Promo: Thicker Than Water by Mike Carey (Orbit)

 Thicker Than Water by Mike Carey (Felix Castor Book 4)

Old ghosts of different kinds come back to haunt Fix, in the fourth gripping Felix Castor novel.

Names and faces he thought he’d left behind in Liverpool resurface in London, bringing Castor far more trouble than he’d anticipated. Childhood memories, family traumas, sins old and new, and a council estate that was meant to be a modern utopia until it turned into something like hell … these are just some of the sticks life uses to beat Felix Castor with as things go from bad to worse for London’s favourite freelance exorcist.

See, Castor’s stepped over the line this time, and he knows he’ll have to pay; the only question is: how much? Not the best of times, then, for an unwelcome confrontation with his holier-than-thou brother, Matthew. And just when he thinks things can’t possibly get any worse, along comes Father Gwillam and the Anathemata. Oh joy …

Ok, as much as I love Harry Dresden my favourite character in Urban Noir Fantasy is Felix Castor and Mike Carey’s take on London, ghosts and magic is compelling reading. I’m really excited by Thicker Than Water coming out in March!

In anticipation I thought I’d repost my reviews of books two and three.

Title: Vicious Circle
Author: Mike Carey
Publisher: Orbit
Price: £7.99
Published: Oct 2006

Mike Carey is more widely known as a comic book writer – and for exploring the area of the occult in the comics Lucifer and Hellblazer (both available from DC Comics) He also writes about superheroes. He’s somehow found time to write a series of novels starting with The Devil You Know. Vicious Circle is the follow-up to that and takes us through another case of the exorcist Felix Castor.

Mike takes us to a London where the dead are no longer staying in the shadows. They are rising in great numbers and there is even an Act going through Parliament aimed at giving the dead legal status.

With this backdrop Castor takes on a request from the parents of a kidnapped girl. There is only one problem – she’s dead and ghosts can’t just be picked up and pocketed. Not that stops Castor taking on the case – the mystery and the grief of the parents persuades him – though the money may help too.

Mike does plot very well. The story is focused and well planned. The other thing he’s good at is hiding the twists and turns until the several ‘d’oh’ moments that occur. Everything moves along at a page-turning pace.

What is frustrating is the need to supply plot seems to leave Felix and the other characters getting less development time than they deserve, because Carey paints them so well you do want to spend more time with them. But as this is a first person tale there are perfectly good reasons why our focus can’t shift to the secondary characters too much. The only way would be to have Felix in their presence but being with them too long might give stuff away before everything is fully set-up.

Instead, you get to see him out and about, ducking and diving, exploring the seedy world that attracts his services. So you don’t notice this lack of progress until the conclusion, which itself makes you wish you knew Castor a little more.

Throughout the book Felix remains a bit of a mystery – but that’s how it should be. As is the way with all detectives – you see enough of their home life to make them human but not enough to shift the focus away from whatever they happen to be investigating.

Even though it’s not mentioned in the cover VC has all the markings of the second book of a trilogy. Character and storylines started in the first book play an important part here and the anticipation is that they will feature in the next one as well.

Whole heartedly recommended but read The Devil You Know first.

Title: Dead Men’s Boots
Author: Mike Carey
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 06 September 2007
Price: £7.99
Review Copy

Felix Castor, exorcist, doesn’t like funerals and at the start of Dead Men’s Boots that’s exactly where he is when a lawyer turns up to exhume the deceased (a former exorcist and someone Castor avoided before he died) so he can be cremated and it’s only the start of his problems. His new client is the wife of a man who is accused of murder only she’s convinced that he didn’t do it and it was done by a woman that’s been dead for forty years.

Told in the first person we follow Castor’s investigations as he figures out clues left by the deceased and wonders how a ghost can wield a hammer though the poor fella doesn’t know what he got himself into. Trouble finds Castor like a drunk finds a chippie. It’s part of the deal when you take that first drink.

As I said in my review of Vicious Circle, the second book of this series, Carey is a master plotter. His plots are focused and well planned though with enough clues that you mentally kick yourself when you start to see the connections.

Dead Men’s Boots is a stand alone title but it’s probably better to start at the beginning as you get to see more of Castor’s make-up as well as the history behind the some what’s going on and his history to some of the other characters. And there are some great fully formed secondary characters.

The subplot from the previous books is kept ticking over quite nicely with a few teasers that I hope are going to make an appearance soon.

It’s a great read. You can’t help yourself from wanting to know how deep in shit Castor can go before he drowns.

If I have one negative I’d say that some things are a little too neatly tied off at the end but I don’t really care as it’s a great read that keeps you thinking and guessing all the way to the end. And it’s left me wanting more.