Review: A refreshing mix of genres
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 9, 2014
William Meikle's latest novella is a superb mixture of noir and horror.  Joe Connors is an internal affairs officer, and his latest case is would up tightly with his past - his former partner has turned up dead, and his killer appears to be another cop.  As Joe digs deeper into the case, the reason he and his former partner had a falling out becomes the center of the investigation, and events take a turn for the weird.Meikle shows his mastery of short-form fiction with this story.  Events move forward at a brisk pace and not a single word feels wasted or out of place.  Connors is an interesting and nuanced character, and while paying homage to the great "heroes" of noir fiction, Meikle is not trapped by them and offers his own interpretation of the genre with his protagonist.Part of me wishes this story were longer, but that's mostly because I want more of a good thing.  On an intellectual level I realize Broken Sigil is exactly as long as it needed to be, and that's good enough for me.