The Graveyard Game    by Kage Baker Order:  USA  Can Harcourt Brace, 2001 (2001) Hardcover Read an Excerpt     Reviewed by Wesley Williamson This is the fourth book in the Zeus Company series, progressing in time from Elizabethan England (The Garden of Iden) to pre-conquest Americas (Sky Coyote) and finally to 1862 California (Mendoza in Hollywood). This latest novel in the series has its principal locale also in California, but sadly without Mendoza, who has been banished Back Way Back by the Company for her efforts to save her reincarnated mortal lover, the Englishman Edward Alton Bell-Fairfax. It begins in 1996, with Lewis, 'a dapper man with the appearance of someone who has wandered out of a Noel Coward play', who is Mendoza's closest, indeed only, friend. He meets the Facilitator Joseph, who recruited Mendoza from the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition. They commence, very carefully and very cautiously, to try to find out what happened to Mendoza, and to resolve the mystery of her recurring English lover. Over the centuries, they dangerously uncover more and more of the Company's dark and hidden secrets, as they draw closer to the final mystery, the silence after 2355. Their quest provides interest and excitement enough, but the absence of Mendoza significantly reduces the interest of the story. Also the powers not only of the Company, but of the immortals, seem to have been suddenly increased (unless there were subtle hints in the previous books which I have overlooked). Baker always provides a good read, but this latest was not quite up to her usual standard. I hope that the next in the series provides resolution and that the author then moves on to a new universe, which I anticipate with enthusiasm. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more SF books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews