Into the Thinnest of Air
Author: Simon R. Green
Reviewer: Gikany and Una
Rating: B
What We’re Talking About:
After the revelation in the previous Ishmael Jones novel, we were surprised by Into the Thinnest of Air. We weren’t expecting an intermission.
Simon Green’s witty mystery/suspense series with a science-fiction twist has fascinated us for four novels. Ishmael and Penny brave the strange and horrific, sleuthing out the culprit(s) while maintaining witty banter. After the hint given in the previous book we had hoped to learn more about Ishmael’s mysterious past or see if Ishmael decides to dig into it. What we didn’t expect is for Penny to surprise him with a holiday weekend.
Into the Thinnest of Air felt like a break in the overarching plot of Ishmael’s past. Penny and Ishmael go into the country for a fun weekend, visiting a group of Penny’s father’s old friends. However, nothing for them is ever as it seems and people begin to disappear after dinner. With no bodies to examine and nothing in the way of clues left, Penny and Ishmael are lost as they try to figure out what is going on. The majority of the novel is mostly the remaining members of the group arguing about if the disappearances are the work of the supernatural or a more mundane monster. This group of friends is made up of a handful of once young-dreamers now resigned middle-aged adults chained to the fate that a bad decision left them. The revelation of the mystery is as fascinating as it is chilling heinous, but it felt as if Penny and Ishmael spent most of the novel either chatting, arguing, or running around in circles. As a standalone mystery, it is interesting but as the next novel in this series, we were a bit let down.
Although this is our least favorite story in this series, we still really like this series and are eager to see what happens in the next installment. The mystery/drama may have been a little lackluster, but the humor and wit was still strong. Hopefully it will be less a battle of words and suspicions and more battling of the evil forces in the world in the upcoming story. Our fingers are crossed that more of Ishmael’s background will come into play in the next Ishmael Jones novel.
Our Rating: B, Liked It
About the Book:
Ishmael Jones and his partner Penny are attending the re-opening of Tyrone’s Castle, an ancient Cornish inn originally built by smugglers. Over dinner that night, the guests entertain one another with ghost stories inspired by local legends and superstitions. But it would appear that the curse of Tyrone’s Castle has struck for real when one of their number disappears into thin air. And then another . . .
Is the inn really subject to an ancient curse? Skeptical of ghost stories, Ishmael believes the key to the mystery lies in the present rather than the past. But with no bodies, no evidence and no clues to go on, how can he prove it?
Release Date: March 1, 2018
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Series: Ismael Jones #5
Genre: Sci-fi/Mystery
Format(s): Hardcover (167 pages), e-book
Book Source: Purchased with our own funds
Purchase Info:
Amazon
Reviews in the Series:
Death Shall Come by Simon R. Green (Ishmael Jones #4)