STARTER VILLAIN
By John Scalzi
A Tor Paperback
279 pgs
It’s hard not to applaud writer John Scalzi’s imagination and radical sense of humor. Having read several of his sci-fi titles, he’s someone unwilling to be Pidgeon holed. From straight action adventure with futuristic military combat to diplomatic insanity among alien races who communicate emotions via flatulence. Scalzi isn’t about to be pigeon holed.
Charlie Fitzer, an out-of-work journalist, is barely making ends meet as a middle-school substitute teacher in a suburb of Chicago. That all changes when an uncle he barely knew, Jake Baldwin, dies and leaves him a strange inheritance. Via a lovely young lady named Morrison, claiming to be his uncle’s assistance, Charlie learns that his very rich relative was in actuality a villain. But not just any run-of-the-mill bad guy. No sirree, Uncle Jake was one of those super villains often found in the pages of James Bond novels.
The weirdness doesn’t end there. Morrison informs Charlie that Jake was one of many such super villains; all of whom now want to meet him and determine if he is any kind of viable threat to their current nefarious schemes. Then there are the genetically created intelligent cats who act as spies and the augmented dolphins capable of sabotaging an enemy’s fleet or naval bases.
From his boring life in Barrington, Illinois, to that of Super Villain trainee on a secret base located on a private Caribbean island, our hero’s journey is one of non-stop suspense and danger every step of the way. There does exist the possibility of a pot of gold at the end of it, but first Charlie has to stay alive to enjoy it. “Starter Villain” is wacky, hilarious fun well worth your attention. John Scalzi really is one of a kind.
