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Thursday, January 30, 2014

7) Known Devil by Justin Gustainis

The Blurb :

My name’s Markowski. I carry a badge. Also, a crucifix, some wooden stakes, a big vial of holy water, and a 9mm Beretta loaded with silver bullets.

A new supernatural gang is intent on invading Scranton – as if I didn’t have enough to contend with!

Supernatural gang warfare? Not on my watch!

My Thoughts :

I eagerly await each release from Justin Gustainis. His stories are always deep, dark and witty with great plots and interesting characters. So when I got hold of this third part in the Occult Crimes Unit Investigations, I was itching to read it straight away. However lately I haven't had much time for reading so it wasn't until this week that I finally managed to sit down with the book and get back in touch with Stan Markowski.

Now this series is basically your typical cop procedural with a twist.  The twist being that human Stan works for the Occult Crimes Unit.  He has a vampire partner and a witch on hand to help him with any spells that might need working.  He chases the bad gnomes, werewolves, etc and then goes home before sunrise to catch up with his vampire daughter.  The concept is quite unique and will appeal to anyone who is enjoying Grimm but loves the humour Castle has to offer.  There are some good detecting skills and some of it is even done by the book.  Stan isn't one to play by the rules unless it suits him which is why he always gets the bad guy.

This third installment was all about politics and drugs.  It was a very explosive episode with many casualties with the lovely Stan also taking a knock or two along the way.  The plot was well thought out and interesting to read while the ongoing story evolved with some interesting developments that I feel Stan decided to ignore for his own sanity.   Known Devil didn't, like all the previous Gustainis books, hit five stars this time around.  The wit wasn't good enough and there wasn't much to laugh about.  Usually I can rely on this author to deal out some good one liners and some funny escapades but this time around there was either a serious lack of funny or I was just too tired to appreciate it.

Despite the lack of giggles I really enjoyed this new addition to the series and really look forward to catching up with Stan again.  I hope things advance in this series to a point where Stan gets some fun events in his life *wink wink, nudge nudge* and that there are many more stories about this wonderful supernaturally world that the author has created.

Roll on book number four and anything else the author shares with us.  Great writing with a lot of creative and memorable stories.  A must read for me and a highly recommended suggestion for your next book shopping trip.  Just make sure you start at the beginning of this series.  Starting here at book three may ruin some of the ongoing plot.




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5 comments:

Aurian said...

I don't know if this is a series for me Amber. The author has asked me through another review I posted on Amazon, if I wanted to read this series for review. The covers alone make me not want to pick it up, and well, it sounds to harsh/dark/violent from what I usually read.

Club Vlad said...

Have you read his other series? If you have then I suggest you at least give the first in this series a try.

Unknown said...

This is one to try if you enjoyed his other series. Just start at the beginning though!

Aurian said...

No I haven't read any of his books, but I know you love them Amber. You visit my blog sometimes, do you think I would enjoy it? Or is it too dark?

Unknown said...

I think you would enjoy the Morris and Chastain books and may even like them enough to try this series.