End of the World Blues

August 20, 2007
Straightforward explanations and linear plotting are in short supply in this stand-alone novel; rather, Grimwood's latest tale reads as if Kurt Vonnegut were writing manga for the producers of Doctor Who
. The story starts in near-future Tokyo, where expatriate soldier Kit Nouveau runs an Irish bar. A runaway teenage girl, Lady Neku, hides $15 million in a train station locker and then tidily kills a mugger to save Kit's life, and soon both are deeply enmeshed in multi-layered clan wars. Kit's involves a reputed yakuza syndicate, various British police and spy agencies and several of his past and present lovers. Neku's concerns the alternate reality where she's a semi-immortal princess and the incipient bride to the heir of a rival family. The connections between the two are often vague, but Grimwood (Stamping Butterflies
) stabilizes the story with uniformly compelling characterizations and vivid settings. Genre fans may find the book difficult to label, but readers with flexible expectations will find it easy to enjoy.

October 15, 2007
As the proprietor of Pirate Mary's, Tokyo's best Irish pub, Kit Nouveau is content to wait out the rest of his life and the end of the worlduntil the arrival of teenage runaway Lady Neku, who possesses $15 million and a yen for lethal behaviors. When events begin scratching the surface of Kit's own tattered past, his present becomes a lot more interesting and much more dangerous. The author of the "Arabesk" series"Pashazade; Effendi; Felaheen"demonstrates his unique approach to speculative fiction in his latest adventure in the world of inventive iconoclasm. For most libraries.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2007
Grimwoods four previous novels showed his predilection for colorful multicultural backdrops, often in the Middle East. Here he takes readers on a dizzying ride between present-day Tokyo and a future Earth shadowed by orbiting space habitats. In one of Tokyos seedier districts, British expatriate Kit Nouveau runs an Irish bar named for his ex-girlfriend, Mary, the only woman he ever really loved. When an accident destroys the bar and kills his Asian wife, Kit faces a bewildering gauntlet of questions, Oriental laws, and persistent urgings to leave Japan. Then a visit from Marys distraught mother reveals her daughters suicide and initiates a chain of events Kit could never have predicted. Trying to mend her own complicated problems, a girl from another time line steps through a temporal rift and finally gives Kit a reason for living. The odd, occasional visits to the far future in a novel that pays closer attention to our contemporary world may not suit everyones tastes, but Grimwood continues to distinguish himself as one of sfs most original authors.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)