Tabor brushes over the task of Calloway finding Eigenstulf, and manages to track down his exact location within a sentence of the start of the chapter. I kind of thought it'd be harder. Dirk manages to bring up his backstory again, but it's never really touched on in the future. In fact, none of the characters really draw upon any of the stuff from their past. For example,we never see Carson's aunt and uncle in this entire story. As a reader, I get the feeling that more might be going on, but Tabor was in a rush to finish this draft and never bothered to fill out some of the details.
Calloway decides to take out Eigenstulf alone, with all the logic of a character deciding to stay behind and "hold them off" for all the time it takes twenty armed men to kill one (i.e., three seconds). There's a reason that Sister Cecilia supports his plan, though. And the problem with this scene, Calloway going off to face Eigenstulf, is that as a reader I know it isn't going to work. Especially since the fact they have one gun between them seems to be a problem easily remedied...in a few years, you could purchase Thompsons from Sears for twenty bucks. (They don't sell submachine guns these days...I asked).
Then we get the cool reveal that Sister Cecilia is actually possessed, when a gift from Emily Carson burns her flesh. Neat! Hawk and Emily head off to go kill Eigenstulf, and find themselves in another hostage situation, with Hawkins threatening the skull, while one of his friends is menaced. This feels a little tired. Especially since I don't know any reason why Eigenstulf (or any of the Order) would keep their little McGuffin bones in such easy to reach locations. Voldemort didn't exactly keep his Hocruxes in the trunk of his car, you know? Why not drop it off in a safe deposit box, or bury it underground in a safe, or hide in a hidden oasis guarded by a giant invisible spider (anyone know which story I just referenced?)?
Hawkins proves immune to some of Eigenstulf's magic, however, due to ignorance about his true name. I've read a very similar scene in Lies of Locke Lamora, although I know for a fact that Tabor hasn't read that particular book. An interesting bit of congruence, but for the reveal I think it needs a little more build-up. Their duel after this little reveal seems kind of forced, though, almost as if Mal and the Operative fought for another few minutes after the nerve strike fails. I think it would have been better pacing if Hawkins finished Eigenstulf then and there.
Here's a nice bit of dialogue near the end of the book, as the characters discuss the fate of the once-feared Order of the Skull:
“What, the secret society? Well, they have no leadership, and their base of operations has
been destroyed. I think that if anything will stamp them out, that would be it. I think from now
on the Order of the Skull will be relegated to a rich boy fraternity playing at occult and
superstition. Even so, I wouldn’t rule out another apocalyptic cult waiting in the wings, ready to
take advantage of void. I don’t think anything will ever change that.”
So true, so true. And the story quickly brings us the epilogue, with Hawk returning to get his money from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Oh, yeah, that motivation, that I as a reader had completely forgotten about (well, not really, but most people would have, I think). I think it would have made Hawk and Dirk more likeable if they ended up not taking the money, but instead finding some other purpose in life than drifting. Hawk and Dirk end up talking about going into business together; then they get into another brawl. One thing is that I'm not entirely certain if Hawkins and Calloway ever really liked each other that much. They had a very caustic relationship. And the hero doesn't end up with the girl, with Hawkins and Carson going their separate ways off-screen. That's kind of disappointing. Still, the ending does make me smile, which is always nice.
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