Book review: The Dirty Streets of Heaven, by Tad Williams

I'm a little amused. For some reason, I was expecting a solidly written, thoroughly entertaining urban fantasy with some noir elements (a la the Dresden Files). Instead I seem to have gotten a solidly written, thoroughly entertaining noir tale with some urban fantasy elements. There's the grand bureaucracy that upholds the status quo, the conspiracy looking to overturn said status quo, the artifact MacGuffin, the Good Girl and the Dangerous Dame, and at the center of it all, the world-weary antihero with a smart mouth who's in over his head and has little in the way of superpowers other than a remarkable ability to take regular beatings and still pursue the mystery with dogged persistence. The fact that the grand bureaucracy is no less than the eternal struggle between Heaven and Hell, and that the various players are angels and demons, gives the tropes a nice twist but doesn't hide their origin much.

All that said, this *is* quite solidly written. The characters are well-drawn, and even the Dangerous Dame gets a compelling backstory (albeit seasoned with a sprinkling of uncertainty as to her truthfulness - she *is* a demon, after all). The dynamic between Bobby Dollar and his best friend Sam is one of the best parts, although his occasional interactions with wannabe-gangster Garcia left me in stitches - Williams' biggest strength is winding his characters up and letting them bounce off each other. The plot occasionally drags a tad, but he manages to get all the pieces into place and enough loose ends tied up to feel satisfying. And while (sing it with me, folks) I would have liked to see another female character with some depth, this particular tale manages to be a Boys' Own Story without feeling dismissive toward the entire gender. B