Hard Luck Hank: Frankly

Read Time: 2 Minutes

Hard Luck Hank: Frankly, written by Steven Campbell, is book 9 in the Hard Luck Hank series and the eighth overall I’ve bought. I skipped over book eight because it was all about Garm, and while she works as a great side character, I couldn’t find myself interested enough to buy a whole book about her. This one, though, returns somewhat true-to-form Hank that we know and love. All, well, most of the old crew are still about. Except for Frank, but nobody cared about him, right?

One odd inconsistency from previous books is that the space station seems to have lost five miles off its 15×15 mile square design. Not that it’s that big of a deal, but nine books in, you’d think the author would have the basic details memorised.

Strange things are afoot on Belvaille. Something is wrong with the portals. The telescopes are under attack. People keep dying in horrible ways… and the criminal organisation known as the Cartel is up to something shady.

Unlike the other books in this series which often left me guessing wrong about what or who was behind things going bad for Hank, this one was a lot more obvious from the get-go. No spoilers, but it was a lot more straightforward plot than previous adventures.

The other thing that kind of annoyed me is that, unlike all the other books that wrap up nicely, this one finished feeling half-done. I recall looking at the timestamp dwindling towards the finish line and wondering how the hell it would all wrap up. The answer, of course, is that it didn’t, which left me feeling a little cheated. That said, I’ll for sure be continuing on with the next book because this is one of my all-time favourite series.

I won’t go too much into the narration by Liam Owen as I’ve made my thoughts about his voice style clear in previous reviews, and that hasn’t changed. Some sloppy editing stuck out more in this, with line retakes left in the finished product in multiple areas.

Overall, a good addition to the Hank series. Never one to shy away from giving the universe a big old shake up, Steven Campbell managed to reinvent Belvaille yet again.