I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but I loved the cover and the blurb drew me in. I enjoy about 90% of murder mysteries which range from series with a deep dark semi-horror element with a paranormal twist to the sort of cat-library-knitting cozy mysteries which have pink covers, punning titles, and a recipe for 'Aunt Jenny's strawberry tart' in the back. This book falls far to the horror/paranormal-with-violence end of the spectrum. There are no recipes. That being said, Mr. Wybrow writes very capably.
There is a lot of sarcastic humor here. It will definitely appeal to devotees of Butcher, Hearne, Kadrey and others in that vein. Readers should be aware that this the protagonist is a private investigator whose purpose is to help victims of violent death move on to 'The Next' stage from the 'InBetween'. As such, his clientele is made up of people who died violently. There's quite a lot of graphic violence in this book.
The plotting and pacing are slow to develop and revealed slowly over several hundred pages to a crashing and satisfying denouement which left open the possibility for future stories and left me wanting more. The characters are three dimensional and stay true to their internal motivations; I never found myself scratching my head and saying "Wait, what"?! The dialogue is well written, if absolutely drowned in sarcasm. The author has a tendency to go for the cheap laugh. (Like Kadrey, Hearne, Butcher, Elliott James, et al.).
Well done. A long and fun read. I'm quite looking forward to the next installments.
Four and a half stars for fans of the genre.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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