So, the plot of this book is a pretty standard mystery story: Reporter covers accidental death and falls into massive political conspiracies. The characterization was fairly good, though some characters seemed to be little more that place-holders (the Irish cop, the beautiful elven woman). But my major issue with the book was in the details. The author clearly didn't actually do ANY research into firearms, computers or electronics, all of which play a major role in the novel and all of which are badly mis-used. In almost every important scene, the purported details of these three is so far from the reality that it broke my suspension of disbelief.

I don't usually read a lot of fiction, but this was a fun read. If you're a Clevelander and if you like Les Roberts' "Milan Jacovich" series, you gotta read this book. It was as though the author, Mr. Swiniarski, tried to import Les' mystery style into the fantasy genre -- an interesting counterposition of story types. Sometimes it was believable but at other times seemed ridiculous. There were plenty of fun Cleveland send-ups and other local "in-jokes" that would probably fly over the heads of people not from here. But the irony of making this gritty rust-belt burg into a haven of elves and dragons was generally both intriguing and amusing.

S. Andrew Swann brings a fresh voice to the fantasy genre with this novel and his no-nonsense protagonist, reporter Kline Maxwell. The Dashiel Hammett-like noir setting pervades throught the story and makes for a very enjoyable read. There are lots of lines like "(s)he had one of those personalities that tore into a room like a rototiller into a vat of Jell-O." They may be a bit hokey, but fun to read none-the-less.

One quibble is that the author misuses "irony" or "ironic" no less than a dozen times. This seems to be a plague on contemporary authors that really needs to be squashed.