Book Review: DARKEST HOUR by Mark C. Jones

First in the "Tin Can Tommies" alt-history series.

One of the better film directors of my lifetime is Joe Johnston, a guy who probably gets less credit than he deserves for his work. He directed such favorites as The Rocketeer for Disney, Captain America: The First Avenger for Marvel, and Jumanji for TriStar. He also helmed Jurassic Park 3, so they’re not all winners, but the point is the guy has major pulp chops, and more importantly, he knows how to put heart into a spectacle.

I kept thinking of those Joe Johnston films as I read TIN CAN TOMMIES: DARKEST HOUR, a novel that I’d picked up as a cheap eBook forever ago and finally got around to reading. Once I dug in, I started kicking myself for not grabbing it sooner. It’s so much fun, and it takes itself just seriously enough to transcend its low-effort peers in the pulp-alt-history genre.

Lamentably this title is no longer available in the ebook format no matter where I look. Not sure what’s going on there, but the paperback is available most everywhere.

I mean damn dude, dig on that cover. Soak that up for a minute. You good? Cool. Flip it open and let’s see what’s inside.

The Story

The eponymous “Tommies” are a squad of heavy robots originally sent into military duty in World War One. They saw action at the Somme. While they were somewhat effective, their development was expensive and protracted, so by the time the war ended there was no need to make more. The project was shelved and nearly forgotten.

Then World War Two broke out, Dunkirk happened, and suddenly England needed an army. That would take too long to assemble (thanks, Chamberlain) so Churchill decided on new tactics: needle Hitler wherever possible, slow him down, and hinder his ability to wage total war on the British Isles until they could commit real martial power to the fight.

And wouldn’t you know it, we’ve got this unit of dusty old robots lying around from WW1, maybe we can whip them into shape…

Now, that’s a solid enough premise for me. I’ve read enough history to know that the real Churchill signed off on the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (which is about to get a film treatment from Guy Ritchie, starring Henry Cavill) and that’s a cool enough story all on its own. Still, pushing that aside and throwing in mother freaking dieselpunk robots is exactly my speed and I’m here for the ride.

But it’s impossible to tell you more about the story without first telling you about…

The Characters

The Tommies themselves used to be more in number, but they don’t all function. We have to get by with just four, and they have names: Lancaster, who’s a ranked sergeant; Spitfire and Hurricane, who are dutiful little soldiers; and Mosquito, who’s a little more cunning than the rest.

They have distinct enough personalities to tell them apart, while still being mechanical enough to seem not-quite-human. You get a little bit of the “Do I have a soul?” stuff from them, which I think is usually interesting to address in robot stories, but the author doesn’t waste too much time on that, which I appreciate.

Really though, the Tommies are subordinate to their human officers, Jack Stone and Billy Bragg, both survivors of Dunkirk who have to learn how to work with the idiosyncrasies of the robots. They get help from Hot Female Mechanic, the ‘Agent Carter’ of the book, Cammy. She’s a very likable character though; she knows what she’s doing as far as the robots are concerned, and she’s not afraid to get dirty with power tools as part of her job, but she doesn’t surrender her femininity either.

While the Allies have Churchill and the Axis has Hitler (both appearing in the story), the real power-player is a Nazi officer named Morder who had his skin burned off in battle. As a result he can no longer feel pain, and this makes him an obvious terror in combat. The Tommies make progress against the Axis, so Hitler sends his secret weapon Morder against them, and the real clash of the book takes shape there.

By the end, I really loved these characters. They were all well done and had meaningful motivations, including the robots. Their story is a fun romp through real historical events, culminating in a showdown between Morder and Jack Stone, with the robots dividing their loyalties along the way.

The World

Ours, in the 1940s, with a few obvious technological differences, but nothing overwhelming. The Tommies were a secret project of WW1, and that’s all.

The Politics

Nothing, really. Allies versus Nazis, that’s it.

Content

The odd swear word here and there, nothing worse than a middling PG-13.

Who’s it for?

Fans of dieselpunk, Churchill, WW2, robots, alternate history.

Why read it?

For the same reason I recommend anything to you: it’s fun, and it moves very swiftly. Also, there’s been a sequel in development for some time? The eBook suggests that it was due out 2022 but I haven’t found it yet, and ‘Mark Jones’ is a common enough name to make it difficult to track him down. Hopefully this review sends all y’all running to pick up a copy so the sales boost gets his attention. Check it out!