House Read – Tomorrow the Killing

What I’m Reading: Tomorrow the Killing by Daniel Polansky
Published: Hodder & Stroughton, 2012
Read This: while contemplating past mistakes.

Tomorrow the Killing was one of the books I wanted to read for the March Take Control of Your TBR Pile Challenge over on Caffeinated Book Reviewer, and I did! Yay me! Now, I have two more books to read before the end of the month.
This is the second book in the Low Town trilogy and ties the most closely to the Great War. Polansky’s decision to mirror WWI in his secondary world fantasy is one of the most interesting things I’ve seen done in fantasy literature in a long time.

Tomorrow the Killing focuses in on the Warden’s experience in the war through a series of flashbacks interspersed with a current case. The daughter of the best general from the war has gone missing. She’s somewhere in Low Town investigating the murder of her brother ten years earlier.
Her brother started the Veterans Association, which is gearing up for a huge protest. Ten years ago, it was on the verge of starting a revolution before its leader was found dead outside one of the roughest brothels in Low Town. The death of the charismatic figurehead turned the VA from a virtual cartel into something more like a social club, but new tensions, and the disappearance of the founder’s sister, might rekindle the revolutionary impulses of the membership.
The Warden’s situation is complicated by three things. First, his best friend is being courted as a new figurehead for the VA’s protests. Second, Wren, his apprentice is in desperate need of training for his magical abilities before they burn out his brain. And third, the death of Roland Montgomery was suspiciously convenient and the Warden knows more about what happened ten years ago than he wants to remember.

I really enjoyed this installment of the series, although it is much bleaker than the first book. But, that’s true to it’s noir styling. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it is beautifully crafted.