Anti-Hero by Jonathan Wood
The M137 is the government agency that has the tiresome job of protecting citizens from anything unusual, strange or plain weird. Arthur Wallace is one of these brave souls who stops cyborg wizards and aliens from doing far too much damage to the world. This isn't all Arthur has to face; his co-workers make him crazy and his new co-director wants to axe him from his job.
From the author of No Hero and Yesterday's Hero, Anti-Hero pits Agent Arthur Wallace against some of the stranger monsters anyone could imagine. Arthur doesn't have to face the world alone though, he has Agent Gran to help him when the government department is in trouble and Arthur has to go to Area 51. If readers thought that was it, they would be in for a surprise as Arthur has other strange things to deal with on his journey. Arthur after the first page is a guy who has plenty to deal with in h is life, Felicity is his boss who is also is girlfriend, Kayla is a Scottish sword -wielder and Tabitha is a Pakistani Goth who doubles as a damn good researcher. A peculiar bunch them might seem along with several versions of a man called Clyde who comes in very handy when needed. A Drone disturbing a rather sombre funeral is only the beginning of an adventure for Arthur and his friends.
In No Hero, Arthur Wallace was a cop, a decent one in fact who always considered himself to be a non hero until he sees tentacles coming out of a corpse. This is when he is recruited for M137 who want him to be the hero he's used to only seeing in movies. In Yesterday's Hero, his motivation to save the world takes him to new places and meeting new people who he has yet to find out are either friend or foe. You don't need to read far to discover this novel, like the others is one hell of a comedy. The chapters are short and have funny titles like: "Just Before Jet-Lag Wins," and "Several Mind-Blowings Later."
Arthur knows he has a calling, but the way it is written for his part leads you to believe he could complain for England about all the problems he is going through. His moans about the rather uncomfy seats on a top notch flight made me laugh almost uncontrollably. Even Wood's description of characters and situations are humorous without forcing it After only reading four chapters, I could see that this novel, like the others makes Jonathan Wood into the new Douglas Adams with his own Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy style romp.
