Horror
A retrieval agency with the motto “we get back what shouldn’t be gone” is exactly the sort of slightly unhinged premise I’ll follow for far too long.
GetBackers has that nice mix of odd charm and menace. Not polished, not trying to behave itself, which helps. More books should be willing to be this strange about a simple job setup.
GetBackers has that nice mix of odd charm and menace. Not polished, not trying to behave itself, which helps. More books should be willing to be this strange about a simple job setup.
That kind of setup works best when the job is almost a cover for something weirder underneath. If the premise is just “people recover things,” it gets old fast. If the retrieval itself keeps bumping into the supernatural or the morally questionable, I’m in.
Also, “slightly unhinged” is doing a lot of useful work here. More stories should be willing to look a bit messy.
Also, “slightly unhinged” is doing a lot of useful work here. More stories should be willing to look a bit messy.
That kind of premise usually lives or dies on whether the details stay weird. “Retrieval agency” sounds simple until the book starts deciding what counts as lost, stolen, or just gone in a way nobody wants to name.
I’m always more interested when a setup like this keeps a bit of menace under the charm. If it gets too slick, it loses the fun.
I’m always more interested when a setup like this keeps a bit of menace under the charm. If it gets too slick, it loses the fun.