From Hell With Love: A Secret Histories Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Eddie Drood never was comfortable being head of the Family and so he relinquished that burden promptly enough once the Hungry Gods war got done. FROM HELL WITH LOVE, the fourth novel in Simon R. Green's Secret Histories series, finds Eddie back to being just another field agent and this time assigned to Los Angeles. In "Hell A," Eddie hooks up with a family member, Luther Drood, as they attempt to bust into a dark and strange, highly exclusive auction and obtain an item on the auction list, the Apocalypse Door, this insidious device which the Droods alarmingly know little of. But Eddie and Luther bollock things up in a big way, even if only a smidgen of it were actually their fault. But their not completing the mission would have grave repercussions. End of the world type repercussions.

Simon R. Green's audacious, go for broke schtick never gets old for me, although he's done this over and over in his writing career. As always, one of his chapters presents enough wild ideas to satisfy other fiction authors for an entire book. I even like that Green occasionally inserts these bits of non-sequitur, some past adventure or anecdote which has nothing to do with the current story thread, and yet they serve to flesh out Eddie Drood's very improbable world. Green jampacks his books with widescreen and extremely violent acts of derring-do (my favorite action bit may be of how Eddie disposes of one frightening dragon), and Green's all over the place in terms of introducing vile, loathly creatures in need of slaying and despicable arcane artifacts in need of safeguarding or destroying. A villain in the piece is one of those patented mad scientists, but this one historically had been more of a low-rent nuisance than a bonafide threat. Except now Doctor Delirium has gotten a hold of the Apocalypse Door. But Doctor Delirium would turn out to be the least of Eddie Drood's concerns. Returning from his eff-up in Los Angeles, Eddie's world is topsy-turvied by a murder of devastating consequences. For one thing, it implicates his wild witch girlfriend, Molly Metcalf. And for the Drood family, the other shoe finally drops. Although, as crazy things have been happening to the Droods of late, this is probably, like, the fifth other shoe to drop. But it's a big one.

The Drood family had been working in the shadows for who knows how long now, striving to keep the world safe from harm, staving off apocalypse time and again. Because of the vast networks accessible to the Droods, they have become the de facto secret rulers of the world. Or, if not exactly ruling the world, at least influencing it behind the curtain. In this volume Simon R. Green unveils the flip side to the Droods. There have always been murmurs circulating amongst the unnatural world, this unfounded urban myth, about a malignant race of Immortals. Eddie Drood comes to find that the Immortals are worryingly real, that they are in fact the dark counterparts to the Droods. Worse, that while the Droods had been covertly putting their stamp on history, the Immortals had infiltrated the Droods and had been all along pulling the strings. This makes the Drood family vulnerable to an attack from within. And you know it happens.

I think it's cool that Green seems to be be placing his various series into this one shared reality. The prior entry in the Secret Histories, THE SPY WHO HAUNTED ME, featured John Walker from the Nightside series, and here Green makes further mention of Nightside and even of Shadows Fall. And, in DAEMONS ARE FOREVER, he'd even found a way to tie in the Deathstalker books. That is some comprehensive world building.

Moorcock to Lumley to Green. British authors who deal in lovely bombastic storytelling. Just about everyone of Simon R. Green's characters are stylish and larger than life, each prone to speaking in hyperbole or making grandiose statements, and our protagonist is as guilty of this as anyone. When an enslaved kobold tries to put Eddie in his place, Eddie, in the middle of storming the enemy's stronghold, airily declares: "I'm a Drood. Other people do the dying." Green's characters are so dipped in ego they should just all become television wrestlers.

The writer isn't so keen to inject character development, but, oboy, are there plenty of plot developments. Still, how can you not get curious about folks with fetching names like the Armourer, the Waking Beauty, Springheel Jack, and, er, Ethel? Simon R. Green continues to spin tales rife with super-science and eldritch magics and also the occasional dark humor. Eddie Drood's adventures continue to achieve this grand scale. The Secret Histories aren't my favorite books by this author (that would be BLUE MOON RISING and SHADOWS FALL). The Secret Histories fall just a tier below on my list, and Eddie Drood isn't as contemplative or rich in character as Prince Rupert or Owen Deathstalker. But he's grown on me, and irregardless of that alarming cliffhanger ending, I'm assured he'll be back in the next sequel FOR HEAVEN'S EYES ONLY. Okay, if there's one thing I can't stand about this series, it's those cheesily cheesy book titles.

I love Simon R. Green's books. I started with Blue Moon Rising (Darkwood) nearly 20 years ago and have been able to rely on his books ever since for great monsters, lots of action and likable heroes with their own harsh definition of honor and justice. It's not literature, it's fun swashbuckler action and some of the best urban fantasy around.
This series though has rapidly become my favorite. The Drood family protects us all, they are the secret masters of the world and Edwin Drood, known as Shaman Bond to his friends and Eddie to the people who love him is a family rebel who really does want to protect people, even from his family. Various events have made the family aware there is another family that's been around as long as they have, and they aren't friendly. I don't like doing summaries of books because sometimes they give away too much of the plot.

I liked it. Green can be a bit predictable as a writer, but it makes him reliably enjoyable if you do like his work. I've liked the relationships in all his books, but Molly Metcalf is my favorite of all his romantic leading ladies. This book can stand alone, but you'll probably prefer to read from the beginning if you haven't and get to know the characters.

The Drood family has always specialized in thwarting deranged maniacal magic-using megalomaniacs who want to take over the world.

But what can they do about an organized "Anti-Drood" organization that is as old as they are, and has spies in their ranks? Simon R. Green tackles that weighty idea in "From Hell With Love," his fourth Secret Histories novel -- a sometimes confusing tangle of magical battles, shapeshifters, spies and impending world destruction.

First off, Eddie is sent to L.A. to stop the small-time villain Dr. Delirium at a magical auction... only to have Delirium make off with the aptly-named Apocalypse Door. And after he returns back to the Droods' vast mansion, the Matriarch is brutally murdered in her bed, throwing the Droods into mass confusion and chaos -- as well as a berserker rage that causes them to attack Molly.

Eddie suspects that the mysterious Immortals -- an ancient clan who have served as the "anti-Droods" throughout history -- are behind it all, but the Drood Library is suspiciously devoid of information on then. The Immortals have slipped "flesh-dancing" spies into the Droods' ranks, and plan to destroy the Droods and harness the Door's power... unless Eddie destroys them first.

We have Springheel Jack, a woman immortalized by endless waking, a talking dragon head, the Spawn of Frankenstein and a Droodlike family of immortal sociopaths. Yeah, this is definitely a Simon R. Green book. But "From Hell With Love" is a darker story than the previous Secret Histories novels -- especially since the Droods suffer the biggest losses we've seen yet.

And Green packs the entire book with a harrowing string of gruesome battles that leave countless Droods dead or wounded, as well as a bleak sense of paranoia over what spies have wormed their way into "the family." His writing is tight and colorful, and his usual sense of humor is in place (Eddie deals with a legendary, unkillable dragon by... grabbing the inside of its tail and pulling it inside out. EW).

And Eddie has a rougher time in this book than he has since the first book of this series -- the Droods still regard him with scorn and suspicion, and he seems to have lost the person closest to his heart. Green also fleshes out the Armourer by revealing more about his personal life, and the sacrifices he has made for the Droods; and we also get the cruel Immortals, who are the dark twins of the Droods.

The downside? A couple of plot threads are left dangling (Roger's trip to Hell), and Green himself leaves us dangling with a hair-ripping, finger-gnawing cliffhanger. Oh come on, I suffered through an almost identical cliffhanger once this year already!

Simon R. Green splashes his Secret Histories series with a healthy dose of blood, mayhem and paranoia in "From Hell With Love".... but honestly, that cliffhanger is just cruel!

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