It's an easy shot I know, but true nonetheless, to say that The Tin Man has no heart. The hero of The Tin Man, Patrick McLanahan, is an ex-secret agent turned executive of an extremely hi-tech company that develops top secret military weapons. One of their newest weapons is a soft and supple cloth that, when struck with any force, instantly becomes hard, unyielding and completely indestructible. When Patrick's brother Paul, a rookie police officer, is critically injured by drug dealers Patrick dons a suit and helmet made from this new material to avenge his brother as a vigilante dubbed by the police as the Tin Man.While this wasn't so much a bad book as a disappointing one I'm afraid I can't find anything really good to say about The Tin Man. The biggest problem was that none of the characters in The Tin Man seemed very realistic. To be experts in their field everyone, from the bad guys to the good guys, seemed inept and were always on the edge of getting killed or getting caught. And as for all the personalities involved in The Tin Man, as I said, none of them really seemed to have any heart. Like actors in roles they don't much care for it felt as though each character was simply mouthing his lines with little or no conviction. The technology in the book was not really that innovative an idea either since the comic book character Iron Man and the television character M.A.N.T.I.S both did the armored hero schtick first and better. In addition, with all the technology at the Tin Man's disposal, especially given his military background, the fact he never carried a weapon seemed odd to me. That, along with the fact that he almost got caught or killed every single time he appeared got old really, really fast. Finally, the plot was unnecessarily complex and convoluted.
The ending left open the possibility of a sequel with one of the main characters appearing as a new and improved Tin Man, but if such a sequel ever appears I doubt I'll read it. This is definitely one bit of tin that needs to be thrown out; not recycled.
Average Grade: C-
