Father Christmas brought be Red Country, and I was glad to have something to read, to take my mind off the flu I got for the New Year. Oh, I've posted about that already, have I?
   Well, Red Country is a solid effort. There's lots of humour, some of it very black; and lots of action, most of it very grisly; and lots of memorable characters, most of which get killed off by some of the grisly action. I thoroughly enjoyed it and have only one minor carp - that I was never in any doubt that the 'goodies' (a loose description, this, as you'll see if you read the book) were going to come through all their trials and tribulations and triumph in the end. This they duly did, so no surpises there.
   Oh, and another faint worry I have is that there seems to be very little that's good in the world Joe describes. Everything is broken, dark, unsavoury, rotten... you get the picture. I guess it didn't really occur to me as I was reading the book, but it did occur to me afterwards.
   But all in all, a solid effort and well worth a read if grisly black-humoured fantasy is your cup of tea.