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I don’t read many purely science-fiction books (I’m not a big fan of lengthy descriptions, and world-building can take a fair amount of space while I generally care more for characters) but I’ve read a few recently that I’ve enjoyed, enough to make me pay more attention to sci-fi offerings. Some novels combine sci-fi with other genres and that usually brings them onto more familiar territories. This novel is one of those cases. It is a fairly classical (in style) noir detective novel:  you have the disenchanted detective who has left the police disappointed with the way things are done now (in his case, though, there was an alien invasion on Earth that all but destroyed Humanity’s achievements and progress over centuries [no electricity, limited access to fuel, no telephones, no TV, no democracy]… Humans have become prisoners, rationing of food has come back, and aliens control access to the few resources left, and they send humans to ‘labor camps’ somewhere outside of Earth with some cooperation from the human ‘authorities’) and who is called back because he’s the only one who can solve a murder. Now that the police have become no more than puppets of the aliens (also called ‘slicks’, because of the peculiar aspect of their skin), there is nobody else who still remembers how things were done. This is a DIY police procedural novel (no computers, no DNA analysis or blood tests, only very basic gathering of evidence and use of deductive powers, almost back to Conan Doyle or Christie) with a main characters, Adrian Grace (a very apt name, as we discover), who has probably lost everything and who describes himself as being ‘addicted’ to detective work. There might be other reasons (read excuses) why he chooses to accept the case of the murder of a Slick (they have somewhat of a herd mentality and do not hurt each other but it seems unthinkable that a human would dare to try and kill one of them) but the main one is because he misses being a detective.

The story is told in the first person, present tense, from Grace’s point of view, and it follows the chronological order, with the main action taking place over only a few days. Although he has fallen quite low, he hasn’t reached the level of others, and he is smart, witty, and has a rather black sense of humour that is what keeps him going.  Although he does not dwell for too long on his circumstances, or those of humanity (the novel starts with a brief chapter that takes place right at the moment when the aliens arrive, that allows us a glimpse into Grace’s work before normal life came to an end, and we get to meet his partner, Yuri, who is missing by the time the main action of the novel starts), he is harder in appearance than in reality. He trusts his instincts; he suspects everybody but is also quick to believe in first impressions and happily accepts as a partner a young female detective, whom he trusts from very early on (because he needs somebody to trust). Grace reminded me of many of the hard-boiled detectives of old, but he is not violent by nature and avoids guns if he can help it, and in contrast to more modern models, he is witty but not foul-mouthed. He drip-feeds us details about his life (he was brought up a Catholic, he was married with kids, he talks about his mother’s death when he explains his lack of faith…) and he still looks after his father. His relation with his father is heart-warming, despite the terrible situation, and it only reinforces the fact that we are dealing with a human being and not a collection of clichés. Although I’m very partial to unreliable narrators, Grace is not one of them, at least not by design. This being a mystery, we are not always given always given all the information, but if we are misguided, it is because Grace is mistaken or wrong-footed (by others or himself).

The book is not heavy on descriptions and the world the book describes is like a ghost of our world, like those empty and abandoned towns we sometimes see on TV that have fallen prey to disasters (economic, natural, or man-made). We have human beings that have lost their purpose, groups of religious extremists (the Abandoned, who sustain God has abandoned Humanity), resistance groups, and the aliens can also function as stand-ins for many dictatorial regimes bent on the destruction of all opposition (Nazi Germany comes to mind, but many other, recent and distant, would also fit the bill). Some of the humans are complicit with the regime whilst others are not what they seem to be. The book allows for reflections on the nature of society, politics, religion (there is a priest that plays an important part), family, betrayal, guilt, and ultimately hope. Grace is not always right, but he has not lost his humanity, and he is a realistic character we would all like to befriend.

This is a tremendous book, where the science-fiction and the detective genre work in symbiosis and create a novel that is more than the sum of its parts. Recommended to fans of both genres, especially those who don’t mind experimentation within the genre, and in general to people who enjoy fiction that pushes them to think whilst keeping them turning the pages.

Thomas Blume is a shell of a man who has had to deal with the loss of his wife and young son.  He’s a former NY cop now living in London where the crime took place.  He is hoping someday to avenge their deaths.  Some days, if he can stay away from the booze, it’s all he can still think about.  But, he needs money and so he has to work.  So he takes various jobs, most of which deal with proving illicit affairs for their spouses.  He hates it.  The last man he worked for actually committed suicide after Blume provided him with pictures of his wife in bed with someone else.

Amir, his landlord, keeps trying to talk him out of finding his family’s killer, and instead, do something worthwhile for the land of the living.  Blume managed to find just that — A woman whose son went missing.  Of course, he can understand her pain.  Before he even interviewed her, he began pulling information for the case and he checked with the former police officer who worked it.  Now he’s on a roll … a roll that can get him killed if he’s not careful.

I loved the character of Thomas Blume.  Even though the pain of losing his family is still great for him, he pushes on.  Sometimes it still takes booze to get him through the day.  But, he gets up the next morning and pushes on.  This has been described as a noir detective thriller and hard-boiled.  Even though I like some of those stories, I usually find them too depressing to truly enjoy them.  But, I didn’t feel that kind of depression while reading Hard Fall.  I loved every moment of it.  Slow Burn and Red Hunt are the 2^nd and 3^rd books in the Thomas Blume series.  Both released May 2015.  My advice, though, is to read this series in order.  Hard Fall was a story complete in itself, but the author delivered a WOW bomb in the epilogue.  If you read them out of order, it will spoil that WOW factor for you.  Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Small town Sycamore has its secrets. Some of those secrets Detective Maxim Dwyer won’t let be. A biker brawl involving an out of towner and a few members of the local motorcycle club (The Seventh Sons) lets Dwyer pry into the MC’s business.  But what he uncovers is not what he was expecting.

I saw this audiobook kicking around the blogosphere and I passed it on by. The description starts off comparing the book to the TV shows Supernatural and Sons of Anarchy. While I did watch the latter, I was a bit burned out of misogynistic MC stories, no matter how intriguing the individual characters. I have only watched a handful of Supernatural episodes, but they were not my cup of tea. But then the author contacted me directly looking for a review and I decided to give it a chance.

Let me tell you I am ever so glad that I did! I so very much enjoyed this book. The characters have meat on their bones, the plot is a full 7 courses, and the setting adds an intense spice to the book. Let me assure you this is no gender-weighted MC tale. This is a detective noir story that happens to have practical werewolves at the center of the mystery. There are female characters in position of power who have real personalities and don’t always need a man to rescue them.

There’s quite a bit of ethnic diversity in this book too, which is another thing I really appreciated. Set in Arizona, the ethnic diversity is an accurate reflection of what you will find in the desert Southwest. Also, the mixing of cultures and backgrounds added to the intensity of the story.

Maxim Dwyer and Diego de la Torre at first start off on opposite sides. Indeed, Diego is in handcuffs and a cell while Maxim gives him the 3rd degree interrogation. Pretty quickly the werewolf aspect of the story comes into play and Maxim is not pleased. One of his men is hurt and his suspects are missing. The trail keeps leading back to the head of the MC, Miss Debbie. Diego also has questions for Miss Debbie about his missing sister. It’s an excellent set up and the plot just gets better from there.

Now I want to mention the practicality of the werewolves. First, there are no sexy wolfy sex scenes. There’s no big moonlight werewolf hunts with terrified and fainting women. Rather, these individuals are ill and carriers of the illness. The Center for Disease Control is well aware of the werewolves throughout the country. There are rules the werewolves must abide by if they don’t want to be hunted down by the CDC.  One of these rules is to keep your head down & to stay out the limelight. The MC is skirting the edge of that rule. This was an unexpected and very awesome aspect to the story. In some ways, this practical treatment of the werewolves removed the supernatural element, but it also made the story so much more accessible as a biologist.

All the characters are interesting to some extent and most of them are tortured by something. Maxim’s wife went missing two years ago and no matter how hard he hunted, he never turned up any leads. Diego has this driving force to find his sister. Miss Debbie and the CDC representative have their demons too, ones that will come close to destroying Maxim and Diego. All these little secrets meant that we had little plot twists throughout the story that definitely added to the suspense.

I listened to this book in less that 2 days. Honestly, I didn’t want to put it away but I had to sleep and eat. The noir detective feel to the story caught my attention up right away. The characters held my attention throughout the entire story. The ending, which was indeed satisfying, left me ready to fire up the next in the series.

I received this book free of charge from the author in exchange for an honest review.

The Narration: I was impressed with Jason Jewett’s narration. There are several Hispanic characters in the book and he did the perfect soft Hispanic accent in distinct character voices. I live in a part of the country where I hear spoken Spanish almost every day so it was very nice to hear the Spanish/Hispanic accent done right for this book. He also had a strong and sometimes harsh voice for the tortured Maxim Dwyer. His female voices were believable. 

Book Reaction (not a full review)

I picked up Miami Blues because the author, Charles Willeford, is supposedly one of the core members of the hardboiled/noir canon. I'm not sure what I was expecting; Philip Marlowe in Miami, perhaps.

In actuality, Miami Blues focuses mostly on the perspective of the antagonist, a two-bit sociopath, during his post-prison spree in Miami. While his rampage starts with an accidental (and ridiculously improbable) death, the killer immediately settles down to make some money and find a Bonnie to his Clyde. The detective, Hoke Mosely, is a colourful character, but doesn't get much pagetime. Willeford seems far too fascinated by the brutal violence of his villain.

There's nothing wrong with Miami Blues, but it wasn't a good fit for me. I don't enjoy books that are told from the serial killer's perspective. My type of noir always has a "tarnished knight," and Hoke doesn't quite fit the mold for me. A lot of the book focused on the villain's attempt to abuse and shape a young woman into his helpmate, and no matter how questionable her own motives, I didn't enjoy reading about the violence against her.

I also was simply unable to get past the first death in the story: a young man who dies of shock after his finger is broken. Sure, maybe it's possible, but it's just so darned improbable, not to mention ridiculous.

Hmm. I was pretty sure I reviewed this, but my review has disappeared. In any case, I just finished a reread, so I guess I'll use my GR review as a base and stick it up again.

~~Review After Reread~~

Despite the etymology of his name, Felix "Fix" Castor feels anything but happy or lucky. In his altered world, in which the dead have risen and now pace the streets as zombies and ghosts, Castor's skills as an exorcist are at a premium. After a terrible accident in which he helped to bind a friend's soul to a demon, Castor is trying to take early retirement from the ghostbuster business. With money tight and fear on the rise, it's just not that easy for Castor to hang up his exorcism flute. To earn a bit of much-needed cash, he takes on one last exorcism. It seems simple--a ghost in a museum who has suddenly taken to violence--but as always seems to be the case, things are never as simple as they appear. Far too soon, Castor is drawn into a web of conspiracy and brutality, with a mob boss expressing a rather sinister interest in him, a demon ready to hunt him down, and a loup-garou after his blood. Worse still, Castor is forced to question his own beliefs about life, death, and the supernatural.

Mike Carey's The Devil You Know is a compelling read, a hardboiled detective story transposed into a gritty apocalyptic world. Castor is an engaging narrator and his wry, humorous voice is effective and appealing. Take his explanation for how he got into ghostbusting:

"But how many people do you know who actually get to choose what they do for a living? My careers teacher said I should go into hotel management, so exorcism it was."

As one might expect from the title, The Devil You Know is a very dark read, without as much of the genre-savvy absurdism that tends to characterize urban fantasy. There is humour, most of it decidedly British and involving references to Thatcher and Blue Peter, but at least in my first read, I was not once tempted to laugh out loud. However, this speaks more about the underlying darkness of the plot and Carey's ability to generate suspense. On my second read, I found quite a few passages hilarious. I especially love Castor's mixed metaphors such as:

"It wasn’t what I was expecting, but like I’ve always said, if life gives you lemmings, jump off a cliff."

Most urban fantasy pits the protagonist against supernatural evils, but this book is about man's inhumanity to man, leading to a much darker, more upsetting, and more introspective book. It also calls into question many of the basic assumptions of most urban fantasy worlds. For example, in most urban fantasy novels, because most of the villains faced in urban fantasy are nonhuman, removing them becomes a righteous act. It is taken for granted that vampires don't have souls so a stake through the heart isn't murder, that since souls are just residual carbon copies, a salt-and-burn operation at a graveside is just a guilt-free janitorial exercise, that the creature being hunted is a monster and removing a monster is a moral act. But in Felix Castor's case, the greatest monsters are the other people. Even loup-garou are people in some ways, since they are ghosts possessing animal bodies, and it is the human intelligence that makes them vicious. What happens to an exorcised ghost is unknown. Is he damning the souls of those dead, or releasing them to a better hereafter? That open question makes the tone of the novel very gritty and saturnine, but also creates a complex and compelling world.

The overall feel of the novel is very noir hardboiled detective; we have the standard mob boss and femme fatale plot arcs and quite a reasonable mystery. At the same time, the perpetrator becomes pretty obvious about halfway through, and waiting for the naive Felix to catch up is frustrating. In Castor's world, it is humanity, not supernatural monsters, who are the root of all evil, leading to a plot that at times feels unrelentingly dark. Mike Carey also goes out of his way to castigate the Church as rigid and hypocritical. I'm no longer Christian--I misplaced my faith and it hasn't yet turned up in the lost and found--but even I was appalled at the vitriol applied to the religion. Castor has the jaded world-weariness of a true hardboiled detective, but unlike "protagonists" such as Richard Kadrey's James Stark, he has not caved into self-serving nihilism. Felix still believes in right and wrong and wants to do the right thing with an almost painful intensity. What makes this book such a dark and compelling read is that it is simply not always easy to figure out, in a complex and twisted world, exactly what constitutes the moral act.

Overall, The Devil You Know combines some of the best aspects of urban fantasy with the mood and structure of classic noir. Castor is an appealing narrator, a satisfyingly imperfect protagonist in a world of gritty greys. The book is an intriguing start to a great series. The Felix Castor books only get better from here.