How does Iron Man fit into my Halloween theme for this column during October? Well, there’s the easiest answer which is that my Halloween theme pretty much ended last week – but I can go with the flow a bit. Iron Man was a big hit movie two summers ago, so much so that it’s still a very popular Halloween costume – so there’s that. Femmes Fatales actually takes place during the fall of the year 2000 – so we can make that connection as well. Finally, it features HYDRA as the main antagonist – an evil organization that’s scary in its own right – so I guess this book does qualify as a continuation of my theme. Read on after the break to see what I thought of the book.

In the opening pages of Femmes Fatales, the newly installed head of SHIELD is boldly assassinated right inside his own headquarters (not yet moved to the famous Helicarrier). This sets the stage for an action packed novel with many twists and turns, revealing both the beginnings of the SHIELD organization as well as shining a light on the early days of Iron Man.

It’s publicly known that Tony Stark is Iron Man, yet he still has a business to run. He’s dealing with a Board of Directors displeased with his decision to move Stark Industries away from munitions manufacturing. His personal life isn’t faring much better – though he still has an abundance of dates, every woman he tries to get close to finds the armored chest plate that he must keep on to stay alive repulsive. So when Fury, now the new top guy at SHIELD comes calling for Iron Man’s help, Tony is all too willing to lend a hand. Fury knows that a new terrorist organization called HYDRA is responsible for the assassination attempt, and he fears they’re just ramping up for something even bigger.

And then things get personal, as HYDRA starts raiding Stark Industries assets, stealing weapons and other hardware – things that seem to have no connection to each other. Tony also becomes aware that there is a mole within his own organization, someone who is stealing secrets right out from under his nose – yet not the same kind of blatant displays HYDRA seems fond of. How can Tony connect the dots, especially when he’s constantly being called upon to don his armor and assist in thwarting another HYDRA plot, or being pulled in the direction of two equally interesting women who’ve recently entered his life.

There is a new computer professional on his staff, the beautiful Gabriella Marquez (who not surprisingly has also caught Tony’s eye), who’s working to trace these break-ins at Stark Industries. There’s also the enigmatic Kaitlin whom he meets at a charity event – the first woman to respond positively to his permanent armor. But could both of these women be more than they seem?

I found Iron Man: Femmes Fatales to be a great novel – Bob Greenberger kept me engaged and succeeded in delivering a real page turner. I never felt anything was too obvious, and was really caught up in the story. There are some inconsistencies, not within the novel, but to the source material – depending on your source. This book hews close to the Iron Man movie origin – and yet there’s differences which are closer to the original comic origin (and contradict the movie). At the same time, because of the constant shift forward in time that the Marvel universe does, while these comics originally were written in the 60’s, Greenberger has modernized them (making them more in line with the recent movie). All that said, I wasn’t someone who read the Iron Man comic, and really only became interested in him through the movie, and I had no problem at all following this story. In fact, I felt it would make a great Iron Man movie plot – it hits all the right character notes, has a lot of great action scenes, and ultimately pays off well in the end. I can definitely recommend the book, to both newcomers and long time fans alike.

Review Copy courtesy of Del Rey.