Yeah, no. I liked the original story, but this one tries to incorporate a hardboiled PI - and fails. Now I don't like hardboiled PI stories, but one where the protagonist is aware of the tropes and looking to imitate them is actually worse. This is basically all Humph, plus a Norm called Harry and a Lorelei - Fred and Skinny Jim barely get a look-in (and it's Skinny Jim I like best). Humph getting philosophical, musing about his broken heart, and getting shot at by an incredibly dangerous and incompetent enemy. They're so dangerous all of his contacts are scared silent - or just dead; they're perfectly willing to gun down crowds of people; but when given a shot at the people they're really supposed to be killing, they...miss. Storm troopers is the trope, though that didn't occur to me until just now. It's a weird mishmash of cliches and tropes, that...really doesn't come together as a story for me. I'm disappointed, I enjoyed the first one and hoped I'd found a good series to follow, but - yawn. I might look at another one if I come across it, but I won't be seeking it out. ( )