Bookhunter/ Jason Shiga

Bookhunter by Jason Shiga. graphic novel, adventure, libraries, 70's cop shows, humor. 144 pages

I need to give a shout out to Cindy on this one, because after I confessed my inability to remember books that people recommend to me in a previous post this month, Cindy made sure to hand this book to me instead of just telling me about it. Apparently it's a popular one among the staff so I'm glad that after two years, I've been deemed "library" enough to read this gem of a graphic novel.

Shiga's "Bookhunter" draws from the tradition of 70's cop shows a la Starsky and Hutch, SWAT, Charlie's Angels et al, except instead of occurring solely on the mean streets of some geographically neutral metropolis, the story takes place mostly in a library as well as a few scenes at patron homes. Special Agent Bay is a field agent of the Library Police, whose job it is to protect and serve the books of the public library. Bay's assignment over the course of this book is to locate a missing rare bible that has been replaced with a replica.

What makes Bookhunter so great is that the stuff that Agent Bay and his cohorts do in the course of keeping the library safe for people and books alike are things that I've always daydreamed about doing while at work. Having a problem with a certain book getting stolen over and over again? No problem! Just replace it with a copy that has radioactive tracing on it and follow the trace once the book is lifted! This solution and others make for some entertaining reading.

The book also features some excellent throwbacks to the now all-but-forgotten aspects of the library including card catalogs, those nifty bookshelves that can be compressed through the spinning of a wheel on the side of the shelving unit, and of course, the bookmobile. Agent Bay utilizes these and more in his action-packed, high flying chase scenes that certainly liven up the fictional library atmosphere. I also enjoy the risky, are-you-kidding-me action moves that Bay uses reminiscent of his TV predecessors.

For those that haven't picked this one up yet, do yourself a favor. I promise it will not disappoint.