I’ve been aware of Mike Carey for some time now, as the writer of a good run on the Hellblazer comic (which you probably only know of as that abortion of a movie Constantine) as well as the writer of Lucifer (which I wasn’t a big fan of. Nothing wrong with it really, just not my bag). As far as I know, this is Carey’s first novel, and it’s a very good one.
Felix Castor is an exorcist living in London. In his world, it’s just something you’re born to do, or not. And he was born with the capacity. Felix has some friends, some bad history, and no money. Sound familiar? Felix is your archetypical down-on-his luck private investigator, only he gets rid of ghosts instead of solve mysteries. At least at first, but eventually you know he’s gonna solve a mystery. And he does, and it’s quite satisfying.
I often gripe about the memorability of SF/F characters by challenging people to name ten memorable SF/F characters by name. Then I ask them to name ten characters from the works fo Charles Dickens. It’s an exercise–in what, I’m not sure, and I’m pretty sure John Joseph Adams put me onto it. In any case, Felix Castor has an interesting name, so he’s got one foot out of the “forgettable characters” grave already. Through the course of the book, you come to like this schmuck. He means well. He screws up a lot, he gets the everloving shit beaten out of him (then he gets laid–the gumshoe karmic balance restored), and eventually he solves the mystery and everyone is happy. Sort of.
If you like hardboiled detective stories, then you will like The Devil You Know. If you like supernatural thrillers that don’t necessarily involve peppy blonde women with supernatural tattoos on their lower backs (perfect for the book cover), then you’ll probably like this as well. It’s out in paperback, and a second book in the series is currently out in hardback. I don’t think I’m going to be able to make the wait.
Tags: books, chandler, detectives, felix castor, mike carey, SF
Oh, I loved this book! I just checked to see whether the sequel is finally out in audiobook format and IT IS!
I enjoyed the Lucifer novels, too, perhaps in part because I wanted a continuation of Gaiman’s Sandman universe. I think a large part of the appeal is the combination of contemporary fantasy with mythic elements. Sorry to hear this one wasn’t your cup of tea.
Oh, I loved the book. It was the Lucifer comic book series that I didn’t really get into. Now that I think about it, it was mostly the bad 80s art that drove me off it.