From the author’s site:
The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen and constantly attack the living. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to profit. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch and freewheeling Debunker and ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for nailing the human liars or banishing the wicked dead. But she’s keeping a dark secret from the Church: a little drug problem that’s landed her in hot and dangerous water.
Chess owes a murderous drug lord named Bump a lot of money. And Bump wants immediate payback. All Chess has to do is dispatch a very nasty species of undead from an old airport. But the job involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and crossing swords with enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust with a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah.
I can tell you why I liked this book, and I can do it in relatively few words: ghosts, severely flawed heroine, hair cut, hilarious opening, fast-paced, no fluff.
Now, allow me to expound. . . .
I won’t get into the various reasons why I usually steer clear of urban fantasy. Suffice it to say that the usual tropes don’t appeal to me (read: vampires, werewolves, and romance in the same bundle). That said, I find that I do like stories with or about ghosts, and I was curious to see how an author would write an urban fantasy novel that focused on them.
I decided it was best to remain skeptical at first, but after getting a page or two into chapter one, my skepticism vanished. The first chapter was simultaneously hilarious and full of action. After all, there’s a lot to laugh about when your protagonist is disrespected by an ornery ghost, and just as much to worry about when she’s being attacked by a spectral dog. Intense stuff, that. Plus, I like the word psychopomp.
I was equally impressed by how quickly we’re given a clear understanding of Chess and her bad habits. Her personality is made pretty apparent, drug addictions and all. In short? I loved her, and not just because I love the Betty Page haircut (even though I really, really do). I went in expecting her to be a cardboard cutout ass-kicker and, instead, found an extremely flawed woman who, like all of us, makes bad decisions and then has to get out of them. She certainly doesn’t consider herself a hero. In fact, she’s pretty surprised when she realizes that other people think she’s brave and powerful. As far as she’s concerned, she’s just trying to keep herself alive however she can.
That’s one of the things I like most about Chess. She lives away from the other Church Debunkers and, maybe, considers herself a bit of a black sheep, but other than that, she doesn’t think herself any different than anyone else (except for the part where she deals with ghosts, of course). I mean, she’s still afraid of getting on the wrong side of her supplier.
There wasn’t a huge helping of lore in Unholy Ghosts, but what was there was pretty interesting and blessedly coherent. I’d love to see it expounded upon in the following books if the story allowed. In fact, I’d love to know a lot more about the Church—which isn’t the kind of church you’d think, by the way, despite the Puritanical costumes and titles.
As I mentioned in my brief list of reasons-why-this-book-is-awesome, there’s a lot of action and very little fluff. I don’t think I settled down for a moment. The author didn’t take the story on unrelated tangents, and it was never boring. I stayed with Chess all the way and was as eager to see what was going to happen as she was eager to have it all over with. There were a few moments when I was legitimately squeamish. First on the list was probably the introduction of the nightmare man (probably because I kept imagining him as the book monster from, well, Monster). Second was…well, let’s just say there were maggots and blood and leave it at that.
And I know I said that I didn’t much care for romance in my urban fantasy, but what I really meant was squishy, gooey, self-sacrificing romance. Kane handles it in a way that’s more my style, which is to say that it’s rather dysfunctional, quite spur-of-the-moment, and not quite requited for the most part. Chess isn’t exactly a doe-eyed schoolgirl, and she doesn’t need a guy on her heels every moment of the day—though they do seem to follow her around, regardless.
If you like urban fantasy, ghost stories, or maybe you just want to try something exciting, definitely pick up this book. At the very least, it’ll be a fun ride. As for me, I think I’m a Chess Putnam fan for good.
Unholy Ghosts will be released on May 25th with the next book, Unholy Magic, following promptly on July 6th.
