User:JerryFriedman/GoodGuys

Good Guys is an urban fantasy novel by the American writer Steven Brust.

Setting
The book takes place at roughly the time of publication. A small minority of people have the inborn ability to work magic. Many such sorcerers formed an organization, the Roma Vindices Mystici, whose members of the Mystici are pledged to mutual defense and do not enforce their will on fellow members. In 1931 some Mystici split off to form a smaller organization, called the Spanish Foundation, which focuses on keeping magic secret, especially by stopping people who are using it for crime, and tries to maintain some moral standards in its work.

Summary
Nick Nagorski, a former savings-and-loan employee and whistle-blower, is using magical artifacts to kill people in gruesome ways. His goal is to kill Paul Whittier, who he blames for the loss of his job and his subsequent divorce. After his first attempt to shoot Whittier was defeated by the latter's magical shield, a man Nick calls Mysterious Charlie recruited him to kill members of the Mystici who are doing evil things; Charlie told Nick killing them is necessary to remove Whittier's magical protection. Nick recounts the killings and his interactions with Charlie in the first person.

However, the main story is told from the third-person point of view of Donovan Longfellow, an expert detective who works for the Foundation. He's assigned to investigate the killings with his partner, Susan Kouris, a martial-arts expert, and a new partner, Marci Sullivan, a recently trained sorcerer on her first assignment. (The bureaucratic Foundation limits their budget and pays each of them only minimum wage plus some benefits.) Following various natural and supernatural clues, they come closer to identifying the killer and his motives and realize that someone in the Foundation is secretly involved in the killings.

At the site of the second murder (in New York) and the third murder (near Los Angeles) they are ambushed by someone trying to kill them without magic. They capture both ambushers and interrogate them in Donovan's friendly style. The ambusher in California, a dishonorably discharged Special Forces soldier named Matt Castellani, asks Donovan many questions about his description of the Foundation as the good guys. He wants to join, but Donovan says his group doesn't need Matt. Matt then makes a determined effort to join, eventually reaching the Foundation's headquarters in Madrid. Donovan's supervisor, the apparently unemotional Mr. Becker (as he's always called), and the Foundation's recruitment director, William Faucheux (who Marci remembers fondly for his help during her training), interview Matt. To Becker's surprise, William rejects Matt.

After five murders, Donovan and his team figure out that Nick's next victim will be Whittier. They go to Whittier's mansion, arriving just before Nick, an unaffiliated woman sorcerer and assassin from Tamil Nadu named Shveta Tyaga, and two hired thugs. In the confrontation, Marci is injured and Susan and the thugs are killed. Donovan captures Nick. When Whittier makes a disrespectful remark, the grieving Donovan kills him.

Donovan's retired partner tells him that Becker and another sorcerer named Charles Leong had carried out a similar vigilante action, killing sorcerers who they considered evil. The Foundation stripped Becker and Charles Leong of their magical powers. They conclude that Leong is the "Charlie" behind the current attempts. Matt, who Becker hired despite William's decision and sent too late to Whittier's mansion, joins Donovan and Marci. They capture Charlie in Atlanta, and when William and Shveta come to rescue him, Marci strips Shveta of her sorcerous powers and the team captures them both. The Foundation removes William's powers too. Donovan volunteers to execute Charles but frees him instead.

Reaction
Charles de Lint recommended 'Good Guys because of Brust's "playing with genre convention", the "fresh" feeling of the familiar elements, "his quirky and engaging cast of characters", the "bright sparks" of magic contrasted with the bureaucracies of the Foundation and the Mystici, and the "delight" of the captivating story.

Carolyn Cushman found that "plenty of action keeps the story moving" in "this offbeat fantasy thriller". Despite her annoyance at the spelling "PO-lice" in Donovan's sections, she enjoyed Donovan's "irreverent tone". She mentioned the "moral conflicts" and said Brust was in "didactic mode".

Cory Doctorow said showed all of Brust's strengths. He mentioned "snappy dialogue" and "the large cast of characters" and called the book "a tight, thrilling detective novel by way of an urban fantasy".

Themes
One theme of the book is moral ambiguity. Doctorow notes that "the Foundation may not be on the side of righteousness" and "every one of them [the characters] believes that they are the Good Guys, even though it's clear that at least some of them aren't." Cushman says, "Figuring out who the good guys are lies at the heart of this offbeat fantasy thriller." De Lint, however, says that that is not a key point of the book, and that Donovan and his team provide a "moral center". Nevertheless, he sees "many ambiguous gray areas" and describes the assassin Nick as "an understandable if not entirely sympathetic character".