Wild Cards VI Book

I started this book not knowing what to expect. The Puppetman triad up until this point hadn't had the structure and dramatic build-up of the Astronomer/Swarm triad preceding it. Worrying me more was the fact that I had not yet been sold on the mosaic novel format. Jokers Wild (which, to be fair, was the first mosaic novel ever written), while a very good novel when at its best, felt, at its worse, like the novelization of a PBeM roleplaying game.

And so I started reading Ace in the Hole. I was hoping for, though not necessarily expecting, a cracker of a conclusion.

On the first page, a mysterious short joker hires a certain sociopathic ace to kill a certain evil politician. Just a few pages later, and I found out that Jack Braun, aka Golden Boy, was a PoV character.

It just got better from there.

Yeah, this one's a cracker. Unlike Jokers Wild, it's tightly focused, with only 5 authors (to JW's 7), and without the distracting B plot (and C plot) which plagued the first mosaic novel. Jokers Wild was a classic case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. Ace in the Hole, by contrast, fools you into thinking htere's only one supercook, and damn is that broth delicious.

As for the plot: it's 1988, and the Democratic National Convention is convening (I watched both the 2012 RNC and the 2012 DNC on TV while I was reading this). In addition to the historical figures who actually ran in that election, there are two fictitious men - Senator Gregg Hartmann, a massively popular (Obama-like) figure who's running on a platform of joker's rights, and Reverend Leo Barnett, a charismatic southern preacher, who wants to lock up jokers "for their own good".

As for the PoV characters:

Puppetman (the secret ace) is campaigning to be president.
Dr. Tachyon and Golden Boy are both campaigning for Senator Hartmann.
Sara Morgenstern is out to expose Puppetman as the secret ace he really is.
Demise has been contracted to kill Puppetman.
Mack the Knife is out to kill whoever Puppetman wants him to kill.

Needless to say, all hell breaks loose. There are some absolutely classic ace vs. ace fight scenes, as we see Golden Boy, Demise, Mack the Knife, Carnifex, and others do what they do best. Then there's the ending. Hooooooo shiiiiit the ending. The ending is beyond screwed up and one of the coolest things I've ever read.

This book is what Wild Cards is all about.