Meet Eddie Drood. As a field agent for the powerful, enigmatic Drood family, he helps take care of problems that might otherwise threaten humanity. Demon possession? Werewolf attack? Rogue mage? You name it, if it’s evil and/or weird, chances are good a member of the Drood family, clad in their distinctive, invulnerable golden armor, will kick down the door and blast it to hell and back. Eddie’s one of their best agents, but he’s something of a malcontent as far as the family is concerned, actually choosing to live on his own, as opposed to with the rest of the huge family in their sprawling ancestral estate. Frankly, Eddie likes it that way. Just because he works for his family doesn’t mean he particularly likes or trusts them. And when an urgent summons brings him home, he finds out the hard way just what the Drood family does to those who don’t toe the party line, after they set him up for a suicide mission . . . which he survives against all odds.
Now, officially designated as a rogue, Eddie Drood is on the run from everything. His own family wants him dead, and they’ll stop at nothing to bring him down like a mad dog. Worse yet, there’s any number of other factions out there who would both jump at the chance to get some payback against the infamous Droods, and a chance to curry favor with that same family. You know it’s bad when the only person Eddie can trust is Molly Metcalf, a wild witch who’s tried to kill him numerous times over the years. Together, in order to figure out what’s really going on, Eddie and Molly will face off against any number of threats, before daring to challenge the Droods themselves. And in doing so, they’ll uncover a secret hidden for centuries, one which has allowed corruption to flourish at the heart of the Drood empire. Everything Eddie Drood knows is wrong, and now it’s time for some payback.
Take some James Bond, and throw in some of Green’s own Nightside, and mix liberally with the epic over-the-top action of his Deathstalker novels, and you’re somewhere in the right neighborhood for describing The Man With The Golden Torc
But before I get further distracted, let me get back on track. The Man With The Golden Torc
(Roc, 2007)
