Broken Meats

A Harry Stubbs Adventure

By: David Hambling

Narrated by: Gethyn Edwards

Weird things lurk in the dark streets of London in 1925.

After a bizarre shooting incident, Harry Stubbs, former heavyweight boxer and sometime debt collector, is coerced into helping a visitor from Shanghai. Mr Yang, an agent of the feared Si Fan Society with unusual powers, is seeking information about a dead man.

Roslyn D'Onston was a journalist and black magician - and a leading suspect in the Jack the Ripper killings. D'Onston has been dead for 13 years. But exactly how dead is he now?

When Yang joins a cell of renegade Theosophists for a seance, things start to go terribly wrong and Harry finds himself caught in a battle between occult powers, with strange enemies and stranger friends. It will take all his deductive skills - and skill at throwing a killer punch - to survive against the all-too-real arts of necromancy....

Broken Meats is the sequel to The Elder Ice, described by critic ST Joshi as having "smooth-flowing prose, crisply delineated characters, effective portrayal of the historical period, and a powerful horrific climax".

©2015 David Hambling (P)2017 David Hambling

Broken Meats

Another enjoyable adventure with Harry Stubbs. I like the fact that Harry is an every day guy finding himself in unusual supernatural situations. I also like the time period that these series takes place. Solid performance from the narrator. I received this audio book from Audiobook Boom for my unbiased review.

Very entertaining

Very entertaining and a fun follow-up to the first Stubbs novel. Good mix of tension, humor, and enjoyable characters.

An excellent occult adventure

The HARRY STUBBS series is probably the best H.P. Lovecraft fiction which is currently on the market today with the possible exception of Andrew Doran by Matthew Davenport or my own Cthulhu Armageddon (I tell it like it is). This is because it dials down the squid and the splatterpunk horror elements so many authors dial up to return to the occult mystery element that Lovecraft's best works were famous for.

Basically, the appeal of Harry Stubbs is he's actually fairly outside of the occult weirdness of your typical Lovecraft protagonist. He often encounters cultists, the weird, and the supernatural but rarely gets face-first with the horrors of Yog-Sothoth or the Elder Things. The first book, Eldritch Ice, had him mostly deal with the attempt to get a Antarctic expedition going versus actually reaching the Mountains of Madness. Yet, this actually makes it more interesting because you never know when the other shoe will drop.

In this book, it's vaguely related to THE STRANGE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD, the Theosophy movement, seances, and Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu (except not really on that last part). Harry Stubbs is hard up for cash and ends up hiring himself out as a tour guide to a mysterious Chinese visitor who gets him involved with a man who claims to be able to raise the dead. This is after, conveniently, a local pimp claims to have murdered an already dead man in Harry Stubb's presence.

The story is good from start to finish and feels like an exceptionally well-researched Chaosium module for the old Call of Cthulhu gameline from the eighties. As for the audio, it is crisp and well done with the narrator doing an excellent job throughout.

9/10

Another great Harry Stubbs Adventure

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

I really enjoyed the first book, The Elder Ice. So, naturally I was eager for this one. Tough as nails Harry Stubbs rides again! The story was well written and is very engaging. The dialog is great and I thought the narration was perfect for the content. My only complaint is that I wish these books were longer.

David Hambling breaths life into Mythos Adventure!

If you could sum up Broken Meats in three words, what would they be?

Can't be done. The story has too many facets to chop down into three words. that is a completely preposterous question.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

As always, Harry's tale keep you completely enthralled. i cannot wait for Alien Stars: A Harry Stubbs Adventure to come out.

What about Gethyn Edwards’s performance did you like?

Normally i have an issue with an audiobook switching narration; but this guy is pretty close to the original narrator. HOWEVER, i do not like that they changed Arthur's voice, by changing the voice you changed his whole persona!!! with that said, the voice did for Mr. Yang was fantastic.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

it kept me very entertained.

Any additional comments?

If you love Mythos adventure stories, this book is for you. LOVE this series.