July 18

Dead Is Better – Jo Perry

Dead Is Better 2Charles Stone has just woken up dead. Well he’s pretty sure he’s dead, what with the bullet holes in his chest and all. He also appears to be totally alone in the after-life except for the ghostly dog who seems to be his new companion.

Unable to interact with the world of the living other than watching and listening, he and the dead dog (whom he names Rose) have nothing to do and all the time in the world to do it.

When Charles and Rose try to unravel the circumstances of Charles’s death, they uncover a criminal who is raking in millions of dollars by cruelly exploiting, and sometimes killing, his victims.

But what difference can a ghost make?

And what does the damn dog have to do with any of this?

 

I love dogs, there are too many cats on the internet…dogs are 100 times better (at least). Look at the cover of Dead Is Better – see that paw print? That’s a love heart with toes – gimme dogs every time.

But in Dead is Better the dog (Rose) is dead. Not the best way to win me over Jo Perry! However, all is not lost as even in death Rose the dog has become one of my favourite characters this year.

Rose is keeping recently deceased Charles Stone company in the afterlife. Well I say afterlife, they are still hanging around Charles’s old haunts (terrible pun) and it seems Charles has some unfinished business to attend to. But how can he put things to right when he is dead?  Well not very easily is the simple answer and frequently during Dead is Better we will see Charles getting massively frustrated that he has no way to interact with those that are left behind.

Charles leaves an odious brother, several ex-wives and with hindsight he starts to question how he chose to live his life.  Rose, meanwhile, seems hell bent on getting Charles to visit a hospital. Something or someone in the hospital means a lot to Rose, enough that she will guide/lead/bully Charles back to the same places over and over again – unfortunately for Rose, Charles is not the quickest at understanding what she is hoping to achieve.

Dead is Better is a buddy story, two strangers thrust together in death seeking justice. Yes it sounds a bit odd but I loved this story and as soon as I finished it I had bought Dead is Best (Charlie and Rose book 2). Jo Perry has crafted a very clever story here and I cannot wait to see where it may lead.  Chapters are short enough to make it a nice one for the commute – the story trips along with several laugh out loud scenes. Equally there are some upsetting moments (the book is about a dead guy and a dead dog – some sadness must happen) those scenes were less fun to read but wonderfully evocative. One of the trips that Rose takes Charles on was particularly upsetting…nuff said there.

In short – this is memorable, fun and one that you absolutely should consider if you are looking for something new to try.

 

Dead is Better is published by Fahrenheit Press and you can get a copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dead-Better-Charlie-Rose-Investigate-ebook/dp/B01BNG5KH2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468880239&sr=8-1&keywords=dead+is+better

 

 

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November 10

The Lobster Boy and the Fat Lady’s Daughter – Charles Kriel

Lobster BoyRogue military cop Melanie Barry is a detective like no other and when her step-father is arrested and framed for murder, Mel is his only hope.

Mel pursues a heartless killer through the darkest heart of the gothic South, only to discover the mysteries of her own shadowy past revealed in blood.

Set on the carnival lot of a South Georgia tobacco town, The Lobster Boy And The Fat Lady’s Daughter is a wild Lynch-ian ride through a world that few people have ever experienced.

 

Before I cover the book I need to comment on how Fahrenheit Press brought it to my attention – by telling me absolutely nothing about it! I was lured in by the promise of mystery and the chance to support something new and different. Fahrenheit managed to persuade Amazon to put their book up for sale with no title announce, no author named and no description of what the book was about – other than it was a crime novel.  The pitch was ‘trust us and we will give you a great book’.  The ultimate mystery story!  Gotta love someone trying something different so I signed up as an early adopter (as a result I got a nice name check in the book too – along with a fair few of my fellow bloggers).

So what the Hell did I buy?

Well it turned out to be a ripper of a read. A murder story with more than a few exciting action scenes, plot twists and intrigue plus some of the most memorable characters I have read in any book for a long time.

Melanie (Mel) Barry grew up amongst the carnival people – raised by the Lobster Boy and the Fat Lady and surrounded by performers, acrobats, ‘freaks’ and mermaids. The Carnival folk wanted a life away from authorities and the anonymity that the carnival could provide them – Mel bucked that trend by becoming a military cop. She is smart, skilled and tough as nails but she is also on the run, AWOL from the army and keeping a very low profile.

A murder of a prominent townsperson at the Carnival leads to the arrest of Mel’s father – Lobster Boy (Charlie). Mel returns to the carnival to investigate and quickly establishes that it would have been physically impossible for Charlie to have committed the murder. But in this town there is a very close network of prominent businessmen running the show and although Charlie’s carnival has provided them with some very pleasant distractions in the past – this time around Charlie is not receiving any preferential treatment.

Mel’s investigation soon leads her into direct confrontation with the cabal running the town but also throws up some figures from her past, not every familiar face brings a happy memory. As the investigation progresses Mel finds herself in increasing danger – siding with a local lawyer and one of the acrobats from the carnival the trio face down threats and attacks in a series of exhilarating action sequences.

The Lobster Boy and the Fat Lady’s Daughter was a refreshing and highly entertaining read and Kreil captures the essence of carnival life better than any story I have read in the past. Mel is a kickass action hero and I hope this is a character I can read about in future. May be too quirky for the more conventional reader but this is a book you would be foolish to overlook.

 

The Lobster Boy and the Fat Lady’s Daughter  is published by Fahrenheit Press and is available now in digital format

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