Alex Grecian

I started getting annoyed when, at the beginning of chapter 2, Colonel Sir Edward Bradford, Commissioner of Scotland Yard, calls the sleuth into his mahogany-lined office and proceeds to make no sense at all for several pages. The sleuth is confused, too, and there appears to be no reason we-the-readers should give the ass of a rat about this little tete-a-tete.

Then came the who-cares italicized narration of the bald man, who killed the victim. We're told so in the first 20pp, I am not show more spoilering. The other thing I'm not is caring.

Then on p67, a clue is run down by the sleuth and the forensic scientist, but the forensic scientist says it's not really a clue, they're just being thorough, and I frankly became so disgusted with this amateurish, ramshackle mess of typing that I was physically unable to force my eyes to focus on the first sentence of chapter 10.

There are point-of-view issues. There are credibility gaps. There is a numbing expectedness in each character's responses and reactions. Well, as you can tell by my one-star rating, I am not impressed and I am not happy to have spent this time in this fashion. I don't recommend it. show less

I enjoyed this quite a bit, but Grecian set a very high bar with RED RABBIT, one of my favourite horror reads last year.

I honestly think, had I not known about the book before this one, this might have been a five, or at least a 4.5, but stacked up against its predecessor, it doesn't quite measure up.

The major thing going for this is Grecian's writing style and characterization. Moses and Esmerelda and Rose and Sadie...honestly I would have liked more of Rabbit herself, but the writing just show more shines when his main characters are on stage.

However, where RED RABBIT kept the reader on their toes by veering into a different direction and surprising the reader with the various twists and turns, this one is more straightforward, with Moses's story being the less predictable of the bunch, and I felt that, at times, his story was a bit padded. The entire Frank storyline, while doing a great job of illustrating the issue. seemed a touch overlong and ultimately did little for the story.

Still, the magic, the...otherworldly...characters, and the wrap-up (though brief) were very good. I'll definitely read more of Grecian...

...but he's got a lot to live up to with what he gave us in RED RABBIT. show less

I'm actually a little uncertain how to rate this, because if I try to hold the book up against what it was purported to be--a horror novel--then I don't think it hit its mark well. There was certainly paranormal content, gore, evil forces, etc., but there wasn't really ever a sense of dread transmitted to the reader. If, on the other hand, I look at this as a dark comedy paranormal adventure novel (a cross-genre amalgamation I just invented), forgoing my previous expectations, then I can show more relax and say just how very much I enjoyed this story in full. The characters! The way the author wasn't afraid to kill his darlings, but at the same time he was happy to give them all semi-happy endings anyway! The lore, presented gradually enough to let it sink in and immerse the reader in that fantastic world! I loved it all, and I'm not ashamed to say that I was shouting out loud to the characters more than once during the course of reading it. show less

Well damn. I was NOT expecting this to be so good.

You know how, every once in a while, you read the back cover of the book and think, oh, I MUST read this! ...and then it turns out to be...well, so much less than you expected?

This book, for me, is the exact opposite of that. I read the back cover, thought, "meh" and put it back on the shelf. However, over the next couple of months, two co-workers both read it, and both sang its praises.

So, I figured, maybe I should check this out.

I'm so show more glad I did.

Going through the other reviews, I've seen complaints over the large cast of characters, some of whom aren't introduced until quite a ways in. And, in one case, an additional complaint that, because of the large cast, no one gets a proper backstory. And I also saw a complaint that the story is male-dominated.

Interesting.

First off, I don't care if the story has a large or small cast, as long as all the characters have a place in the story. That's definitely the case here. As for backstories? Yeah, the ones that require it definitely get it. Grecian provides a masterclass in doling out just enough information to pique a reader's interest in the characters, without doing a monstrous info dump, saving important details for deeper into the story where they have the most impact.

And, as for the male-dominated cast. Um...look at the time period this takes place in...there wasn't a lot of room for women in the male dominated world, however, there were some that absolutely stood out in history. And it's the same here: lots of guys, but the main "villain" is a woman, the most enigmatic lead of the troop is a woman, and then there's the titular Rabbit, who is...yup, a female character. I'd argue the strongest characters in the book were the female ones. So, I don't buy into any of these criticisms.

The story unfolds completely differently from what I expected, which was a minor disappointment until the author threw bomb after bomb of events and plot twists that I just didn't care and settled in for the ride, knowing it was going to be a good one.

Grecian offers a fun story, and lots of human drama, along with characters you can absolutely get behind and cheer for...even the villain.

I loved this book and I have a feeling it's going to be one of my favourites of the entire year. show less