Watchers of the Dark

Jan Darzek #2

by Lloyd Biggle Jr.

Sinister, invisible forces of a secret mental weapon known only as The Dark are threatening the entire Primores galaxy, several transmitting leaps away from Earth. By the time a bizarre Mr. Smith comes to detective Jan Darzek's New York office, whole planets have been lain waste. Darzek is offered a million dollars by Smith to accept a job that will almost certainly be fatal: identify the incredible power that is about to overwhelm the few remaining planets in the beleagered galaxy, so that these worlds might somehow halt the rampage. A superb science fiction novel by a master of the genre!

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1966

About the author

Biggle was born in 1923 in Waterloo, Iowa. He served in World War II as a communications sergeant in a rifle company of the 102nd Infantry Division; during the war, he was wounded twice. His second wound, a shrapnel wound in his leg received near the Elbe River at the end of the war, left him disabled for life.

After the war, Biggle resumed his education. He received an A.B. Degree with High Distinction from Wayne State University and M.M. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan. Biggle taught at the University of Michigan and at Eastern Michigan University in the 1950s. He began writing professionally in 1955 and became a full-time writer with the publication of his novel, All the Colors of Darkness in 1963; he continued in the writing profession until his death.

Reviews

[Alien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Privatektiv Jan Darzek nimmt einen geheimnisvollen Auftrag an. Er muss dann feststellen, dass er für Aliens arbeitet. Was die Menschheit nicht ahnt: Die Milchstrasse wimmelt von Intelligenzwesen, die friedlich zusammen leben. Doch eine mysteriöse Invasion, "die Dunkelheit" genannt, breitet sich immer mehr aus. Durzak soll mehr darüber herausfinden. Doch der Feind schläft nicht.

Der Roman hat ein paar nette Aspekte. Die Idee, dass ein paar Menschen in einem vor Aliens wimmelnden Planeten hilflos ausgesetzt sind, fand ich reizvoll. Auch gut ist, dass alle Aliens bei Biggle fremdartig und meist eklig sind. Da gibt es keine Humanoiden mit ein paar Wülsten im Gesicht. Das ganze ist flott und humorvoll geschrieben. Aber die Handlung ist halt wenig glaubwürdig. Der Autor verliert mein Vertrauen. Ich breche auf S. 86/150 ab

[Sarah Rigg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm relatively sure that I read this book after reading and being completely blown away by another Biggle book, "The Still, Small Voice of Trumpets." I don't remember "Watchers" as well, but Biggle is a wonderful mostly-forgotten writer of inventive sci-fi.

[Steve Rainwater · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume 2 of the Jan Darzek series. This time Darzek is hired by aliens to solve a mystery that threatens multiple worlds.

This book picks up right where book one ends. The Galactic Council sends a representative to Earth to hire Darzek to solve a case. They do this despite the fact that Earth is still considered an off-limits developing world and Darzek has had his memory wiped of the events in book one. Their reasoning is that they see Darzek as having experience they need. The entire galaxy is threatened by something from outside that no one can understand. They see this as being a similar situation to the one Darzek faced in book one (he solved a mystery in which something from outside the Earth threatened his client's company and he solved it in a way that left his client and the aliens happy).

Darzek takes the job and his elderly office manager, Effie Schlupe, stows away on the voyage. Working for Darzek is the only excitement she's had in life and she doesn't want to give it up. Most of the characters from book one only show up in the first couple of chapters. After that, Darzek and Schlupe are the only humans but the book introduces a wealth of new alien characters.

Like book one, this one is a quick, fun read. Recommended.

[IMHO · Rating 5 out of 5]

RECOMMENDED

"Watchers of the Dark" , continues the story of Jan
Darzek as he tries to save the Galaxy from the Dark.

[SciFiOne · Rating 5 out of 5]

1979 Grade A-
2002 Grade A-
2021 Grade B+

SciFi detective story D2. The galaxy is being attacked. Apparently the rest of the galaxy is so civilized they have to hire a crude earth detective to figure out who is doing it. Jan Darzak's main tool seems to figuratively be, poke it with a stick and see what happens.

The rating went down a bit for a couple of reasons. First I read it too soon after book 1 of the series. Second Darzak failed to investigate several routes I thought of earlier in the book. But he had reasonable excuses. For one he was pretty busy trying to survive and fit in so he could even ask questions. Despite the problems, he did eventually investigate the things I saw and solved the mystery. The book is grade A at the end.

Recommended

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really excited when I picked up this book. I had read some of his short fiction before and had been keeping an eye open for his work. Although I still found this novel to be entertaining, I was a little disappointed. Because I liked the main characters and even some of the supporting characters, but I felt a general lack of information and detail involving secondary characters. At some points the story felt rushed and beings seemed to come and go too quickly. Despite that, it's still an entertaining story and worth reading if you like the author's work or SF in general. I especially think you will like the main character of the story and his assistant. So if you find this book for a reasonable price, check it out.

[Toby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a very big fan of All the Colors of Darkness and this follow up in the Jan Darzek series filled me with hope but sadly I felt let down.

At no point did I feel like this was the same character I'd loved in the previous story, he seemed like an entirely new character with the same name. A lot of this may have had to do with the different type of adventure not requiring a sci-fi version of the hard boiled noir detective.

Of all the books I want to read right now this one was a bit of a waste of my valuable reading time.

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been my all-time favourite book for quite some time now, so I reread this with great excitement (mainly because I remembered so little of it). Having read it after All The Colours Of Darkness, this made even more sense. I loved the world-building, how Jan integrates himself into the world of galactic trading and how the mystery of the Dark itself unfurls. There's such a plethora of imagination in here that I can't help but love every minute of it. The solution to the problem can be a bit divisive, but that was the reason for the events in book 1, so it fits in book 2 quite nicely.
Still my favourite book of all time. Shame nobody's heard of it.
Grilf! Grilf!

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a romp through the galaxy with lots of aliens of a variety of shapes, sizes, and attitudes and an earthling detective who combats the mysterious Dark with humor and determination -- and with his seventy-old assistant, a sweet little old lady who is more than a match for the toughest adversary. Great fun, and intelligent writing.

[Michael Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a radical departure from the previous Jan Darzek novel. It was more of high stakes romp through the galaxy filled with unusual aliens than the hard boiled sci-fi noir detective story of "All The Colors Of Darkness". It was still an entertaining -- if a bit on the amusing side -- story, just not what I was expecting.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inventive and very entertaining.