Gilded Latten Bones by Glen Cook

Gilded Latten Bones (Garrett Files #13) by Glen Cook

This is by far the best novel in the Garrett Files series since the opening trilogy. It caught my attention from moment one and kept me flipping pages right through to the end. Part of what makes it so interesting is that it opens unlike any of the other books. Garrett has given up the PI business in an effort to make his relationship with Tinnie Tate work. She’s been an on-again off-again love interest since book one and they’ve decided to get married even if they never quite get around to setting a date. Perhaps the reason they haven’t set the date is that they are making each other miserable, but that’s an issue for later in the novel. What happens right from the beginning is that Garrett and Tinnie are attacked in their home and immediately thereafter they learn that Garrett’s best friend, Morley Dotes, has been stabbed and is dying and needs Garrett’s help. If there weren’t already signs that Garrett’s relationship with Tinnie was in trouble, the proof comes right then. Tinnie doesn’t want Garrett to help Morley and Garrett understands that that is because Tinnie wants everything in Garrett’s life to revolve solely around her. It’s sad and it’s clear that if the series is going to continue, Garrett and Tinnie’s relationship can’t survive the book.

 

But that’s still a problem for later in the novel. First Garrett has to keep Morley alive and that involves protecting him from the people who tried to kill him. Unfortunately, Morley’s been out of the PI business for a couple of years. His city has changed. There are new players and he is out of practice and making dumb mistakes. It takes time for him to start get his groove back and he’s hampered by the need to never leave Morley’s side, but slowly, a huge problem in the city begins to get uncovered. Someone is creating zombie monsters by stitching pieces of people and things together like Dr. Frankenstein. It’s creepy. It’s dangerous. And it’s still not the whole picture because someone on the Hill is trying to cover the whole thing up and the effort to do so involves not just the king but law-and-order’s former champion, Prince Rupert. The Prince is so determined to cover up the mess that he is willing to dismantle the City Guard that he has spent a great many books constructing to accomplish his end.

 

Somewhere near the heart of the problem, but not actually directly involved, is Garrett’s new potential love interest, a very powerful sorceress called Furious Tide of Light. Her family keeps showing up in connection to the zombies and she is both determined to find out why and terrified of the answers. She’s also decided that Garrett is going to be her man and despite feeling guilty about Tinnie, Garrett is interested.

 

This one has all the things that makes the Garrett Files great. It’s a fantastic mystery. There is a very serious threat to Garrett and friends. And there are a couple of emotionally powerful subplots. My only complaint, is that Garrett moves on too quickly from Tinnie, but frankly, this is in keeping with his character even if it was a little disappointing.