Dean Fetzer

A few pages into Death After Midnight by Dean Fetzer and I realized that the author's effort was not working for me. A page or two later and it dawned on me that the author was especially enamored of adverbs. Rarely was a verb allowed to rest on its own merits without an adverb that was both superfluous and amateurish. “Glared menacingly...glitter disconcertingly... raising a hand unconsciously...staring blankly...waved distractedly...eyes actually focused...throbbed sullenly.” And so it show more went. In addition, there was a similar problem with adjectives, not to mention pleonasm. Toss in a jarring new scenario every two or three pages that seemed disconnected from the previous scenario and that had no bearing on the next scenario, an unbelievable murder sequence involving a stiletto heel (including one of the more foul language tirades you will read anywhere), a female psychic who materializes out of nowhere, a 170 year-old blind entity (human? demonic?) and his muse, and, well, after reading some 60 pages of this literary effort, I gave up. The overall syntax and the disconnected scenarios did not meet my expectations for an entertaining read. show less

Grail quest and detection in a future both paranormal and fragmented. This is the second book in the Jaared Sen Quartet (I have yet to read the first), but this book can be easily read as a standalone tale.

The story begins in 1917 in the French village of Rennes-le-Château where Bérenger Saunière, a priest, is found collapsed at the door to his tower. He has fought to protect the object that he has been safeguarding, but loses it to his attacker and also loses his life a few days show more later.

In the present, this secret that the Priory of Sion protects inspires covetousness in many as they ruthlessly hunt for the object and wonder what power it can bestow on them. At the same time there are those who fight to protect the secret, but who is on which side?

Jaared Sen is tasked by his British masters in The Company to monitor a dubious man called The Head who has shown an interest in the Priory of Sion. The Head employs Stel who is an art historian and Stel works to discover the tracks through history that the Priory of Sion may have left. Emile is an antiques dealer in France who suffers from a leg that troubles him more than he can understand and has his shop broken into, yet nothing is stolen? Paulette is a psychic who watches over Emile and tries to protect and aid him. With the help of his mysterious benefactor Jaared tracks The Head and his dealings and follows him to France as the search and the major players converge.

This is an intriguing and highly entertaining read. A mixture of grail quest and the paranormal set in a futuristic world where people can be rejuvenated, have phones in their heads, and where Britain is a kleptocracy This is a fast paced tale that keeps the reader wanting to know more as they follow the twists and turns of the various characters. The use of language and imagery is fresh and pithy and the hangover descriptions are especially vivid. A good reading choice if you like books by authors such as Kate Mosse, Scot Mariani and Will Adams. show less

This is a review of the electronic book, Mobi format. It is a disjointed review, but the book is disjointed, so I don't think that's completely unfair.

There are two story lines in the book that eventually meet up, sort of--and the people in one of them will go on to the next book. Unfortunately, I liked the people in the other story line better--maybe they show up in the next book and just aren't in the provided excerpt. In any event, I wasn't charmed enough by this book to go on to the show more next. The way the two lines intersect is pretty haphazard--the author is building too many stories on top of each other to lay the foundations of the series.

I felt that there were too many conspiracies being built into the whole thing--how many kinds of immortals do you need, really? I may just be a crankypants, though. And maybe too many supernatural/quasi-supernatural things going on at the same time. I'm not a huge fan of supposedly tantalizing vagueness that will get answered X number of books into the series.

Finally, this book could use a good editor. The poor use of commas really gets to me--I can't help myself. Plus things like someone's name changing within a page--that kind of continuity fault is just shabby. show less

Contractor Jaared Sen is back, and this time he's involved with finding the Templar Treasure. Full of action, wit and suspense, "Death After Midnight" kept me captivated until the last page. It is no secret, I'm a die-hard Jaared Sen fan (see my review of "Death in Amber") so I may be a bit biased on one hand, but also probably harder to please on the other. I had large expectations from this novel, and Mr. Fetzer did not disappoint me.

"Death After Midnight" is the second novel in the Jarred show more Sen Quartet and although it can easily be read as a stand alone, I would highly recommend starting with the first book "Death in Amber" so that you can get to know who Jaared Sen is - a superb investigator with a sense of humor, who is also blind. Like most great detectives, Jaared has been know to bend the rules to get the job done.

Focusing on the myth of the Templar Treasure, "Death after Midnight" takes the reader to the southern part of France and immerses them in the richness of the area. Here the Crusades were fought and martyrs are many - and all adds a great realism to the possibility of the Templar myths. Mr. Fetzer plays on that myth with a supernatural twist - giving it an even more "spookier" feel and created an almost horror-like mystery.

The end holds a few special twists as well as answers from the first book. Being a quartet, it also sets the stage for the next book in the series, "Book of the Dead", which is due out in Autumn 2011. I can't wait for the next book - with the secrets that were revealed, I can't wait to see where things go. WOW! show less