivores (sentient cars that eat humans) the phantom fleet and flying saucers. After he defeats everyone, he finds out that his grandmother's replaced the Soul of Albion for something worthless. She then declares him rogue, a traitor to the family which makes every one want to kill him. He teams up with Molly the witch, meets some of his former enemies to find out why he was branded traitor and learn the truth behind his family's power. Now he has to figure out what he wants to do about it and how to achieve it.

Readers who enjoyed Simon R. Green's the Nightside series will also love THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN TORC; in some ways it is a fantasy James Bond with its magical and scientific gadgets, its action and the feel that the hero reports to Miss Penny Drood. There is a lot of dry wit, romantic humor and colorful villains to keep readers turning the pages until the book is finished. Mr. Green has another hit series.

Harriet Klausner