I've read two books by Neil Grimmett now - The Hoard and The Threshing Circle - and it's interesting to see a pattern already forming, only two books into his career. Both are books about how the past informs the present; both deal with the long shadow of warfare; both deal with descendants of murder victims investigating the deaths of their predecessors; both touch on the supernatural without ever focusing on it or letting it control the book. But for all of that, there's no confusing the books, nor is it possible to feel like The Hoard is just a rehash of The Threshing Circle; indeed, it's a stronger book in most ways, and one that shows off some aspects of Grimmett's writing ability that weren't as evident in Circle. Set in an explosives manufacturing factory run by the British military, The Hoard opens with a devastating explosion that kills a slew of men for reasons not yet known. Now, some twenty years later, the son of one of those men infiltrates the plant in an effort to understand what caused the death of his father - and, more importantly, who. The Hoard has a sprawling cast and a plot that unfolds only gradually; combine that with an environment that's entirely unfamiliar to many of us, and The Hoard could easily lose a reader. And yet, the book works, and that's largely due to Grimmett's knack for making his characters engaging and interesting. From the larger-than-life union representative whose gruff exterior hides a deep love for his men to a sociopathic police enforcer to a survivor whose mental state has fractured in the wake of the accident, Grimmett populates the book with characters than stand out and help keep the story clear, even when it occasionally gets a bit too labyrinthine for its own good. And though things occasionally veer dangerously close to the cartoonish (especially in some odd moments about a martial art and some acid torture), The Hoard is still an engaging, satisfying thriller that nicely weaves together history and family ties to make a rich mystery as much about a place as it is the men who work there.
- Josh Mauthe
- Josh Mauthe
