Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Blood & Treasure
Publication Date: 1st July 2014
Pages: 316
MY REVIEW:
This is another sent into Ginger Nuts of Horror in exchange for an honest review of the book. The main character name had provoked a discussion before I even picked it up.
Dante Butcher lives in LA. He owns a pocket watch he
bought in an antique shop. The watch is the conduit that Violet uses to
communicate with Dante from the “dead side”. She died when she was 12 years
old. Dante has always had a knack for detecting shadows – or shades – spirits
that are possessing the living that have come from the dead side. Getting help
from Violet, he trawls the clubs at night seeking out shades to banish back
home. Things start to take a turn for the worse when he comes across a more
powerful shade in a friend. In trying to find out more about it, Dante uncovers
a long and disturbing trail of corruption among the dead. Along with Violet he
must get to the bottom of the story. He can trust no one. Least of all Violet.
I have been thinking about writing this review since
about 40% into the book. It was right about this time that the indecision about
whether I should give up or keep going started.
In terms of a story this book has something. It’s an
interesting idea. It just wasn’t very well executed. Dante Butcher as a main
character wasn’t that exciting. The lifestyle he leads, practically living in
nightclubs and the fact he is chasing spirits from the dead side should be
exciting, exhilarating and packed with adventure and fast paced narrative. It
isn’t. His interactions with the spirit of a dead girl who talk to him in his
mind using the watch as a conduit, were, boring. It didn’t seem realistic.
