The Silver Hearted: A Novel
McConnell (The Firebrat) delivers an inventive if slightly flat tale of intrigue set in a volatile near future as an unnamed narrator is tasked with protecting a mysterious and valuable load of cargo. When his latest hideout gets attacked, the narrator pays teenage sailor Topher to take him on and help him transport and safeguard the cargo. The narrator's erotic attraction to Topher grows, and soon they discover the crates contain a vast load of silver that constitutes a not inconsiderable fortune in the revolutionary times. A flurry of thin secondary characters attempt to undermine the protagonist's faith in Topher, who, meanwhile, may have a number of enemies from his past tracking them, as well. The best parts of this novel are its descriptions of the pursuit and hunts, and while the port city locals are convincingly gritty, the distance McConnell leaves between character and reader makes it difficult to connect.(Feb.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.