A Bloody Business: A Review
A Bloody Good Time
I’m going to cut right to the chase. A Bloody Business by Stephen A. Roddewig is a bloody good time. If you had told me that this was a byproduct of the writers room from Archer, I’d have believed you (coincidentally, one of my all time favorite shows).
Martin Williams galavanting journeys put onto display the Author’s reverence for the subject matter. His deft hand weaves a wonderfully poignant theme throughout Martin’s journeys in Europe, Asia, and a particularly striking journey into a booming post-war America. In a stark, but well escalated, turn from the overall tone, the final chapter hits like a slug from Martin’s revolver and leaves you contemplating the nature of war and peace.
Fans of Archer, Get Smart, The Man From U.N.C.L.E, and other classic spy stories, you will love this book. It has the highest seal of approval I can give for the genre–I gave my copy to my dad.
If I had to critique anything, it would be that there are times when the inner monologue can become a little “exposition-y” (which is rich coming from me…I do it all the time). With that said, a reader less knowledgeable with the subject matter would likely appreciate it, and it’s not his fault Stephen seemingly pulled the settings straight from my Wikipedia history.
To really put it over the top, I would have liked to have seen a little more from the primary antagonist, but the relationship works well in the vein of classic spy stories.
Outside of the story, the production quality is fantastic. You can easily tell the Author took the time to create a quality work–my copy of Mistborn has more misedits and typos than this book. Additionally, it reads fast. I really appreciate it when I can rip through a good story over a long weekend, set it down, and say, “I really enjoyed that.”
Overall, I’d give A Bloody Business 4.5 stars. I have it slotted in my overall 2024 ratings right between two bestsellers: right below Dark Age by Pierce Brown, and right above The Way Of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.
Pretty good company I’d say.
Go get your copy below!
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About the Creator
Matthew J. Fromm
Full-time nerd, history enthusiast, and proprietor of arcane knowledge.
Here there be dragons, knights, castles, and quests (plus the occasional dose of absurdity).
I can be reached at [email protected]
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Comments (5)
This review now has a place of honor on the book's landing page 😎: https://stephenaroddewig.com/a-bloody-business/ Thank you again for all the amazing support!
Loved this review and thoroughly enjoyed the book! I got the Archer vibes too. Though Martin is slightly more compassionate and likeable lol. Great job, sir!
I bought a copy several months ago and enjoyed the hell out of it. It's satisfying in a weird way knowing the personality who wrote the book. I guess, because, I can't message Stephen King if I had a question or wanted to give praise, but I can with Stephen Roddewig! Your review was spot on and professional. And yes, I'm one of those readers less knowledgeable in the 'exposition-y' subject matter, so I wouldn't have picked up on that critique. Stephen's the man!!!
This is good to know! Great review!
Now this was a sunbeam on a gloomy day. "If you had told me that this was a byproduct of the writers room from Archer, I’d have believed you" is going into future marketing materials for sure. Quick summaries that catch the person's attention and relate back to an IP they already know and love are gold. And I appreciate the critique just as much as the rest! I was definitely trying to balance the desire to not bore readers by producing a textbook while not leaving those who don't walk around with our (yours and my) encyclopedic knowledge of history in the dark. And any time someone wants to see more of a character (or anything else), that's always a good thing! So thank you for sharing your candid thoughts, here and on Amazon. And glad you found it worthy of your time and money. That's always my goal 🙂