James Aquilone

Dead Jack is a zombie private Investigator hooked on fairy dust. He lives in a world called Pandemonium where mythological creatures are real and there are very few humans. You thought your life was hard? Well Dead Jack has it harder, he's been dead for seventy years and he has to deal with Vampires, Demons, Fairies, Witches and anything else you can imagine. Pandemonium is a cross between New York City and Hell and anything goes there.

Working as a P.I. Jack has seen it all but he is about show more to walk into his biggest case yet. Along with his partner, a homunculus named Oswald, he is hired by the Goblin Queen to retrieve the goblin's missing cats. Sounds simple enough but that mystery leads to another problem. The Duke of Pandemonium has the cats and he is planning to use them to destroy Pandemonium and escape into our world. It's up to Jack and Oswald to go up against a group of supernatural villains to save their world.

When I look for a book to read I usually like something that mixes horror, comedy and has a mythology to it. Dead Jack And The Pandemonium Device by James Aquilone has all of that and a story that feels like a comic book story. That's a compliment by the way, this book is a lot of fun. It starts off with Jack having a fight with some mad Leprechauns which leads to a car chase, leading to a conflict on a ghost pirate ship, a battle with a vicious kraken and a run in with a horny shark woman. As you can see there is never a dull moment in the world of Pandemonium.

When I was first getting into this book my thought was it's funny and creative but are we going to get a story? The answer is yes, the main focus of the book seems to be to thrill the reader and make them laugh but there is also a story that has great depth. Little by little we find out what Pandemonium really is and how the inhabitants got there. We also get hints as to why Jack is where he is and what he was in our world. I also loved hearing the Duke of Pandemonium's story, he may be insane but you almost have to feel sorry for him.. This book is written like its setting up an ongoing series and we get hints as to what future stories will have in store. A second book is due out in the near future.

If you have a love for old pulp fiction or how stories are told within a comic book series then give Dead Jack And The Pandemonium Device a try. There is also some great art included and how the story is told paints a vivid picture in your head. Most of all though this book is a wickedly funny thrill ride in a land full of surprises. show less

A solid and faithful homage to a wonderful character. This is a collection of short comics, telling tales that span the entire life of Carl Kolchak, from his pre-teens to his very last days. The stories are necessarily compressed given the format, but they convey the flavor. Overall the plotting is solid and the writing is great. For me the art is a bit inconsistent; some pieces I loved, while a couple were not up my alley. Still, it was a real delight to savor all these takes on the life show more and times of the greatest investigative journalist of the past century. show less

This read started a chain reaction inside my brain. Beware, it is not as sweet as a piece of pie, more like a cup of ristretto. Can be life-changing. Very impressive. It's been two months since I read it and the story is still with me.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read and review this arc!

My major issue with Classic Monsters Unleashed is that a good portion of stories could have been removed and the book would have been better.

I didn't understand the point of the first writer putting Dolores Haze in hell. Wasn't she the little girl from Lolita?!

But I don't want to focus on the negatives. I do want to mention the authors, who I felt, put together some good stories for this.

Dreams by F. Paul Wilson was an show more interesting take on Frankenstein's monster. I want a sequel for Mummy Calls by Simon Bestwick, while The Nightbird by Michael Knost, and Give Me Your Hand by David Surface aren't the most unexpected takes, but are solid decent stories. A Take of Wickedness by Kelsey Yu was a nice read, and I loved the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (I think) inspired story Dead Lions by Richard Christian Mathewson.

You can have the ground, my love by Charlie St. George is definitely one of my favorites from the collection and I would like to read more by her. Rapt by Rena Mason had so much potential, but something about it just confused me! I want to love it more!

I do feel like it will help you to know the stories behind the monsters that are being referenced here. For example, even if you aren't the biggest fan of Frankenstein, knowing generally about Frankenstein will definitely help, I also liked the Monstrous Quotes section and the dedication show less