A good detective mystery with supernatural elements. Fans of the Peter Grant series should definitely check this out. 4/5 stars.
Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for giving me an e-copy of this book in return for an honest review.
The blurb: The name’s Gideon Tau, but everyone just calls me London. I work for the Delphic Division, the occult investigative unit of the South African Police Service. My life revolves around two things – finding out who killed my daughter and imagining what I’m going to do to the bastard when I catch him.
I have two friends. The first is my boss, Armitage, a fifty-something DCI from Yorkshire who looks more like someone’s mother than a cop. Don’t let that fool you. The second is the dog, my magical spirit guide. He talks, he watches TV all day, and he’s a mean drunk.
Life is pretty routine – I solve crimes, I search for my daughter’s killer. Wash, rinse, repeat. Until the day I’m called out to the murder of a ramanga – a low-key vampire – basically, the tabloid journalist of the vampire world. It looks like an open and shut case. There’s even CCTV footage of the killer.
Except… the face on the CCTV footage? It’s the face of the man who killed my daughter. I’m about to face a tough choice. Catch her killer or save the world? I can’t do both.
It’s not looking good for the world.
My take:
This reminded me a lot of the Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronovitch. You’d just need to age Peter 20 years, give him some tragic life experience, transfer him to South Africa and make him work for a larger law enforcement unit with a cool secret base of operations and far more resources… Well, anyway… you’ll just have to trust me that there truly are similarities! 🙂
However, unlike the Peter Grant series, the narrative tone in Poison City reminded me of the voice-overs you get in film noir. You know the sort of thing: think Jack Nicholson’s narration in China Town, the deadpan voice of the tired, cynical investigator. But don’t worry, lots of colour is provided by Gideon’s alcoholic talking dog, who is one of the highlights of the book and if the author goes on to write future installments (I hope so), should get to feature far more.
The author isn’t afraid to describe the nastier aspects of Gideon’s job, giving us crime scenes dripping in blood and fight sequences in which people get hurt. This certainly isn’t a story for the squeamish. On the bright side, at least this means we know there are real stakes. There’s nothing worse than books featuring the supernatural in which all the characters are supposedly able to get hurt but are actually invulnerable. How are we supposed to care if the worst that can happen to them is a mild headache or the odd bruise?
Poison City is a good mixture of the supernatural and police procedural. The only things I wasn’t too fond of were the narrator’s Hobbesian ponderings on the essentially corrupt nature of mankind and the difference between law and justice. These passages cropped up too often and went on too long when they were essentially saying the same thing each time. Oh, and we need more of the dog, but I think I already said that 😉
Without spoiling anything, I’d also suggest that firm believers in God (the God of the Judeo-Christian tradition to be precise) would best avoid this one because they would possibly be offended by how their deity and other elements of their religions are treated/talked about by the characters. Of course I’m sure there are also believers who wouldn’t care at all, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Overall: a good police procedural with supernatural elements, real menace and a grouchy talking dog. What more could you want?!
Claire Huston / Art and Soul
Loved the review Claire! I had seen this book over at Drew @Thetattooedbookgeek & immediately added it to my TBR. Huge selling point: Gideon’s alcoholic talking dog…I don’t know what that says about me but I NEED this book 🙂
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The dog is totally awesome! 😂
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I’m sure I will love this dog. I’m considering skipping Bookdepository & getting the Kindle version because of the their lengthy shipping smh.
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He is awesome! Ha, that’s true about book depository, I should think that if you order it now you’d get it for New Years! 😂
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That sounds about right Drew @ which point I could’ve traveled to the U.K. & picked it up myself 😂😂😂
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Ha, true though knowing the UK there’s a good chance that it’d be out of stock with none available! 😂
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& with that Lilly proceeds to cross out the U.K. From her bucket list…😒 LOL!
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Thank you!
I felt exactly the same 🙂 I don’t think I remembered anything else about the book other than that Drew liked it and it featured an alcoholic talking dog! What more do you need to know?! 🙂
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😂😂😂 exactly!!! This book has been on my mind ever since I read alcoholic dog on Drew’s review. Def reading before years end 😬
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Great review, gotta love an alcoholic talking dog. 😀 And, I totally agree with you about the religion bit to.
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Thank you!
I just hope the dog gets more page space next time round. Definitely the highlight! 🙂
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Totally agree, he was such a character when he was on the page and he definitely needs more page time and sherry in the sequel. 😀
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Totally intrigued by the alcoholic talking dog! 🙂
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It’s worth reading just for the parts which feature the dog! 🙂
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I thought the opening quote sounded very noirish – great review. It sounds like an excellent read.
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Thank you!
If you like police procedurals/mysteries and some fantasy elements don’t put you off (vampires, etc.), then it’s very good 🙂
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Reblogged this on Don Massenzio's Blog.
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Sounds interesting. Especially the comparison to the Peter Grant series. Guess this is another one for the TBR.
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I would say it’s darker, more cynical Peter Grant. With a talking dog to take the edge off! 🙂
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