Glen Cook is primarily known for his Black Company series and that’s something that I have a horrifying confession to make as a grimdark stan: I could never really get into it. My favorite character was Raven from the opening book and I think the book was trying to tell me that such a character was silly (among other minor issues that put me off it). However, my love for Glen Cook as an author has never not been huge because of another series of his that has been sticking with me for decades and that’s Garrett PI.
Described as Nero Wolfe in fantasyland, I couldn’t tell you what that means because I’ve never read those books but it reminds me most of Vlad Taltos with a hardboiled detective slant. Basically, instead of the Dresden Files being about a wizard in the modern world, Garrett is an ordinary detective in a city like Ankh Morpork. Okay, maybe that is way too many references in a single paragraph and I write reference comedy.
The point is that Garrett is an investigator who spends each book trying to deal with wizards, ratkin, vampires, dark elves, the mob, and the increasingly draconian military. He’s more successful than most private detectives and manages to make a decent living from the fact that he’s not allergic to success or mild corruption like Phillip Marlowe. He’s also aided by an undead psychic called the Dead Man who sits in his house, contemplating the mysteries of the universe.
The books are vivid and well-written with the city of TunFaire being vividly realized in both its politics as well as characterization. Glen Cook takes a stab at fantastic racism even before Warcraft did it and takes the surprisingly direct approach that the reason humans and demihumans hate each other is because the rich want them at each other’s throats. While humans are off fighting Karenta’s wars, they recruit demihumans to do all the dirty jobs then see the former get angry when they return to no prospects. Its a simplification of RL but provides enough of a gritty feel to make it feel like it has a Great Depression feel despite all the magic.
The books are also surprisingly dark without getting into grimdark. It’s a coin flip whether or not the bad guys will “win” and Garrett will be able to achieve some sense of justice but sometimes it does land on heads. Garrett has a sense of justice but there’s sometimes just nothing good that can be done about events because there’s no good answer. Still, I knew Garrett would be the kind of person I liked as a hero as his response to finding out a rich family of secret vampires is untouchable by law is just to get out the stakes as well as flaming oil.
Garrett himself is a great character and an excellent guide to the fantastic and gritty streets of TunFaire. He’s a sardonic working class stiff who is still able to hobnob with the rich and famous despite his disdain for them. Flawed heroes are the best, in my opinion, and his desire to play angles to benefit himself as well as much suppressed heart of gold always leave his decisions surprising. Sometimes he’ll do the right thing and sometimes he has to be dragged kicking and screaming to do so. Still, he’s a very loyal friend and that counts for a lot for me as a reader.
If I have one complaint about the books, it’s that people who complain about Harry Dresden’s sexism and objectification will find Garrett so much worse. Glen Cook like Jim Butcher fills his stories with incredibly capable and potent women with strong characterizations (I’m a little in love with Belinda Contague the Queenpin) but Garrett is horny AF. He also makes more than a few off-color comments about teenage girls in-setting which reminded me of the worst of the Molly Carpenter complaints. Nothing ever happens on that but caveat emptor.
The books are all self-contained stories so while there’s some overarching plots like the war in the Contard (the 100 year conflict over the silver mines in the region that is pointless for just about everyone but the rich), each book has a definitive end. You can also more or less reach each book as a standalone, which is a dying art. The series began in 1987 and ended in 2013 with over a dozen books. Glen Cook has also stated that he might someday revive it but we’ll have to see about that. The covert art is also something that is unrivaled for me save by the old classic Dungeons and Dragons art and the British versions of Discworld. Seriously, check out the pictures.
They have my definite recommendation.
