The Devil You Know
A Felix Castor Novel, vol 1
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4.3 • 21 Ratings
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- £5.49
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
Felix Castor is a freelance exorcist, and London is his stamping ground. At a time when the supernatural world is in upheaval and spilling over into the mundane reality of the living, his skills have never been more in demand. A good exorcist can charge what he likes - and enjoy a hell of a life-style - but there's a risk: sooner or later he's going to take on a spirit that's too strong for him.
After a year spent in 'retirement' Castor is reluctantly drawn back to the life he rejected and accepts a seemingly simple exorcism case - just to pay the bills, you understand. Trouble is, the more he discovers about the ghost haunting the archive, the more things don't add up. What should have been a perfectly straightforward exorcism is rapidly turning into the Who Can Kill Castor First Show, with demons, were-beings and ghosts all keen to claim the big prize.
But that's OK; Castor knows how to deal with the dead. It's the living who piss him off . . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Aviolent ghost in a world where spirits are rarely mean-spirited is a clue to a deeper mystery in this engrossing dark fantasy debut from comics-writer Carey. Felix "Fix" Castor is an itinerant exorcist who (like a certain famous group of Hollywood ghost-evicters) alternates between dispatching spooks and doing stage magic at ungrateful children's birthday parties. When he's summoned to end a haunting at London's prestigious Bonnington Archive, he finds a vengeful specter with a blood-veiled face that resists methods for extirpating the usually docile dead. When Castor begins probing more deeply, he quickly finds himself harassed by a ravenous succubus, a belligerent fellow exorcist and a slimy Eastern European pimp. The resolution of this ingeniously multilayered tale will satisfy fans of both fantasy and detective fiction. Fix Castor's wisecracking cleverness in the face of weird nemeses makes him the perfect hardboiled hero for a new supernatural noir series. 10-city author tour.
Customer Reviews
Supernatural Noir
Quite a good read. The author shows-off at some points, not with his descriptive abilities but with trivia. This detraced from the reading experience for me and I felt that it would have been improved if the narrator's tone had been more consistent throughout. Also, some of the humour falls a bit flat.
The book has a rocky and slightly uneven beginning as the writer introduces us to an alternative London of exorcists and undead shades but his characters are quite well drawn and because of this it is easy to follow the twists and turns of the story. That said, one scene featuring the protagonist escaping from a demonic attacker was, in my opinion, so poorly written and unbelievable that I put down the novel for over a month.
However, I did pick it up again and finished it and immediately purchased the next in the series. Found myself keen to spend a bit more time in this world. Suppose that tells you everything you need to know.
PJD