The stakes are high and the clues are laid out really well.
This is smart because it keeps us from saying, “okay, but wait, how does this thing work…” and instead just dumps us into a mystery with multiple offshoots and trails to follow, lots of corruption and madness, and an appealing cast of characters. Part of the way Stout makes this work is just steadfastly refusing to explain anything. A constant, “and oh yeah, there are aliens, and oh yeah, there’s necromancy, and oh yeah, there’s a captain that’s constantly riding our hero’s butt about police protocol.” Explaining this book in more detail would make it sound like a mad mash-up. I think Stout did a really clever job of mixing elements together in ways that probably shouldn’t have worked - the mad science of the crazy doctor, the fantasy of pure absorbable magic, and the mundanity of oil wells. For me, even as I nodded in recognition of each familiar element, they still managed to add up to something greater than their parts.
Does that make this book hopelessly derivative? I don’t think so. It takes a whole series of comfortable fantasy/SF/crime tropes and mashes them up together. Undermined by corrupt coworkers and falsified evidence, and with a suspect list that includes power-hungry politicians, oil magnates, and mad scientists, Carter must find the killer before the investigation turns into a witch-hunt and those closest to him pay the ultimate price on the filthy streets of Titanshade.ĭiscussion: In many ways, Titanshade is a very familiar story. The pressure’s never been higher to make a quick arrest, even as Carter’s investigation leads him into conflict with the city’s elite. As its oil reserves run dry, the city’s future hangs on a possible investment from the reclusive amphibians known as Squibs.īut now negotiations have been derailed by the horrific murder of a Squib diplomat. It’s also a metropolis teetering on the edge of disaster. This noir fantasy thriller from a debut author introduces the gritty town of Titanshade, where danger lurks around every corner.Ĭarter’s a homicide cop in Titanshade, an oil boomtown where 8-tracks are state of the art, disco rules the radio, and all the best sorcerers wear designer labels. Plus, Chris McGrath’s cover is very nice.
Less flippantly, I picked this one up because it looked like a twist on the usual urban fantasy. Why I Chose It: Because Carter’s a disgraced human cop because Ajax is a new-to-town Mollenkampi rookie cop together they fight crime! I am a total sucker for that premise, as I believe I’ve mentioned before.
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