The Sand Man

It took me a while to find the free time necessary to write it, but I have just posted my joint review of Max Allan Collins and Matthew V. Clemens’ first couple of John Sand espionage novels—Come Spy with Me and Live Fast, Spy Hard—in January Magazine. Their third installment in that series was just published last week.

My critique reads, in part:

Collins and Clemens aren’t trying to imitate [Ian] Fleming. Obvious fans of the espionage-fiction genre, they are seeking to add their own idiosyncratic twists to it. By the nature of the story being told, Sand must be brutal with the bad guys, but his relationship with [his beautiful wife] Stacey is romantic, sexy, and quite modern, in that he appreciates her brains as well as her body. And the quondam Ms. Boldt proves altogether capable when Sand needs her aid in a pinch; it’s clear she’s going to be part of any double life he returns to in the future, like it or not. The couple share plenty of ribald innuendos, and the book is filled with humor and some clever jokes at James Bond’s expense. Early on, for instance, Peter Lawford asks whether Sand would like his martini “shaken not strirred.” To which Sand snaps, “Do I care?”

You’ll find my whole review here.