Ed Ryder

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

This is a noir private investigator novel except instead of a trained P.I. we have a lawyer fallen into strange company after he made an ill-thought-out deal with a demon. Jack Gilmour has a good heart and a strong hatred for demon trickery, two elements he turns into reviewing demonic contracts before a human does something stupid…like he did.

Both the tone and the traditional elements spring from the noir detective genre, and as the story show more unfolds, this pen-pushing lawyer is thrust into events better suited for a P.I. He has good friends to call upon, though, and with some harrowing moments, manages to navigate the line as a mediator between demons and humanity quite well. The tone lost me a little when it appeared to become quite misogynous, but I say appeared because there was more going on than Jack knew, and as the true answers unfold, that appearance is negated quite nicely.

One of Jack’s friends is Sebastian, a wizard who supports himself by manipulating casino games. The conversation between Sebastian and Eddie (Jack’s client) is a thing of beauty. How the demon Lucia’s demonic nature comes clear through offhand cruelty rather than heavy description is also well done. The description does get a bit too dense for me at times, but there were many turns of phrase that I appreciated.

The strong narrative voice helped in drawing me into the story, and there were a few twists and turns I didn’t anticipate. Others, I saw long before Jack, and the best reason I can give is he wasn’t thinking like a P.I. so overlooked the early clues. There are a couple of points like that, but the strengths helped overcome these weaknesses.

Ultimately, the book lives up to its description. It offers a fun noir adventure with the traditional emotionally distant main character who nevertheless has a heart of gold and risks everything to protect his people. Toss in some demonic magic, and you have the makings of a series with potential.

P.S. I received this ARC through NetGalley in return for an honest review. show less

A hardboiled lawyer in Las Vegas makes a career out of dealing with demon contracts. Great premise, but there wasn’t enough lawyering—Gilmour basically acts as a PI, investigating a contract that threatens the soul of a casino owner’s feckless nephew (oh, and the sexual autonomy of the beautiful woman he desires, if that matters at all) and getting entangled in demon politics.

A future where pregnancy is controlled by one corporation, In Vitro Lottery is a dystopian book that has a very interesting premise. Kate's sister is killed, and Kate wants to know why. Victor runs the company that has a lottery, and if a woman wins that lottery she is given IVF to have a baby, since the population is sterile. But Kate soon finds out the sinister truth of it all.

Overall this book was interesting, but it needs a better editor. Words are left out or there are wrong words, and show more it really slows down the reading pace. The plot is interesting, and the ending leaves it open for a sequel.

I was given a free copy for an honest review. show less

In Vitro Lottery, was very interesting, and is definitely one of those books that make you wonder if it will one day become our reality. The story kept my interest piqued, and the characters were well developed, but I had a really hard time reading this one. Like seriously, a reallyyyyy hard time, and I'm afraid that it had more to do with bad editing, rather than, it being poorly written. In a typical week I read between 3-5 books.....this book took 8 days all by its self. There are a show more lot.....

You can read the rest of this review (along with many more) on the CommonBookSense blog!

http://commonbooksense.blogspot.com/2016/03/BookReviewInVitroLottery.html show less