Ace Carroway and the Handsome Devil by Guy Worthey

Action and Adventure Book

Book reviews are subjective. I tend to rate books not according to how “perfect” they are, seem to be, or are said to be in general but rather to how perfect they are to me.

4 Stars

Ace Carroway and the Handsome Devil by Guy Worthey

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The adventures of World War I veteran and ace pilot Cecilia Carroway continue in Ace Carroway and the Handsome Devil by author Guy Worthey.

At this point in the series, much of what I could say would be spoiler-ish for anyone who’s not read the previous books yet. So a big point of my posting such a review is to tell readers: check out the other books in the series, then read this one, too.

Now! I will say it took a few chapters before I grasped a sense of this story’s direction. Once I caught on, though, I ate up this book as I did the previous two. I got such a kick out of seeing the whole motley gang back together again. (I mean, not “gang” as in “gangsters,” though this book does include some of those 1921 gangster types.) Besides Ace, my favorite of the bunch may be Sam. “Sahib. You should be more polite… Also, do not leave your solar plexus unguarded.” He just says the darndest things sometimes.

I dig it whenever an author has a knack for saying what I wasn’t expecting, like making a reference to “a rumpled trench coat [standing] there with an unshaven man inside it.” I appreciate the uncommon and old-fashioned flair to this story’s style, along with the fact that it’s not afraid to be a little, well…weird. I mean, come on—some mysterious man dashing about the city in a mask and a cape? For goodness’ sake! I dig it.

And as I’ve formed a habit of mentioning, Ace is one bad, bad chick. Even to the point where she borders on seeming too perfect, but then stuff comes up to show that she isn’t almighty or all-knowing after all. Ace needs help, and she has just the gang to help her! I mean, not gangsters…

But I already said that.

Here’s my review of the next book in the series, Ace Carroway and the Growling Death.

Ace Carroway and the Deadly Violin