A Matter Of Death and Life

3.5★s A Matter Of Death And Life is the second book in the Gideon Sable series by British science fiction and fantasy-author, Simon R. Green. With his focus on rescuing Annie Anybody from the clutches of Thief Of Time, Sebastian Hargrave, who has imprisoned her inside a photograph in his Gallery of Ghosts, Master Thief Gideon Sable is distracted and the pair are unexpectedly abducted during their escape by the minions of a former client/foe.

Judi Rifkin demands they procure for her the Masque of Ra, fabled to give the owner eternal life. That will require a trip to Las Vegas, where the masque sits on display in the Khuffu Casino, the possession of old-time mobster Saul Montressor. Judi promises five million pounds and a wiping clean of the slate, but Gideon has his own reasons for stealing Saul Montressor's prize possession.

Gideon and Annie (in one of her many guises) set off to gather the team together. This entails more than a quick phone call or two: every lead, every piece of information costs, in future favours and promises. Tracking down the Damned (Lex Talon), the Wild Card (Johnny Wild) and a substitute for the Ghost, Switch It Sally, involves a talking mirror, a Rogue Angel, gun-toting guards at a wine-tasting, and lots of fast-talking.

Before the team comes home with the goods, the story takes a few twists and turns, and features a lot of crazy characters, many of them vengeful, Nazi werewolves, a very handy skeleton key, a time pen, a capturing camera, the Moonlight Express train, a crystal eye, a phantom phone, ghosts, large reptiles, and an Egyptian mummy. There are plenty of clever tricks as each of the team exercises their unique powers.

The books of this series are a little predictable, seeming to follow a formula where just gathering the team occupies half the novel and involves multiple challenges or fights: no encounter is benign or unremarkable. "'Tell me you've got a plan.' I grinned at her. 'I've always got a plan' repeats like a chorus throughout. But there's plenty of humour, especially in the banter between the characters, Best enjoyed by just going with the flow. This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Canongate Severn House.