 | Title: Deadworld
 References to homosexuality, rape. An BDSM sex scene that triggers and abusive flashback that might be considered rape. My Rating:
Okay – Somewhat disappointing with significant flaws. Library/swap/borrow if you want. |
Description
She's as tough as anything haunting Chicago's streets. But to deal with an inhuman power that won't stay buried, this FBI agent needs help that comes at an immortal price. . .
Jackie Rutledge has seen her share of supernatural killers. But her latest murder case is what recurring nightmares are made of. Brutally exsanguinated human victims, vanishing-into-the-ether evidence, and a city on the edge of panic mean that she and her psychic partner, Laurel, are going to need more than just backup . . .
So Jackie is fine with any help rugged P.I. Nick Anderson can give--even if that includes the impish ghost and sexy vampire who make up his team. But Nick is hiding secrets of his own. And Jackie's investigation has plunged them both into a vengeful game reaching back centuries--and up against a malevolent force hungry for more than just victory. . .
"Bloody, delicious, twisted." --Lilith Saintcrow, New York Times bestselling author of the Jill Kismet, Hunter series
"A very impressive debut...the earthly and the unearthly mingle horrifyingly in this brand new twist on vampire mythology." –John Russo, author of Undead
"Duncan's deftly subtle debut creeps up on you like a ghost in the night." --Mark Henry, author of Happy Hour of the Damned
Review
Jackie Rutledge made a bad first impression on me which didn’t improve over time. Chapter one opens with Jackie arriving on a murder scene where a little boy has been discarded like trash in a park and her response is all about her hangover: “She absently rubbed at her throbbing temple. There should be laws against committing crimes on Mondays...’Why can't killers keep better hours?’” I don’t care how tough and jaded she is after years with the FBI, that’s never the kind of response someone should have at seeing a dead kid. And sadly, Jackie was just the first in a string of uninteresting, unsympathetic characters.
Jackie and her partner Laurel wanted to come across as the next Rizzoli and Isles. Jackie as the tough cop and Laurel as the softer influence in her life. Not so much. Laurel barely registers and Jackie was obnoxiously hard-nosed. Predictably, she had an abusive childhood that turned her into a promiscuous man-hater. She gets drunk and goes home with strangers most nights. One night in specific triggers a flashback while in the middle of rough sex. The situation was seedy to begin with as she’s begging some guy to hurt her, but then she reverts back to a horrific episode from her childhood and it got ugly enough that I almost stopped reading. I kept going only so I could write this review.
That scene and character aside, the writing was equally lackluster. Redundant and overly tedious are the words that come to mind. This book should have been half this length. At 400+ pages, it came across as bloated with a sluggish pace that did nothing for its rather flimsy plot.
Overall, I really wanted to like this book. The description sounded like it might be the next great police procedural urban fantasy with a dash of romance, but DEADWORLD failed on just about every level for me. Unlikeable characters, weak yet overly eager writing, poor pacing, and a plot that wasn’t nearly strong enough to support a book of this size. Not even the ghosts and vampires could redeem this one for me. I reserve my one bat rating for books that I find offensively bad. Since DEADWORLD only qualifies as not good, it scrapes out a 2 bat rating. Barely. The next Deadworld book, THE VENGEFUL DEAD, will be published in October 2011
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That cover! *sigh* I am getting tired of this style of cover for UF.
ReplyDelete@Tiah -Well, it really doesn't reflect the tone of the book if that helps, but yeah, it is pretty stereotypical for UF right now.
ReplyDeletewow, this book isn't getting very good reviews anywhere...thanks for your opinion :)
ReplyDeleteSharon - I haven't spotted any other reviews yet, but I'm curious to see what other people thought about this one.
ReplyDelete