by John Scalzi
I love John Scalzi. I think he’s worth every cent of his 10-year, multi-million dollar contract with Tor books. This one was brief. Short, and stand-alone. Didn’t hold a candle to his Old Man’s War series, but few books do, and overall I was much entertained.
Charlie’s rich and reclusive uncle has died. Not a life changing event in itself, as Charlie hasn’t seen his uncle or had any contact with him since he was five years old, but . . . the fact that Charlie has been left in charge of his uncle’s fortune and far-reaching empire of villainy (complete with volcano lair and genetically modified hyper-intelligent cats) might have some impact on the hum-drum routine of this laid-off journalist’s daily existence. Charlie has to pick up the ins and outs of international villainy, and do it fast, before his uncle’s old rivals smell blood in the water and manage to remove him from the equation.
Scalzi is the master of creating absurd scenarios – outlandish and unrealistic at first glance – but then populating them with rich three-dimensional characters who are familiar and believable and make the bizarre landscape come to life. Starter Villain was no exception. The fact that Scalzi contracted Covid half way through writing it and was plagued by several months of brain fog can go a long way towards explaining the uncharacteristic brevity – but in any case, sometimes it’s nice to be able to finish reading an entire book in the course of one long afternoon.
